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Copy of Frankenstein 12/13XX (6/23/2025)

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Prometheus

1 PROMETHEUS WAS A YOUNG Titan, no great admirer of Zeus. Although he knew the great lord of the sky hated explicit questions, he did not hesitate to beard him when there was something he wanted to know.

2 One morning he came to Zeus, and said, “O Thunderer, I do not understand your design. You have caused the race of man to appear on earth, but you keep him in ignorance and darkness.”

3 “Perhaps you had better leave the race of man to me,” said Zeus. “What you call ignorance is innocence. What you call darkness is the shadow of my decree. Man is happy now. And he is so framed that he will remain happy unless someone persuades him that he is unhappy. Let us not speak of this again.”

4 But Prometheus said, “Look at him. Look below. He crouches in caves. He is at the mercy of beast and weather. He eats his meat raw. If you mean something by this, enlighten me with your wisdom. Tell me why you refuse to give man the gift of fire.”

5 Zeus answered, “Do you not know, Prometheus, that every gift brings a penalty? This is the way the Fates weave destiny—by which gods also must abide. Man does not have fire, true, nor the crafts which fire teaches. On the other hand, he does not know disease, warfare, old age, or that inward pest called worry. He is happy, I say, happy without fire. And so he shall remain.”

6 “Happy as beasts are happy,” said Prometheus. “Of what use to make a separate race called man and endow him with little fur, some wit, and a curious charm of unpredictability? If he must live like this, why separate him from the beasts at all?”

7 “He has another quality,” said Zeus, “the capacity for worship. An aptitude for admiring our power, being puzzled by our riddles and amazed by our caprice. That is why he was made.”

8 “Would not fire, and the graces he can put on with fire, make him more interesting?”

9 “More interesting, perhaps, but infinitely more dangerous. For there is this in man too: a vaunting pride that needs little sustenance to make it swell to giant size. Improve his lot, and he will forget that which makes him pleasing—his sense of worship, his humility. He will grow big and poisoned with pride and fancy himself a god, and before we know it, we shall see him storming Olympus. Enough, Prometheus! I have been patient with you, but do not try me too far. Go now and trouble me no more with your speculations.”

10 Prometheus was not satisfied. All that night he lay awake making plans. Then he left his couch at dawn, and standing tiptoe on Olympus, stretched his arm to the eastern horizon where the first faint flames of the sun were flickering. In his hand he held a reed filled with a dry fiber; he thrust it into the sunrise until a spark smoldered. Then he put the reed in his tunic and came down from the mountain.

11 At first men were frightened by the gift. It was so hot, so quick; it bit sharply when you touched it, and for pure spite, made the shadows dance. They thanked Prometheus and asked him to take it away. But he took the haunch of a newly killed deer and held it over the fire. And when the meat began to sear and sputter, filling the cave with its rich smells, the people felt themselves melting with hunger and flung themselves on the meat and devoured it greedily, burning their tongues.

12 “This that I have brought you is called ‘fire,’” Prometheus said. “It is an ill-natured spirit, a little brother of the sun, but if you handle it carefully, it can change your whole life. It is very greedy; you must feed it twigs, but only until it becomes a proper size. Then you must stop, or it will eat everything in sight—and you too. If it escapes, use this magic: water. It fears the water spirit, and if you touch it with water, it will fly away until you need it again.”

13 He left the fire burning in the first cave, with children staring at it wide-eyed, and then went to every cave in the land.

14 Then one day Zeus looked down from the mountain and was amazed. Everything had changed. Man had come out of his cave. Zeus saw woodmen’s huts, farm houses, villages, walled towns, even a castle or two. He saw men cooking their food, carrying torches to light their way at night. He saw forges blazing, men beating out ploughs, keels, swords, spears. They were making ships and raising white wings of sails and daring to use the fury of the winds for their journeys. They were wearing helmets, riding out in chariots to do battle, like the gods themselves.

15 Zeus was full of rage. He seized his largest thunderbolt. “So they want fire,” he said to himself. “I’ll give them fire—more than they can use. I’ll turn their miserable little ball of earth into a cinder.” But then another thought came to him, and he lowered his arm. “No,” he said to himself, “I shall have vengeance—and entertainment too. Let them destroy themselves with their new skills. This will make a long twisted game, interesting to watch. I’ll attend to them later. My first business is with Prometheus.”

16 He called his giant guards and had them seize Prometheus, drag him off to the Caucasus, and there bind him to a mountain peak with great chains specially forged by Hephaestus—chains which even a Titan in agony could not break. And when the friend of man was bound to the mountain, Zeus sent two vultures to hover about him forever, tearing at his belly and eating his liver.

