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Frankenstein Essay

AP Essay

2011. In a novel by William Styron, a father tells his son that life "is a search for justice." Choose a character from a novel or play who responds in some significant way to justice or injustice. Then write a well-developed essay in which you analyze the character's understanding of justice, the degree to which the character's search or justice is successful, and the significance of this search for the work as a whole. Do not merely summarize the plot.

            In the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, the two main characters, Frankenstein and the creature are both seeking justice. This justice wouldn’t have been necessary if it wasn’t for the creation of the monster. The physical appearance of the monster is the main cause of its own monstrosity and other people’s hatred of it.

            Frankenstein’s justice stems from the realization that the monster has killed all of Victor’s family. Other members of his family feel the anguish of the recent deaths, but none so strongly as Victor, “I, not in deed, but in effect, was the true murderer. Elizabeth read my anguish in my countenance, and kindly taking my hand, said, "My dearest friend, you must calm yourself. These events have affected me, God knows how deeply; but I am not so wretched as you are. There is an expression of despair, and sometimes of revenge, in your countenance that makes me tremble. Dear Victor, banish these dark passions. Remember the friends around you, who center all their hopes in you. Have we lost the power of rendering you happy? Ah! While we love, while we are true to each other, here in this land of peace and beauty, your native country, we may reap every tranquil blessing--what can disturb our peace?” (124).From his first move, the monster ended up killing Victor’s brother and then placed the blame on a close childhood friend. This show of frustration reflects a newborn’s ability to only think of themselves and their pleasure. Victor’s frustration grows as more of his family is killed off as a direct result of the monster’s actions, “When I reflected on his crimes and malice, my hatred and revenge burst all bounds of moderation. I would have made a pilgrimage to the highest peak of the Andes, could I when there have precipitated him to their base. I wished to see him again, that I might wreak the utmost extent of abhorrence on his head and avenge the deaths of William and Justine. Our house was the house of mourning. My father's health was deeply shaken by the horror of the recent events. Elizabeth was sad and desponding; she no longer took delight in her ordinary occupations; all pleasure seemed to her sacrilege toward the dead; eternal woe and tears she then thought was the just tribute she should pay to innocence so blasted and destroyed,” (118).

            The monster feels justified because it asked Victor for two things: love and affection. Because Victor provided neither because he was so disgusted by his appearance and monstrosity, the monster regrets his kind actions and goes on a warpath, "Cursed, cursed creator! Why did I live? Why, in that instant, did I not extinguish the spark of existence which you had so wantonly bestowed? I know not; despair had not yet taken possession of me; my feelings were those of rage and revenge. I could with pleasure have destroyed the cottage and its inhabitants and have glutted myself with their shrieks and misery,” (208) until it came upon the idea of having a partner. “For the first time the feelings of revenge and hatred filled my bosom, and I did not strive to control them, but allowing myself to be borne away by the stream, I bent my mind towards injury and death. When I thought of my friends, of the mild voice of De Lacey, the gentle eyes of Agatha, and the exquisite beauty of the Arabian, these thoughts vanished and a gush of tears somewhat soothed me. But again when I reflected that they had spurned and deserted me, anger returned, a rage of anger, and unable to injure anything human, I turned my fury towards inanimate objects,” (259), similar to how a baby will take out its’ frustration on the nearest objects. When Victor denied him the basic right of a cherished and loved partner, the monster threatened, and carried through, with his own revenge. “The nearer I approached to your habitation, the more deeply did I feel the spirit of revenge enkindled in my heart,” (276) as the monster approached civilization, he was again reminded of his ugly physical appearance.

            The monster’s anger comes from Victor’s rejection of him. Victor’s anger comes from the ugly appearance of the creature. The society’s anger comes from the beastliness and monstrosity of the creature. The origins of the monster’s limbs come into play slightly because that is the main cause of the ugliness – decrepit body parts that had been lying in a grave for years.

