Frankenstein Novel

Write your own 4 page essay on the novel Frankenstein.

There are so many “monstrous reflections” of this text in the critical commentary that one could spend a lifetime in their study. I don’t want to overly influence your choice, but I will throw out a few possibilities just to get your blood flowing, jolt your brain into activity, and open your eyes to the life of the novel. After all, I wouldn’t want to abandon you. One of the prompts below may serve to get your essay going.

Is the creature symbolic of any other marginalized groups you can think of? What are the parallels, and when does an analogy like that begin to break down, if at all?

Is Frankenstein a creature with feminine qualities asked to survive in a male dominated world?

Do the characters in the story attempt to hide their motivations, even from themselves?

How much of the novel can be argued as directly influenced by the author’s biography?

Taking into account Marxist theory, is the creature a product that alienates the worker who made it? Is the monster a laborer striking against unfair conditions?

Is the monster symbolic of many marginalized groups in our contemporary society?

Is Frankenstein the ID unbounded, a raging penile phallus thrusting instinctively where it will, and what are the repercussions of this?

Is this another Oedipal story?

Is the creation of the monster nothing more than vagina-envy? I’m not sure there is grist for an entire essay here, but I like turning the tables on Freudian penis-envy. Frankenstein did birth a living being in his own way. Is there misogyny at work here?

The cultural studies chapter touches on many of the influences this novel has had–all the way up to Terminator. Perhaps Arnold becoming governor shows the monstrousness of our celebrity culture, where popularity replaces preparation. Of course, the same could be said of President Trump arriving from Celebrity Apprentice. Or, fully develop an analysis of the many cultural touchstones, but be sure it is an essay of analysis and not a list. For all of these questions, you still need to quote from the novel and make connections to that text.

Well, I am not sure all of my suggestions were good, but when you start creating something, you don’t always know what will happen. A question could easily backfire monstrously.