Frankenstein: The Creature's Confession

Review: Group Discussion Question Guidelines

Both Rousseau and Mary Shelley’s works are conventionally considered products of both the Enlightenment and the Romantic Periods; each seems to have one foot firmly planted in the two strikingly different periods and their ideologies. Further, Rousseau’s writing had a clear and easily trace-able effect on Shelley’s novel. Rousseau’s genius was to permanently refigure Western thinking – for better or for worse, to force us to see man and nature in strikingly new ways – Shelley’s genius was to translate that emerging vision into the popular and still powerful iconography of Frankenstein.

By comparing Rousseau’s Confessions (1761) and Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818), we can see the genesis of ideas that still profoundly determine how we currently view humanity’s inherent nature, the nature of good and evil, and our place in the social and natural world and the greater cosmic scheme.

For all of the following, quote/cite specific passages.

1a) Frankenstein: What, according to Victor himself, motivates and compels him to create his creature?

1b) The Enlightenment: In what ways does Victor, and his motivation to create, represent Enlightenment ideals; that is, in what ways does his motivation represent what Enlightenment thinkers considered best in man and the solutions to mankind’s problems?

1c) The Romantic: How are the results of Victor’s motivation and compulsion used by Shelley to demonstrate an emerging Romantic criticism of Enlightenment ideals?

2a) Frankenstein: What, according to the creature’s “confession” to Victor, are the various events that lead him toward his evil ways?

2b) Rousseau:  How do these events and the creature’s argument fit Rousseau’s philosophy of basic human goodness and the nature of human evil, as implied and described in his Confessions.  Make sure to cite the events and/or passages from Frankenstein and Confessions where the two explicitly attribute their own faults to the actions of others.

3a) Frankenstein and Rousseau: What does Rousseau read? What does the creature read? According to both, what are the main ideas they take away from these readings?

3b) Explain whether the affect of reading on both Rousseau and the creature supports Enlightenment or Romantic ideals concerning knowledge.

4) Frankenstein: What, according to the creature, would return him to a life of goodness? Is his argument based on Enlightenment or Romantic principles?

5) The Romantic: Compare the roles of science and knowledge/learning vs. nature in Victor’s life, especially in terms of his physical and spiritual/psychological well-being.

Based on the passages you’ve read, who or what is the monster in this novel, and what is the true basis of monstrosity, according to Mary Shelley?

Discuss and describe how many of the ideas you’ve outlined above continue to influence our current conceptions of humanity’s inherent nature, the nature of good and evil, and our place in the social and natural world and the greater cosmic scheme.