Shanaelle Petty
October 4, 2015
AP Literature
Spark Notes Notes for Frankenstein
Key Facts
Title – Frankenstein: or, the Modern Prometheus
Author – Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
Genre – Gothic Science Fiction
Place and Time Written – Switzerland, 1816, London 1816-1817
Protagonist – Victor Frankenstein
Antagonist – Frankenstein’s Creature
Setting (Place) – Europe (Geneva, Ingolstadt, England, Scotland, Artic Ice, Paris)
Setting (Time) – 18th century
Tone – Romanticism, Tragedy, Gothic, Horror
Themes – Pursuit of knowledge can be dangerous; somethings are better left unbothered; human reaction to the unknown; humanity; the pursuit of love.
Motifs – “Passive women,” poetry, artistic awareness of nature
Symbols – Lightning, electricity, light, water, fire
Climax – Murder of Elizabeth on Frankenstein’s wedding night
Characters – Victor Frankenstein, Elizabeth, Robert Walton, Henry Clerval, Alphonse, William, Caroline, Justine, M. Waldman, M. Krempe, M, Kirwin, the Creature.
Context…show more content… She was left in the care of her father, a well-known anarchist author. One summer, Mary Shelley took a trip to Geneva with Percy Shelley—her lover, and few other friends. They were welcomed with bad weather and boredom in Geneva upon which a novel writing contest ensued. At the time, the subject of the horror and awe of the natural world was at the center to romanticism. One night she stayed up listening to Percy Shelley and a doctor discuss developments in galvanism. This late night conversation manifested itself into a nightmare that resonated within Marry Shelley and fueled her to write