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Finding Ourselves in
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1818)

Did I request thee, Maker, from my clay
To mould me man? Did I solicit thee
From darkness to promote me?
                                                           -John Milton, Paradise Lost, X, 743-745 (1667)


How do we determine which traditions are worth keeping and which must be jettisoned for the sake of progress, and how do the old and the new overlap in the meantime?



Understandings:
Students will understand that...
  • When we don't take responsibility for our actions, we can impact others, possibly even on a global level.
  • Victor's lack of compassion for his creation causes the monster to seek revenge and cuts it off from any love or compassion it might have felt.
  • Scientific advancement can help us learn and prolong our lives, but when it clashes with moral issues and compromises our principles and our humanity, it is harmful.
  • This novel offers no answer to the question of the relationship between creator and creation; it can be a seen as metaphor for man's relationship to God, in which case, God is indifferent at best and cruel at worst. The novel does serve as a springboard to discuss such issues.
  • The relationship between nature and nurture is complex and remains the focus of debate as research shows both to be important in determining various aspects of humanity.
Essential Questions:
  • What consequences do we face when we don't take responsibility for our actions?
  • Can individuals transform society?
  • How can scientific advancement and exploration be both good and bad?
  • What happens when our ideals are realized?
  • What is the relationship between nature and nurture? Which is more important?
  • What is the tension between reason and intuition?
  • What is the ethical relationship between creator and creation?
  • In what ways can imagination and inspiration unleash the best and worst in man?
  • How do writers structure their work to reflect their message?
  • How is the feminist perspective demonstrated in Romanticism?

The world owes all its onward impulses to men  ill at ease. The happy man inevitably confines himself within ancient limits. 
​- Nathaniel Hawthorne


 2022-2023 Reading Schedule with "Read By' Dates

Author’s Introduction and Letters 1-4  by Tuesday, October 25
Chapters 1 - 3 by Thursday, October 27
Chapters 4 - 6 by Monday, October 31
Chapters 7 - 9 by Wednesday, November 2
Chapters 10 - 11 by Friday, November 4
Chapters 12 - 14 by Monday, November 7
Chapters 15 - 16 by Wednesday, Novcember 9
Chapters 17 - 19 by Friday, November 11
Chapters 20 -21 by Monday, November 14
Chapters 22 - 23 by Wednesday, November 16
Chapter 24 by Friday, November 18
*Calendar is subject to change as needed

Proposed Assignment Due Dates - subject to change based upon instructor's whimsy and class assimilation of literary content  :-)

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Strunk & White: The Elements of Style

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click on the book cover
This is a link to  a classic writing refence book used in colleges and high schools  to support higher level writing. Please read and use whenever you are inventing and composing a writing assignment and you have a question about grammar or mechanics.

Frankenstein: Annotated for Scientists, Engineers, and Creators of All Kinds (The MIT Press-2017)

Click here to go to annotated novel.
Click in the image above to go to the novel annotated for scientists, engineers, and creators of all kinds.

Frankenstein Podcasts (free)

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Dramatic Reading - In this version, different actors read the different characters, making it sound like you are listening to a play.
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Frankenstein Audio Book by Loyal Books (Librivox recording) - In this version, a single reader (female with a British accent) reads the entire novel.
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Click on the image above to access a student recommended Apple Podcast audio reading of Frankenstein. Elena T. recommends listening at 1.25X or 2X speed. Thanks Elena!!

Downloadables and Resources

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Click on Ada to explore "pen names"
​In a celebration of the 200th anniversary of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Philosophy Talk radio show hosts and Stanford philosophers Ken Taylor and Josh Landy were joined by Persis Drell, university provost and former dean of the School of Engineering, in a conversation about the responsibility of scientists to weigh the impact of their inventions.
In this event recording, Stanford faculty discuss Mary Shelley's novel, Frankenstein, on the 200th anniversary of its publication. Panelists present the genesis of the book, cultural and media iconography, social issues of otherness, artificial intelligence, bioengineering and legal perspectives on personhood and creation.