17 Men knew a terrible thing was happening on the mountain, but they did not know what. But the wind shrieked like a giant in torment and sometimes like fierce birds.

18 Many centuries he lay there—until another hero was born brave enough to defy the gods. He climbed to the peak in the Caucasus and struck the shackles from Prometheus and killed the vultures. His name was Heracles.
6
Compare Victor and Prometheus.
Victor ______________________ ______________________ ______________________
Prometheus ______________________ ______________________ ______________________
Other Answer Choices:
Stole knowledge from the gods and gave it to humans
Tried to unlock the secrets of life and death.
Seemed to have a mostly negative impact.
Chained to a rock and tortured for years
Lost his family and friends one by one.
Seemed to have a mostly positive impact
1

At the end of his story, do you feel sympathy for Prometheus? Why or Why not?

1

Do you think Shelley wants you to feel sympathy for Victor? Why or why not?

Why Did He Kill?
1

In this film version of Frankenstein (1931), Victor's assistant, Fritz, is sent to collect body parts for the creature.

What body part is Fritz supposed to collect?

1

What goes wrong with Fritz's attempt to collect this body part?

1

What do you think this is supposed to reveal about the creature in the film version of Frankenstein?

Volume III, Chapter 7, Pages 189–193
3 “Do you think that I was then dead to agony and remorse? Think ye that the groans of Clerval were music to my ears? My heart was fashioned to be susceptible of love and sympathy; and, when wrenched by misery to vice and hatred, it did not endure the violence of the change without torture, such as you cannot even imagine. 4 “I pitied Frankenstein; my pity amounted to horror: I abhorred myself. But when I discovered that he, the author of my existence, sought his own enjoyment in feelings and passions from the indulgence of which I was for ever barred, then impotent envy and bitter indignation filled me with an insatiable thirst for vengeance. 5 “Evil thenceforth became my good. Urged thus far, I had no choice but to adapt my nature to an element which I had willingly chosen. And now it is ended; there is my last victim.”
1

The creature in Mary Shelley's novel and the creature in the film are both responsible for violent events. Based on this scene, how might the creature's motivation in the novel differ from the creature's motivation in the film?

1

Do you feel more sympathy for the creature in the film version or the creature in Mary Shelley's novel? What details make you feel that way?

Who Deserves Our Sympathy?
You will prepare an argument about who better deserves our sympathy: Victor or his creature.

Develop one reason to support your side. Explain your argument clearly and include evidence from the book. You may choose to use these sentence starters to help you get started writing. Include what the other side could argue.

Evidence:
  • For instance, _______.
  • An example is _______.
  • According to the text, _______.
1

Write your argument here. (100 words)

1

Brainstorm 2-3 reasons that supports the other side.

1

Brainstorm 2-3 reasons that supports your side.

Homework
Frankenstein (1931) A Man-Made Monster in Grand Guignol Film Story By MORDAUNT HALL. Published: December 5, 1931 New York Times 1 Out of John L. Balderston’s stage conception of the Mary Shelley classic, “Frankenstein,” James Whale, producer of “Journey’s End” as a play and as a film, has wrought a stirring grand-guignol type of picture, one that aroused so much excitement at the Mayfair yesterday that many in the audience laughed to cover their true feelings. 2 It is an artistically conceived work in which Colin Clive, the Captain Stanhope of the London stage production of the R. C. Sherriff play, was brought from England to act the rôle of Frankenstein, the man who fashions a monster that walks and thinks. It is naturally a morbid, gruesome affair, but it is something to keep the spectator awake, for during its most spine-chilling periods it exacts attention. It was Carl Laemmle, head of Universal, the firm responsible for this current picture, who presented Lon Chaney in “The Hunchback of Notre Dame,” and while, as everybody knows, Quasimodo was a repellent sight, he was a creature for sympathy compared to the hideous monster in this “Frankenstein.” Boris Karloff undertakes the Frankenstein creature and his make-up can be said to suit anybody’s demands. He does not portray a robot but a monster made out of human bodies, and the reason given here for his murderous onslaughts is that Frankenstein’s Man Friday stole an abnormal brain after he had broken the glass bowl containing the normal one. This Frankenstein does not know. 3 No matter what one may say about the melodramatic ideas here, there is no denying that it is far and away the most effective thing of its kind. Beside it “Dracula” is tame and, incidentally, “Dracula” was produced by the same firm, which is also to issue in film form Poe’s “Murders in the Rue Morgue.”

