Creation, responsibility and the Romantic context
Frankenstein is a story about a scientist who runs from what he makes. Shelley wrote it in an age obsessed with science's power, and the question she asks is moral, not technical.
Part of your national curriculum
- Reading: Draw on knowledge of the purpose, audience for and context of the writing, including its social, historical and cultural context and the literary tradition to which it belongs
Lesson overview
What you'll learn in this lesson
Draw on knowledge of the purpose, audience for and context of the writing, including its social, historical and cultural context and the literary tradition to which it belongs
Key learning points
- • The Romantic warning
- • Galvanism and the science of the age
- • The abandoned creator
- • Paratext: the subtitle
This lesson at a glance
- 28 minutes
- 20 parts to scroll through
- 4 quick checks
- Marked quiz at the end
- Gentle pace: short sittings with pauses
Words to know
Scroll down — the lesson carries on below
Watch & discover
Part 1 of 20
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Creation, responsibility and the Romantic context
See the Romantic warning: ambition without feeling or responsibility is the real monster.
In a nutshell
Draw on knowledge of the purpose, audience for and context of the writing, including its social, historical and cultural context and the literary tradition to which it belongs
Learning cycle
Part 2 of 20
Learning cycle 1 of 2
Part 1 · The Romantic warning
A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.
Explore the idea
Part 3 of 20
Learn
The Romantic warning
Mary Shelley was part of the Romantic movement, which celebrated intense feeling and nature but warned against unchecked intellect. Victor's sin is not curiosity — it is refusing the warning of nature (he works by night, skips letters home, neglects his health) and then refusing responsibility for what he makes.
Reset break
Part 4 of 20
Pause
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Stretch, get a drink, look out of the window. There is no timer and nothing is counting down — your place is saved, so you can come back in five minutes or tomorrow.
Explore the idea
Part 5 of 20
Learn
Galvanism and the science of the age
Real scientists of the 1810s used electricity on dead animals, probing whether life could be restored. Shelley does not explain Victor's method, and that omission is deliberate: the danger is the ambition, not the recipe. Naming the real science would let readers dismiss it as 'just' a fad.
Quick check
Part 6 of 20
Quick check
Part 7 of 20
Reset break
Part 8 of 20
Pause
That's sitting 2 of 5 done
Stretch, get a drink, look out of the window. There is no timer and nothing is counting down — your place is saved, so you can come back in five minutes or tomorrow.
Learning cycle
Part 9 of 20
Learning cycle 2 of 2
Part 2 · The abandoned creator
A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.
Explore the idea
Part 10 of 20
Learn
The abandoned creator
Victor's defining act is to flee the moment the Creature opens its eye. The novel's tragedy is not the making but the abandonment. The Creature learns language and kindness from watching a family, then is refused both — Shelley's argument is that monstrosity is made by rejection, not born in it.
Explore the idea
Part 11 of 20
Learn
Paratext: the subtitle
The subtitle 'The Modern Prometheus' names the Greek titan who stole fire for humans and was punished forever. The allusion tells the reader before page one that this is a story about a gift that becomes a curse, and about a punishment that fits the pride.
Reset break
Part 12 of 20
Pause
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Stretch, get a drink, look out of the window. There is no timer and nothing is counting down — your place is saved, so you can come back in five minutes or tomorrow.
Quick check
Part 13 of 20
Quick check
Part 14 of 20
Explore the idea
Part 15 of 20
Worked example
Model paragraph
Shelley gives the Creature his own eloquent narrative precisely so the reader cannot treat him as a thing. By the time he describes learning language from a family he dare not approach, monstrosity has shifted: the reader now suspects it lives in the creator who fled, not the creature who was left.
Reset break
Part 16 of 20
Pause
That's sitting 4 of 5 done
Stretch, get a drink, look out of the window. There is no timer and nothing is counting down — your place is saved, so you can come back in five minutes or tomorrow.
Challenge round
Part 17 of 20
Game · Sort it
Which of these are true?
Drag each card into the right column. Tap a card first if dragging is fiddly.
True
Not true
Challenge round
Part 18 of 20
Game · Recall cards
Why does dialogue often describe the time of day?
Card 1 of 4
Mastery quiz
Part 19 of 20
Marked quiz
End of lesson quiz: Creation, responsibility and the Romantic context
4 questions, marked with the reasoning shown. No timer.
1. Why does dialogue often describe the time of day?
2. Which is a genuine contextual comment rather than decoration?
3. Why do modern productions of the same play differ in meaning?
4. ‘Literary tradition’ means:
Lesson round-up
Part 20 of 20
Lesson round-up
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Draw on knowledge of the purpose, audience for and context of the writing, including its social, historical and cultural context and the literary tradition to which it belongs