DISCUSSION QUESTIONS FOR FRANKENSTEIN
· Is Robert Walton’s ambition similar to Frankenstein’s, as Frankenstein believes?
· Why is the fifteen-year-old Frankenstein so impressed with the oak tree destroyed by lightning in a thunderstorm?
· Why does Frankenstein become obsessed with creating life?
· Why is Frankenstein filled with disgust, calling the monster “my enemy,” as soon as he has created him? (p. 62)
· What does the monster think his creator owes him?
· Why does Frankenstein agree to create a bride for the monster, then procrastinate and finally break his promise?
· Why can’t Frankenstein tell anyone—even his father or Elizabeth—why he blames himself for the deaths of William, Justine, and Henry Clerval?
· Why doesn’t Frankenstein realize that the monster’s pledge “I shall be with you on your wedding-night” threatens Elizabeth as well as himself? (p. 173)
· Why does Frankenstein find new purpose in life when he decides to seek revenge on the monster “until he or I shall perish in mortal conflict”? (p. 206)
· Why are Frankenstein and his monster both ultimately miserable, bereft of human companionship, and obsessed with revenge? Are they in the same situation at the end of the novel?
· Why doesn’t Walton kill the monster when he has the chance?
FOR FURTHER REFLECTION
· Was it wrong for Frankenstein to inquire into the origins of life?
· What makes the creature a monster rather than a human being?
· Is the monster, who can be persuasive, always telling the truth?
https://broadened-horizons.org/2010/10/14/discussion-questions-for-frankenstein/