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Monsters and ideal humans

“Virtue is found at the margins of society more often than at its centre”. Monsters and ideal humans. This is the first of many stories within the main story. What do you think is the significance of Walton’s tale about the master? How does it relate to Rousseau’s ideas about the noble savage? .

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Monsters and ideal humans

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  1. “Virtue is found at the margins of society more often than at its centre” Monsters and ideal humans

  2. This is the first of many stories within the main story. What do you think is the significance of Walton’s tale about the master? How does it relate to Rousseau’s ideas about the noble savage? Passage one: Walton, pg20/21, letter 2

  3. Why does Victor relate the circumstances of his father’s marriage? What does this story reveal about the character of his father? Passage 2- Volume one, chapter one

  4. The De Lacey family, unknowingly, become the monster’s model for humanity. How would you describe their status/ situation? How did this situation come about? Read the passage to find out. What do you think the creature learns from these people? What do these stories have in common? Passage three : Volume two, chapter 6 – The De Lacey family

  5. Chapter 5, Vol 2- Felix reads SafieVolney’s “Ruins of Empires” and the creature weeps along with Safie as he hears of the plight of the exploited “savage” in North America. He compared his rejection by humans with the racial bigotry of the colonisers. Read the paragraph on page 122, “These wonderful narrations...” What do you think Mary Shelley wants the reader to think about or challenge? Is this a comment about Victor? Literary influences on the monster

  6. Victor and virtue • Describe some of the virtuous gestures/ actions of Victor’s friends and family. • Does Victor ever act in a way that is virtuous or charitable? Give evidence for your response. • In contrast, what words would you use to describe the monster? Use evidence from the novel to support your response.

  7. Civilisation and savagery • “Oh, that I had forever remained in my native wood nor known nor felt beyond the sensations of hunger, thirst and heat! (p117) What impact does the monster’s education into the ways of society have on him? • What do you think is Mary Shelley’s comment about ‘civilised’ society? • In Blade Runner, the creator makes his replicants “More human than human”. Is this what Mary Shelley is suggesting about the monster? Does virtue exist on the margins of society?

  8. Monster theory • What is a “monster”? • What do you think a monster represents? • How have monsters evolved in films and popular culture? What is the significance of this? • “It is true, we shall be monsters, cut off from all the world...” • “All men hate the wretched; how then must I be hated, who am miserable beyond all living things!” • “I, the miserable and the abandoned, am an abortion to be spurned at, and kicked and trampled on”

  9. Monster Theory • Stephen King says that the monsters and violent grotesque images of horror films depict a conception of “the other”and are of psychoanalytical significance. He says that these monsters stand for identities and behaviours that are oustide the cultural norm and are a manifestation of “what is repressed (but never destroyed) in the self and projected outwards in order to be hated and disowned. • What does King mean by this? • How do you think this can be linked to Victor Frankenstein?

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