Today we continued our revision of Frankenstein in class. Hopefully these notes will help those students who were absent due to art exams as well as those from other schools.
Again, we began with a big question as a prompt:
Here are a few student responses to the question:
Additional resources on the theme of knowledge:
After looking at the theme of knowledge, Ms Ryan gave a mini talk on Gothic conventions to remind us of important context.
We made notes on how each convention is portrayed in Frankenstein:
Wild and remote landscapes:
- The mountain ranges – can be a source of solace as well as fear for Victor.
- The lakes – a place of peace and reflection.
- The Orkney Islands – remote Scottish islands for Victor to create the bride in secret.
- We also noted that the monster seemed more at home in wild landscapes than Victor or other humans. This could be a sign of his super-human strength, agility and resilience. Or it could be a sign that he is sub-human, only living in the places where animals dwell.
- Victor’s mother – dies at the start, a prompt for Victor’s ambition.
- Justine – framed by the monster.
- DeLacey women – both vulnerable, but saved by the men in their lives.
- The monster’s ‘bride’ – never even gets a chance to live.
- Elizabeth – brutally killed by the monster in revenge.
Violent and supernatural happenings:
- The creation and ‘birth’ of the monster.
- The monster’s murders – William, Henry, Elizabeth.
- Weather – regular lightning and thunder storms, symbolic of monster.
- The female monster.
Videos on Gothic Literature:
PLANNING A RESPONSE
We spent the last part of the lesson looking at the importance of planning a response. Here are the tips:
We then planned responses to an extract question which will be completed for homework. Examples to follow.