Romanticism in Art

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"The Raft of the Medusa" by Theodore Gericault
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Wanderer above the Sea of Fog (c. 1818) by Caspar David Friedrich
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Liberty Leading the People (1830) by Eugène Delacroix
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The Kiss (1859) by Francesco Hayez
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Man and Woman Contemplating the Moon (1818-1824) by Caspar David Friedrich
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Third of May 1808 (1814) by Francisco Goya
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The Nightmare (1781) by Henry Fuseli

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Click the link above to read a thorough biography about Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley from Oxford Dictionary National Biography.
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Click the image above to go to a FASCINATING series of lectures, articles, scientific journals that Stanford University has gathered to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.
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Click the image above to read the article, "What We Forget About Mary Shelley," from Shondaland.com.
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Click on the image above to see the video clip of Frankenstein's Monster as audiences in 1931 would have first seen him.
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"From biotech to climate change, advances in technology raise significant moral questions. To engage responsibly, our next generation of scientists need training in the arts and ethics." Click the image above to read, "STEAM not STEM: Why Scientists Need Arts Training."
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Click the image above to read, "Man as God" from NPR's The Week's Best Stories from NPR Books.
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Click the image above to go to The Paris Review's story, "Frankenstein in Mary Shelley's Own Hand."
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Click the image above to read "The Strange and Twisted Life of Frankenstein" from The New Yorker Magazine
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Click on the Creature's face to go to a list of topics tracked in the text of Frankenstein collected by Stuart Curran of UPenn.
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Click the image above to read The New York Times'  article, "Facebook's Frankenstein Moment."

Dr. Sparky Sweets AKA Thug Notes
​(Trigger Warning!) - Frankenstein

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Click on the image above to watch an SNL skit starring Helen Mirren as Mary Shelley.
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Click on the image above to go to PhilosophyTalk.org and listen to brief audio discussion of the philosophical themes within Frankenstein.
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Click the image above to read a Wikipedia entry for the X-Files episode, "The Post-Modern Prometheus".

->E-text of Frankenstein (1818)

-> Commentary, Background and Allusions

->Prometheus Myth

->The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

->The Victorian Web

->Disease and the Industrial Revolution

->BBC History-Victorian Medicine

->Public Health in the 19th Century

->List of Critical Essays *COMPREHENSIVE* 
Please click on Critical Commentary 

->Frankenstein in Pop Culture - Wikipedia

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Click on the image above for a history and explanation of Phrenology.
romanticism_v_realism.pdf
File Size: 64 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

characteristicsromanticism.pdf
File Size: 40 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

isitromantic.pdf
File Size: 51 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

frankenstein_background.ppt
File Size: 201 kb
File Type: ppt
Download File

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Click on the picture to hear the NPR audio file "Did Climate Inspire the Birth of a Monster?"


The Rime of the Ancient Mariner - Coleridge

Professor Courtright Lecture Parts 1 to 4

Professor Courtright Lecture Parts 5 to 7

Frankenstein Document Resources

shelley_intro_1831.pdf
File Size: 1136 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

ak_melloe-choosing_a_text_-1818_or_1831.pdf
File Size: 1237 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

hawthornen-the_birthmark.pdf
File Size: 44 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File


Frankenstein Assignments

frankenstein_study_guide_questions.pdf
File Size: 21 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

critical_essay_analysis_directions.pdf
File Size: 38 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

grading_rubric_for_critical_essay_analysis_essay.pdf
File Size: 59 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

frankenstein_literature_review_paper.pdf
File Size: 156 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

frankenstein_background_research_and_lesson_project_-_infographic.pdf
File Size: 529 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

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Click the image above to go to the password protected page of ppts to prepare for end of unit assessments.

Generic Handouts and Media Links

majorworksdatasheet_gen_.doc
File Size: 39 kb
File Type: doc
Download File

ap_dialectical_journal_handout.pdf
File Size: 10 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

close_reading_passage.pdf
File Size: 91 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

annotate.pdf
File Size: 30 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

passage_analysis.pdf
File Size: 89 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

taboolist.pdf
File Size: 85 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File


  • Home
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    • Academic Focus Class Blog
    • English IV Class Blog Period D
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