Practice exam question with notes
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Teaching notes
Before students answer the practice question below you might like to
discuss some of the following points/guidance/questions with your
students.
Indicative content
Answers might include some of the following:
AO1
 What Frankenstein finds troubling about his isolation and his changing
moods
 Frankenstein’s choice to isolate himself to create the monster and its effects
 Frankenstein’s fear of meeting the monster
 Frankenstein’s persistence in creating the female monster
AO2
 The use and effect of first person perspective
 Frankenstein’s use of emotional language and what this demonstrates about his isolation
from society
 The use and effect of words such as ‘labour’ to describe his work and what this shows about
Frankenstein
AO3
 Ideas about isolation from society and how this is explored both in the extract and elsewhere
 Ideas about relationships with others
 Society’s attitudes to isolation and what Shelley might be saying about that
 The generic context of the text
Activities
Placement of the extract
When faced with this style of question for Paper 1, it is a good idea for students to place the
extract in the context of the whole novel, so that they have both a clear sense of its location in
the narrative and the relevance of previous events, and events yet to come.
Questions you could ask of the extract, and possible answers include:




What has just happened in the narrative?
Frankenstein has just left his friend, Henry, after completing their tour of Europe in
England. Frankenstein has effectively been trying to delay the creation of the female
companion but finally decides to act.
What happens just after this extract?
Frankenstein debates whether to continue with the creation of the female companion, and
decides to destroy it. The monster appears at the window of the hut and sees Frankenstein
destroy his promised companion.
Why is this extract important?
This extract is a typical example of Frankenstein isolating himself from humanity and
focusing on himself, rather than the effects of his actions on others and wider society.
What has this extract got to do with the focus of the question, ‘the effects of isolation’? The
reader can see how isolation leads to extremes of emotions, poor judgement and desperate
actions.
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Practice exam question with notes
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Details in the extract
The first part of the question asks students to explore the detail of the extract in
light of the question focus.
To guide your students, you could ask the following questions (possible answers also
suggested):

What does Frankenstein find troubling about his isolation and his changing moods?
Frankenstein finds ‘every day more horrible and irksome’ and this is probably exacerbated
by the fact that he is alone. It is not like his ‘first experiment’ when he was in ‘a kind of
enthusiastic frenzy’. Now he is working ‘in cold blood’ and this is the main reason his mood
changes.

Why has Frankenstein isolated himself to create the female monster?
Frankenstein may have isolated himself to create the female monster because he knows
that he works best alone, even though working alone before had a negative outcome for
everyone involved.

What effect has this had on him?
This seems to have made Frankenstein even more obsessed with his task, to the exclusion of
the outside world.

Why is he afraid of meeting the monster again?
He is most likely afraid of meeting the monster again because he fears reminders of his
past, and of the new creation he has promised to make. He calls him his ‘persecutor’ and he
fears his punishment if he does not succeed in his task.

Why does he persist in creating the female monster?
Frankenstein probably persists in making the female monster because he has promised to do
so, and gets obsessed with creation once he begins a task.

Why does Shelley use the first person perspective here?
The first person perspective allows the reader to gain an immediate sense of Frankenstein’s
changing emotions and distress.

What is the effect?
The effect could be argued to be increased tension and a more heightened sense of drama.

What emotional language does Frankenstein use?
He uses emotional language like ‘horror’, ‘sickened’ and ‘evil’.

What does this emotional language demonstrate about his isolation from society?
This language demonstrates that his isolation from society has led to extreme negative
emotions and desperation in his work.

What effect does the use of the word ‘labour’ to describe his work have?
‘Labour’ both makes the task seem intense and lengthy, but also compares it to the labour
of a pregnant woman pushing to give birth, often in pain. However, for Frankenstein, the
outcome is not a happy one.

What does this show about his isolation from society?
This shows his isolation from society is wrong or misplaced. He should not have tried to
usurp the role of woman or God and is effectively punished for doing so.
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Practice exam question with notes
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
The novel as a whole
The second part of the question asks students to explore the rest of the novel in light
of the question focus.
To guide your students through the rest of the novel, you could ask the following
questions:

What ideas about isolation from society does it present and how is this explored both in the
extract and elsewhere?
This extract presents the idea that isolation from society has negative consequences
because Frankenstein, for example, diverges from social norms and pays the price (as do the
other members of his family and his friends). This is also explored in Chapter 5 (when he
creates the monster), Chapter 8 (when Justine is wrongly executed) and Chapter 24 (when
his tale ends and he warns Walton of the dangers of his enterprise). These ideas are also
explored in Walton’s letter (which open the novel) and Shelley’s use of the doppelganger
figure.

What ideas about relationships with others does it present?
It presents the idea that relationships with others should be nurtured. For example,
Frankenstein has left his family and, most recently, Henry Clerval, in order to execute his
promise, but this self-imposed isolation leads to death and ruin.

What does the rest of the novel say about society’s attitudes to isolation and what might
Shelley be saying about that?
The rest of the novel explores the idea that isolation which leads to positive scientific
endeavour is to be lauded, but that isolation which leads to delusions that you are
performing a godlike role and over-reaching, is dangerous in the extreme. Shelley might be
saying that actions with consideration of the consequences are to be avoided, and that
egocentric glory-hunting leads to ruin for the one responsible, and those around them.

What is the significance of the literary context of the text?
The literary context of the text is partly Gothic horror and science fiction. Isolation from
society, Promethean over-reaching and the doppelganger, for example, are all examples of
Gothic tropes, and the novel has also been called the ‘first science fiction novel’. The
supernatural and crossing the boundaries between life and death are two features of both
the Gothic and science fiction genres. Both genres presented males who isolate themselves
from society with negative consequences; the fact that the novel is difficult to categorise
and carries universal messages about the dangers of isolation from society, and ignoring its
boundaries, is part of its timeless appeal.
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Page 3 of 4
Practice exam question with notes
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Read the following extract from Chapter 19 and then answer the question that follows.
In this extract Frankenstein has travelled to the Orkneys to create the female monster which the
monster demanded as a companion.
In this manner I distributed my occupations when I first arrived; but, as
I proceeded in my labour, it became every day more horrible and
irksome to me. Sometimes I could not prevail on myself to enter my
laboratory for several days; and at other times I toiled day and night in
order to complete my work. It was, indeed, a filthy process in which I
was engaged. During my first experiment, a kind of enthusiastic frenzy
had blinded me to the horror of my employment; my mind was intently
fixed on the consummation of my labour, and my eyes were shut to the
horror of my proceedings. But now I went to it in cold blood, and my
heart often sickened at the work of my hands.
Thus situated, employed in the most detestable occupation, immersed
in a solitude where nothing could for an instant call my attention from
the actual scene in which I was engaged, my spirits became unequal; I
grew restless and nervous. Every moment I feared to meet my
persecutor. Sometimes I sat with my eyes fixed on the ground, fearing
to raise them, lest they should encounter the object which I so much
dreaded to behold. I feared to wander from the sight of my fellowcreatures, lest when alone he should come to claim his companion.
In the mean time I worked on, and my labour was already considerably
advanced. I looked towards its completion with a tremulous and eager
hope, which I dared not trust myself to question, but which was
intermixed with obscure forebodings of evil, that made my heart sicken
in my bosom.
Starting with this extract, write about how Shelley presents the effects of isolation
from society.
Write about:
• how Shelley presents the effects of isolation on Frankenstein in this extract
• how Shelley presents the importance of isolation from society in the novel as a whole.
[30 marks]
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