Explanations for Frankenstein Questions

1. Words like “fate,” “fatal,” and “omen” are often used in Victor’s description of his tragedy. These words accomplish all of the following EXCEPT to..

a) is not correct because it shows that Victor has given up

b) is not correct because it shows Victor’s inability to accept responsibility

c) is not correct because the negative connotation creates intensity

d) is not correct because fate refers to divine power

e) is correct because the monster intended to be loved and to love a fellow creature

2. Adding the layers of passing down information from the Monster to Victor, from Victor to the Walton, from Walton to his sister serves to reinforce which of the following?

a) is not correct because the story telling has nothing to do with the book

b) is correct Mary Shelley’s omniscient perspective

c) is not correct because you only find out the monster’s emotions third hand

d) is not correct because Victor’s abandonment and neglect is epitomized by himself

e) is not correct because Walton’s departure from the north has nothing to do with the story telling

3. In the quote “Have my murderous machinations deprived you also, my dearest Henry of life?” Shelley is utilizing which literary device?

a) is not correct because there is no repetition of phrases

b) is correct because Frankenstein is talking to a dead Clerval

c) is not correct because the sentence doesn’t refer to any outside story

d) is not correct because even though there are two m sounds, the apostrophe is more pronounced

e) is not correct because no object is given human-like qualities

4. What does the word “affright” mean in the following sentence, “Fortunately, as I spoke my native language, Mr. Kirwin alone understood me; but my gestures and bitter cries were sufficient to affright the other witnesses”?

a) is correct because it has the same root

b) is not correct because it already states that the witnesses didn’t understand

c) is not correct because only Mr. Kirwin worried

d) is not correct because being frightened would make you wary

e) is not correct because the witnesses did not feel sympathy toward his plight

5. In the quote, “A cold dew covered my forehead, my teeth chattered, and every limb became convulsed: when, by the dim and yellow light of the moon…,” the tone the author uses could be described best by all of the following EXCEPT…

a) is not correct because the monster looks unsafe

b) is correct because desolate refers to a lonely or barren place

c) is not correct because the monster is made out of rotting body parts Dilapidated

d) is not correct because the movements are unnatural

e) is not correct because a hideous creature is coming to life 

Frankenstein AP Multiple Choice Questions

Frankenstein AP Multiple Choice Questions

1. Words like “fate,” “fatal,” and “omen” are often used in Victor’s description of his tragedy. These words accomplish all of the following EXCEPT to..

a) Reflect Victor’s sense of resignation

b) Show Victor’s inability to accept responsibility for what he has done

c) Create a tense atmosphere

d) Contribute to the idea that Victor has tampered with divine power

e) Display the monster’s original intentions

2. Adding the layers of passing down information from the Monster to Victor, from Victor to the Walton, from Walton to his sister serves to reinforce which of the following?

a) The story telling mood of the book

b) Mary Shelley’s omniscient perspective

c) The monster’s emotions

d) Victor’s abandoning and neglecting of his scientific quest

e) Walton’s departure from the north

3. In the quote “Have my murderous machinations deprived you also, my dearest Henry of life?” Shelley is utilizing which literary device?

a) Anaphora

b) Apostrophe

c) Allusion

d) Alliteration

e) Personification

4. What does the word “affright” mean in the following sentence, “Fortunately, as I spoke my native language, Mr. Kirwin alone understood me; but my gestures and bitter cries were sufficient to affright the other witnesses?

a) To frighten

b) To misunderstand

c) To worry

d) To make wary

e) To become empathetic

5. In the quote, “A cold dew covered my forehead, my teeth chattered, and every limb became convulsed: when, by the dim and yellow light of the moon…,” the tone the author uses could be described best by all of the following EXCEPT…

a) Sketchy

b) Desolate

c) Dilapidated

d) Distasteful

e) Nightmarish

Answer Key: 1) e, 2) b, 3) b, 4) a, 5) b

The Tempest Questions Explained

The Tempest Explained

a) is not correct because though magical, it’s not the main point
b) is not correct because the characters are hopeful despite the tone of everything being dark because of the storm
c) is not correct because the characters in the scene are snarky, not the tone
d) is not correct because it cannot be a tone of a passage
e) is correct because it uses pathetic fallacy

