"Frankenstein": Chapters 11-15

Chapters 11-15

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Frankenstein

​Objectives:

1. Students will analyze the events in "Frankenstein" Chapters 11-15

2. Students will construct responses on events occurring in these chapters

3. Students will be able to recall the importance of a frame narrative

Open Ended

How does Victor react to seeing the Creature unexpectedly on Mount Montanvert in Chapter 10?

• William is dead

• Justin is accused of William's murder and put to death

• Victor climbs the mountain and meets the creature

• This creature wants to tell his story

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Review

Open Ended

After finding out what happened to Justine, what do you think Shelley is trying to say about the justice system?

• Remember the frame narrative!

• This is Walton recording what Victor is saying he remembers the creature telling him.

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Chapter 11

​Frame Narrative (Embedded Narrative)

• The creature is brought to life disoriented, alone, and in ignorance

• He focuses on the sunlight and the moon to guide him through the days

• Sensation start to come him and he feels beauty and solace in Nature

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Chapter 11

​The Creature's Story

​"It was dark when I awoke; I felt cold also, and half frightened. as it were. instinctively, finding myself so desolate. Before I had quitted your apartment, on a sensation of cold, I had covered myself with some clothes, but these were insufficient to secure me from dews of night. I was a poor, helpless, miserable wretch; I knew, and could distinguish, nothing; but feeling pain invade me on a all sides, I sat down and wept." (105)

• "...was overcome with delight at the warmth I experienced from it. In my joy I thrust my hand into the live embers, but quickly drew it out again with a cry of pain. How strange, I thought, that the same cause should produce such opposite effects!" (106)

• One thing can create both pleasure and pain

• Think about the tree from Chapter 2, when Victor was inspired by its destruction, and Victor's ambition to push the limits of nature

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Chapter 11

​The creature discovers fire

• The creature finds a man in a hut who immediately screams and runs away from him

• He finds a village, and is enchanted by the warmth of spirit and beauty. He steps inside a cottage and the entire village reacts in alarm

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Chapter 11

​"The whole village was roused; some fled, some attacked me, until, grievously bruised by stones and many other kinds of missile weapons, I escaped to the open country and fearfully took refuge in a low hovel, quite bare..." (108).

"Here, then, I retreated and lay down happy to have found a shelter, however miserable, from the inclemency of the season, and still more from the barbarity of man" (108).

Open Ended

Who do you think the monster is in the story so far? Why?

"It was a lovely site, even to me, poor wretch who had never beheld aught beautiful before. The silver hair and benevolent countenance of the aged cottager won my reverence, while the gentle manner of the girl enticed my love...I felt sensations of a peculiar and overpowering nature; they were a mixture of pain and pleasure, such as I had never before experienced, wither from hunger or cold, warmth or food; and I withdrew from the window, unable to bear these emotions." (110)

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Chapter 11

​The Creature feels love

• ​The creature finds a cottage, and takes cover, watching the family

• He hides from the people who live there, afraid of being attacked again

• He enjoys the music they play and feels empathetic towards their emotions

• He feels true sensations of contentment and love while watching how the family interact with one another

• "I had admired the perfect forms of my cottagers--their grace, beauty, and delicate complexions; but how was I terrified when I viewed myself in a transparent pool! At first I started back, unable to believe that it was indeed I who was reflected in the mirror; and when I became fully convinced that I was in reality the monster that I am, I was filled with the bitterest sensations of despondence and mortification." (115)

• Maturity / Isolation

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Chapter 12

The Creature sees himself

• The creature is generous

• He loves and cares for the family

• He does chores for them secretly to help them

• He feels below them and yearns for their acceptance

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Chapter 12

​The creature helps the family

• ​"I afterwards found that these labours, performed by an invisible hand, greatly astonished them; and once, or twice I heard them...utter the words 'good spirit', 'wonderful'" (116)

• "My thoughts now became more active, and I longed to discover the motives and feelings of these lovely creatures; I was inquisitive to know why Felix appeared so miserable and Agatha so sad. I thought (foolish wretch!) that it might be in my power to restore happiness to these deserving people." (116)

Open Ended

"I imagined that they would be disgusted, until, by my gentle demeanour and conciliating words, I should first win their favour and afterwards their love."

The creature has faith in the nature of humanity. He thinks that his goodness can overcome their perception of him. Based on how we've seen people react to the creature thus far, do you think he will be able to win them over? Why or why not?

