Mary Shelley, Frankenstein

Choose one of the following prompts and write a 4-7 paragraph essay. Please include the prompt at the top of your paper. (40 pts)

1. In Frankenstein, Mary Shelley explores the complexities of agency and personal responsibility. Victor feels guilty about giving his creature life, who in turn took the lives of so many others. Yet, the creature clearly has a rational mind of its own. Write a thesis and defend your position about where responsibility falls in the novel and why. Be sure to bring in evidence from the text, but you can also create analogies to support your argument, and don’t be afraid of complex answers.

2. Mary Shelley writes a science fiction novel, Frankenstein, in which she tests the limits of science and its influence on social and cultural habits. Through his secret and occult science, Victor Frankenstein steals the ability to create life from nature, and arguably from women. Write a thesis and defend your position about how science (as Shelley conceives it) questions natural or social order. (For example, you could write about gender expectations, distinctions between life and death, racial bias etc). Be sure to bring in evidence from the text, but you can also create analogies to support your argument, and don’t be afraid of complex answers.

3. Artists seem to want to keep retelling the Frankenstein story. In movies and in TV shows, as well as other media, Shelley’s story of using science to give life to something that did not have it before seems to be a perennial interest in the popular imagination. Write a thesis and defend your position that A) a movie, TV show, or other media is an adaptation of Frankenstein (or at least borrowing its themes) and B) how it addresses concerns or anxieties in its own moment. (For instance, I could write about Jurassic Park and how it addresses anxieties about the power of genetic engineering). Be sure to bring in evidence from the text, but you can also create analogies to support your argument, and don’t be afraid of complex answers.