2. The tempest is a symbolic form of an upheaval from a state of:

a) is not correct because a tempest is a part of nature and can’t be a drastic change
b) is correct because it’s the opposite of upheaval
c) is not correct because the tempest can’t be the opposite of harm
d) is not correct because a tempest can’t be the opposite of disgust which is a human emotion
e) is not correct because a tempest is part of nature

3. The following sentence is an example of which literary device?
“Is to make midnight mushrooms, that rejoice”

a) is not correct because it doesn’t represent anything
b) is not correct because mushrooms don’t refer to anything
c) is correct because it uses multiple m consonants
d) is not correct because it doesn’t symbolize a story
e) is not correct because it has epetition of m’s, but not of words

4. Examples of symbols in The Tempest
I. The Tempest
II. The Game of Chess
III. Prospero’s Books

a) is not correct because all three are in the play
b) is not correct because all three are in the play
c) is not correct because all three are in the play
d) is not correct because all three are in the play
e) is correct because they all represent symbols

5. Which one of these Shakespeare allusions is NOT an allusion in The Tempest?

a) is not correct because Antonio is a brother searching for power like Claudius
b) is correct because nowhere in Romeo and Juliet is there magic besides the potion
c) is not correct because Prospero’s obsession is similar to Polonius and Ophelia in Hamlet
d) is not correct Miranda is a princess like in The Winter’s Tale
e) is not correct because Prospero’s Masque is the same as The Taming of the Shrew

The Tempest AP Multiple Choice Questions

1. What word best describes the tone established in the opening scene of The Tempest?

a) Whimsical
b) Hopeful
c) Snarky
d) Wonder
e) Dark

 2. The tempest is a symbolic form of an upheaval from a state of:

a) Nature
b) Peace
c) Harm
d) Disgust
e) Mother Nature

 3. The following sentence is an example of which literary device?
“Is to make midnight mushrooms, that rejoice”

a) Satire
b) Symbol
c) Alliteration
d) Allusion
e) Repetition

 4. Examples of symbols in The Tempest
I. The Tempest
II. The Game of Chess
III. Prospero’s Books

a) I only
b) I and II
c) I and III
d) II and III
e) I, II, and III

5. Which one of these Shakespeare allusions is NOT an allusion in The Tempest?
a) Antonio to Claudius in Hamlet
b) Ariel to Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet
c) Prospero’s obsession with controlling his daughter’s sex life and choice of husband to Polonius and Ophelia in Hamlet
d) Miranda is a princess to Perdita’s discovery of her royal status in The Winter’s Tale
e) Prospero’s Masque to The Taming of the Shrew

 Answer Key: 1) e, 2) a, 3) c, 4) e, 5) b  

Close Reading Essay of Frankenstein

Frankenstein

            The deaths of his loved ones leave him with a sense of loss, guilt and despair because he knows he is indirectly responsible for their deaths. There is also apostrophe when Victor asks a very dead Henry questions about his death. Victor addresses the rhetorical questions towards Walter. Syntax is powerfully emotional language that express the depth of Victor’s reactions: ‘parched with horror’, ‘shuddering and agony’ etc.. The words refer to his mental and violent physical reactions that took place at that time. And Victor once again falls into illness as his body is racked by guilt and despair. The fact that only the magistrate understands his native German foreshadows the fact that he will be the one to convince others of Victor’s innocence. Shelley employs ironies and hyperboles, ‘More miserable than man ever was before’ while saying that his suffering is more than any of those of the victims of the monster. This shows that Victor is self-absorbed by himself and his own obsessive actions and is proven by his first thought at the sight of Henry’s body, ‘my murderous machinations’.

There is also another moment of foreshadowing when talking about the brides and youthful lovers referring to when Elizabeth is killed on the night of their wedding. He dreads becoming fodder for worms, when it is ironic that he dug through body parts to create his monster. “Of what materials was I made” could be something easily said by his creation, showing that the two of them might be more similar than Victor thought.