• The creature learns about history, great empires, and the relationships that are so important to humanity

• Morality, ethics, war, love, family

• He reflects upon himself in his state of "wretchedness", and realizes he is truly alone in the world

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Chapter 13

​The creature learns language

• ​Spring delights the creature - Romanticism

• A woman from Arabia, Safie, visits the cottage, and as the family teaches her their language, the creature attends the lessons in secret

Multiple Choice

"...sorrow only increased with knowledge. Oh, that I had forever remained in my native wood, nor known nor felt beyond the sensations of hunger, thirst, and heat! Of what a strange nature is knowledge! it clings to the mind when it has once seized on it like a lichen on the rock." 

 What knowledge is the creature referring to that gave him such sorrow?

• His true isolation from the rest of humanity

• His love for music

• His wonderful childhood

• The DeLacey's seem like a perfect family, and one capable of sympathizing with the creature

• Do you think they will accept the creature?

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Chapter 14

​The family history

• ​The history and tragedy of the DeLacey family

• Critique of the justice system

• Critique of prejudice

• (Safie's history is an oppressive environment in Muslim Arabia and preference for the freedom of spirit in Christian Europe - Irony?? Think about the women in the novel! Idealized and voiceless. Caroline died, Elizabeth's role is at the home until she eventually dies, Justine was a servant who was falsely convicted and sentences to death. They don't have much freedom!)

• The creature finds "Paradise Lost", an epic poem by John Milton from 1667 depicting the biblical Garden of Eden and the fall of Satan

• Shelley read "Paradise Lost" the year before she wrote "Frankenstein"

• Shelley was often perceived to be "living in sin"

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Chapter 15

• ​The creature uses Milton's text as a model for how Creator and Creature (God / Adam) should be relate to one another

• The creature realizes that his relationship with his creator is less like Adam, who was guided and cared for by God, not like Satan, who was cast out from heaven, and was made a demon

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Chapter 15

​Paradise Lost

​"Like Adam, I was apparently united by no link to any other being in existence; but his state was far different from mine in every other respect. He had come forth from the hands of God a perfect creature, happy and prosperous, guarded by the especial care of his Creator, he was allowed to converse with an acquire knowledge from beings of a superior nature, but I was wretched, helpless, and alone. Many times I considered Satan as the fitter emblem of my condition, for often, like him, when I viewed the bliss of my protectors, the bitter gall of envy rose within me" (130).

Multiple Choice

In the God/Adam analogy, who is God, and who is Adam?

• Victor is God (the creator) / the creature is Adam (the creation)

• The creature is God (the creator) / Victor is Adam (the creation)

• The creature finds Victor's diary in the pocket of the coat he took from the laboratory

• He learns who is his creator is, how he was created, and the horror that Victor experienced when he created him

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Chapter 15

​The creature reads Victor's diary

​"I sickened as I read, "Hateful day when I received life!" I exclaimed in agony. 'Accursed creator! Why did you form a monster so hideous that even YOU turned from me in disgust? God, in pity, made man beautiful and alluring, after his own image; but my form is a filthy type of yours, more horrid even from the very resemblance. Satan had his companions, fellow devils, to admire and encourage him, but I am solitary and abhorred" (131).

• One day Felix, Agatha, and Safie go for a walk and the creature decides to approach DeLacey, the old blind man

• "Now is the time! Save and protect me! You and your family are the friends whom I seek. Do not you desert me in the hour of trial!"

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Chapter 15

​The creature is rejected

​"Who can describe their horror and consternation on beholding me? Agatha fainted, and Safie...rushed out of the cottage. Felix darted forward, and with supernatural force tore me from his father, to whose knees I clung. In a transport of fury, he dashed me to the ground and struck me violently with a stick. I could have torn him limb form limb, as the lions rends the antelope. But my heart sank within me as with bitter sickness, and I refrained. I saw him on the point of repeating his blow, when, overcome by pain and anguish, I quitted the cottage, and in the general tumult escaped unperceived to my hovel" (136)

Open Ended

If you were the creature, how do you think you would feel at this point in his story? Why?

• Use classroom website and lesson introduction pages to help you complete the lessons and assessments in English 12

• Complete the Window 3 Benchmark by 3/30

• Complete the Unit 3 discussion in Lesson 7

• Attend English 12 open office hours

• English 12 course ends on May 23rd

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Wrap Up