Ch 1- 5
11. What is the man's background? (Do we know his name yet?) Where is he from?
12. What is the story of the man's mother, Caroline Beaufort? How does the man feel toward his parents, and what responsibilities does he feel they had toward him?
13. Who is Elizabeth Lavenza and what is her story? What gift does the man's mother give him? Do we know the man's name yet? Do we know his family name?
14. Who is Henry Clerval and what is his relation to Victor?
15. How does Victor characterize the interests and characters of Clerval, Elizabeth, and himself ?
16. Who is Cornelius Agrippa and how does Victor find out about him ? How does Victor's father respond, and how does Victor comment on that response?
17. What sort of science ("Natural Philosophy") is Victor learning from Agrippa, Paracelsus, and Albertus Magnus? How would a modern scientist respond to this sort of thinking?
18. What happens when Victor sees an oak tree destroyed by lightning and hears an explanation? What does Victor then begin to study?
19. Who or what does he credit for this change in direction ? Who or what does he blame for his "utter and terrible destruction" ?
20. What happens to Elizabeth and to Victor's mother as a result of Elizabeth's scarlet fever ? How does this compare with the mother's early history ?
21. Why does Victor's father send him to the university of Ingolstadt ? How old is Victor then? (Ingolstadt is in southern Germany, in Bavaria, on the Danube, 43 miles north of Munich. The university founded there in 1472 moved to Landshut in 1802 and to Munich in 1826.)
22. What does Victor learn from M. Krempe? How does Victor respond to him, and on what grounds? Is this a good basis for making such a decision? (
23. What does Victor learn from M. Waldman? How does Victor respond to him? How does Victor think of his older science as opposed to modern science ? What does M. Waldman say in describing modern chemistry that changes Victor's mind ? What does Victor say he will now do ?
24. How well does Victor progress during the next two years? What does he then become interested in, and what ultimately does he discover ?
25. Will he share that knowledge with Walton? Why? (Note the "present" of the telling breaking through the narration here.)
26. How does he go about creating a human being, and what does he expect as a result of this creation ? How long does the task take? What happens to Victor in the process?
27. Do you recognize the opening words of this chapter? Remember that Shelley gave them as the starting point of her story ?
28. Given all the mad doctor and monster movies we've seen, including perhaps versions of Frankenstein, what is unexpected about the description of the actual creation of life here ? How much do we learn of the actual procedure?
29. How does Victor respond to the actual creation of life ? What surprises him about the way the creature he has brought to life looks? What does that do to Victor's response ?
30. What does Victor dream ? How does the dream grow out of, comment on, even explain what Victor has done and been through?
31. What does the creature do ? How does Victor respond?
32. Whom does Victor meet arriving in a coach the next morning ? How does Victor respond? What does Victor discover when they go to Victor's apartment ? How does Victor respond? What happens to him, and for how long ? Is there any more news of the creature?
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