Name: ___________________________
Frankenstein Guide
The story of Frankenstein is told through letters (epistolary novel format). The letters
are being written from Captain Robert Walton to his sister Margaret Saville. Through the
letters, Walton tells of his own story as well as those of Dr. Victor Frankenstein and his
creation.
This creates a frame tale. The outer frame of this story is the story of Robert Walton as
it is relayed through his letters to his sister. The middle frame is the story of Victor
Frankenstein. The most interior frame is the story of the creation and what he has
experienced and seen.
Activity: Label the boxes below with “Walton”, “Frankenstein”, and “Creature” in
the appropriate layers.
“Walton” Layer
“Frankenstein” Layer
“Creature” Layer
Victor Frankenstein
The Creature
Robert Walton
Margaret Saville
Ship men
Victor Frankenstein
The Creature
William Frankenstein
Justine Moritz
Elizabeth Lavenza
Alphonse Frankenstein
Henry Clerval
Victor Frankenstein
The Creature
William Frankenstein
Justine Moritz
Felix DeLacey
Agatha DeLacey
Monsieur DeLacey
Safie
Directions: Write the correct term next to its definition. These terms will be included on the final
assessment for Frankenstein. Use a dictionary if necessary.
KEY TERMS for FRANKENSTEIN
_____________- noting or pertaining to a style of literature characterized by a gloomy setting, grotesque,
mysterious, or violent events, and an atmosphere of degeneration and decay: 19thcentury gothic novels.
_____________- a prevailing tone or feeling
_____________- a collectively inherited unconscious idea, pattern of thought, image, etc.,
universally present
_____________- a novel written in the form of a series of letters.
_____________- a secondary story or stories embedded in the main story.
_____________- casual reference; an incidental mention of something, either directly or by implication
_____________- a figure of speech in which two unlike things are explicitly compared, as in “she is like
a rose.”
_____________- a person represented in a drama, story, etc.
_____________- a unifying or dominant idea, motif, etc., as in a work of art.
_____________- the literary and artistic movement in which the ideal, imagination, and emotion were
prized over reason and reality
_____________- one who relates or recounts events, experiences, etc., in speech or writing.
_____________- form of fiction that draws imaginatively on scientific knowledge and speculation in its
plot, setting, theme, etc.
_____________- a figure of speech in which a term or phrase is applied to something to which it is not
literally applicable in order to suggest a resemblance, as in “A mighty fortress is our
God.”
Allusion
Archetype
Character
Epistolary Novel
Frame Tale
Gothic
Metaphor
Mood
Narrator
Romanticism
Science Fiction
Simile
Theme
Letters
1. What does Robert Walton hope to accomplish on his voyage?
2. Why is the man Walton rescues traveling alone on the ice?
Volume I
3. What happened when Victor was five years old?
4. What was the age difference between Victor and Elizabeth?
5. Where did Victor’s family live?
6. Who are Agrippa, Paracelsus, and Albertus Magnus?
7. What does Victor witness when he was fifteen years old?
8. What University does Victor plan to attend?
9. What happened to Victor’s mother?
10. How did Monsieur Krempe react to Victor’s previous studies?
11. How did Monsieur Waldman react to Victor’s previous studies?
12. How long did Victor study at the University before deciding to create life?
13. During what month did Victor succeed?
14. What was Victor’s initial reaction to the body of the creature?
15. What made him feel disgust?
16. What did Victor do after the being came to life?
17. After he brings the creature to life, whom does Victor dream about meeting in Ingolstadt?
18. What does the creature do when he visits Victor in his bedroom?
19. What was Victor’s reaction to this (question 7)?
20. Who nursed Victor back to health after his “fit”?
21. In Chapter VI, who sends Victor a letter? What was it about?
22. Who is William?
23. In Chapter VII, who sends Victor a letter? What is it about?
24. What does Victor see in a flash of lightening? What assumption does he make?
25. How long has Victor been away from home, studying at Ingolstadt?
26. Who has been accused of the murder of William?
27. Of what does Victor assure Elizabeth?
28. What was the most damning evidence against Justine?
29. What is the ruling against Justine? What is her punishment?
Volume II
1. To where did Victor go?
2. What did he do in the valleys? Why?
3. What does he see there?
4. What does Victor call the creature?
5. What does the creature want Victor to do in the hut?
6. What problems did the creature encounter?
7. How did the villagers react to him?
8. What did the creature do to help the family?
9. Who lived in the cottage?
10. What was the creature’s reaction to seeing his reflection for the first time?
11. Who came to the live with the cottagers?
12. What did the creature learn? How?
13. What was the book about?
14. How did Safie cause the DeLacey family’s ruin?
15. What was the DeLacey’s punishment?
16. Why did the Turk want Safie to leave Felix?
17. How did the creature learn of his creator?
18. What handicap did Monsieur DeLacey have? How did the creature use this to his
advantage?
19. What was Felix’s reaction to the creature? Agatha’s? Safie’s?
20. What happened to the creature after he saved the girl from drowning?
21. What does this tell us about the creature’s interactions with man?
22. Why does the creature think the little boy will like him?
23. Who is the little boy?
24. What is the creature’s reaction to this?
25. What does the creature do?
26. Why did the creature frame Justine Moritz?
27. What does the creature demand from Victor in Chapter IX?
28. What promise does the creature make?
29. Does Victor agree?
Volume III
1. What does Alphonse Frankenstein want for Victor and Elizabeth?
2. Why does Victor NOT want to marry Elizabeth?
3. What arrangement does Victor make with Elizabeth?
4. Where does Victor go? Who goes with him?
5. What does Victor ask Henry to do?
6. What does Victor plan to do on the Orkney Islands?
7. As Victor is creating the female, what concerns does he have?
8. What does Victor do to the female body?
9. With what threat does the creature leave Victor?
10. From whom does Victor receive a letter on page 99?
11. What almost happened to Victor in the skiff?
12. Who is Mr. Kirwin?
13. Of what is Victor accused?
14. What does the court force Victor to see that makes him so ill?
15. Who came to visit Victor?
16. What was the final decision of the court?
17. What is the concern of Elizabeth in her letter?
18. What major event occurs on page 108?
19. What happened to Elizabeth?
20. What did Victor decide to do to the creature?
21. What promise does Victor ask Walton to make (p. 117)?
Letters
1. What did the crew ask of Walton?
2. What was Victor’s response?
3. What happened to Victor?
4. Who does Walton meet in the cabin?
5. What does the creature resolve to do? Why?