YEAR 13 LESSON TWENTY-SIX [10th April 13]: Homework.

Students were asked to consider the question:
TO WHAT EXTENT DO YOU AGREE WITH THE VIEW THAT IN FRANKENSTEIN, MARY SHELLEY IS 'EXPLORING THE DARK SIDE OF THE HUMAN PSYCHE'?

Class discussion engineered the following structure:

• Yes....as the novel seems to warn against the kind of deluded human ambition that believes that humanity can replicate divine power. This is the warning to science argument.
• The novel also explores...the role of women in a male world. Victor represents scientific arrogance and the belief that science could usurp the maternal role of women. Check your notes. Reference could/should be made to Anne Mellor who identified the first-person male perspective narrative, and lack of omniscient narrator, as 'anxiety of authorship' and evidence that 'Mary Shelley doubted the legitimacy of her own literary voice.' This reading of the text is an interpretation that students should consider.
• The novel also seems to yearn for a more tolerant and empathic society. The experience of the creature shapes his behaviour allowing Shelley to champion the philosophy of John Locke. This reading of the text views the novel as an attempt to improve the condition of society.
• Conclusion needs to offer some form of gothic link and reference to a critical reading of the text. READ YOUR NOTES FROM LAST TERM.

HOMEWORK: Provide a written response that consists of the last two paragraphs and conclusion.
Next week we will discuss:
Shelley's use of Walton at the beginning of the novel.
The Creature's final speech.
Shelley's use of location.