4 There are scenes in Frankenstein’s laboratory in an old windmill, somewhere in Germany, where, during a severe electric storm, the young scientist finally perceives life showing in the object on an operating table. It is not long after that the monster walks, uttering a sound like the mooing of a cow. And then ensues the idea that while Frankenstein is proud of the creature he has made and boasts loudly about his achievement, he soon has reason to fear the brute, and in course of time it attacks Frankenstein’s faithful servant, a bowed and bent little man, and kills him. 5 The scenes swing here and there to the Baron, Frankenstein’s father, efficiently acted by Frederick Kerr, to those of a friend named Victor, played by John Boles, and to Elizabeth, Frankenstein’s fiancée, portrayed by Mae Clarke. This is a relief, but they are all anxious about what Frankenstein is doing. They learn at the psychological moment, and have then still greater anxiety for Frankenstein.

6 Imagine the monster, with black eyes, heavy eyelids, a square head, huge feet that are covered with matting, long arms protruding from the sleeves of a coat, walking like an automaton, and then think of the fear in a village, and especially of the scientist, when it is learned that the monster has escaped from the windmill. It is beheld parading through the woods, sitting down playing with a little girl, and finally being pursued by a mob with flaming torches, for apparently fire is the only thing that causes the monster to hesitate. 7 The sounds of the cries of the pursuers and the strange noises made by the monster add to the disturbing nature of the scenes, and in a penultimate episode there is the struggle between the monster and Frankenstein. As a concession to the motion picture audience, Frankenstein is not killed, but he is badly injured. Two endings were made for this production, and at the eleventh hour it was decided to put in the one in which Frankenstein lives, because it was explained that sympathy is elicited for the young scientist and that the spectators would leave disappointed if the author’s last chapter was adhered to. 8 As for the monster, he is burned when the villagers set fire to the windmill. From the screen comes the sound of the crackling of the blazing woodwork, the hue and cry of the frightened populace and the queer sounds of the dying monster. 9 Mr. Clive adds another fine performance to his list. He succeeds in impressing upon one the earnestness and also the sanity of the scientist, in spite of Frankenstein’s gruesome exploits. Lionel Belmore gives an easy performance as the town burgomaster. Miss Clarke, Edward Van Sloan and Dwight Frye also serve well. 10 FRANKENSTEIN, based on Mary Wollstonecroft Shelley’s book and adapted from John L. Balderston’s play; directed by James Whale; a Universal production. At the Mayfair. 11 Frankenstein. . . . . Colin Clive 12 Elizabeth. . . . . Mae Clarke 13 Victor. . . . . John Boles
14 The Monster. . . . . Boris Karloff 15 Dr. Waldman. . . . . Edward Van Sloan 16 The Dwarf. . . . . Dwight Frye 17 The Baron. . . . . Frederick Kerr 18 The Burgomaster. . . . . Lionel Belmore 19 Peasant Father. . . . . Michael Mark 20 Mary the Child. . . . . Marilyn Harris
Required
1
The film review was published in__________
Required
1

The author says that, as the audience watched the Frankenstein film, they "laughed to cover their true feelings" (1). What does he most likely mean by that?

Required
7

How was the film different from the novel? Select the correct column for each event.

Film only
Novel and Film
The main character is a scientist named Frankenstein.
The creature kills Frankenstein's servant.
Frankenstein accidentally uses an abnormal brain to construct the creature.
Villagers chase the creature with torches and kill him.
Frankenstein brags about creating a creature.
Frankenstein builds a creature out of human parts.
Frankenstein lives in the end.
Required
1

According to the article, the 1931 version of Frankenstein is most similar to which of the following?

Required
1

Which horror film does the reviewer compare Frankenstein to?

Required
1

Fans of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein often complain that no Frankenstein films really tell the original story. Why do you think it is so hard to turn this novel into a film?

Required
3
Arrange a set of debate arguments into the correct order.
1. Opening Argument _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
2. Rebuttal __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
3. Closing Statement _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Other Answer Choices:
In conclusion, Victor deserves sympathy because he saw all his loved ones die. There is another reason that we would like to add in conclusion: Victor really wanted to help humanity and end sickness and death. Even though he failed and caused a lot of suffering, he was trying to do good.
Some people may argue that the creature suffered more and deserves our sympathy more than Victor. But remember that the creature is a murderer, and he murdered innocent people. We do not have any sympathy for the killer of an innocent young boy.
We believe that Victor deserves more sympathy than the creature. The creature suffered a lot, but Victor had to witness all of his loved ones killed one by one.