1. The four key characteristics of Romanticism are: emphasis on emotions, love of natural beauty, innocence of children, and a fascination with mysticism. How many of these can you find in the story? 

2. The story opens with a series of letters by Walton to his sister. Why does the author start the story there? What is Walton trying to do? Is what he is doing good or bad? Consider what Walton says here: “One man’s life or death were but a small price to pay for the acquirement of the knowledge which I sought.” –Letter IV

3. In Letter IV, Victor warns Walton, saying: “You seek for knowledge and wisdom, as I once did; and I ardently hope that the gratification of your wishes may not be a serpent to sting you, as mine has been.” How does Frankenstein relate and connect to the garden of Eden?

4. Victor says in Chapter 2, “The world was to me a secret which I desired to divine.” How does Victor view the world? What is faulty with his desire about the world? What does Victor want to do with the world? Does Victor understand the spiritual realities of the world? 

5. In Chapter 4, Victor says, “No father could claim the gratitude of his child so completely as I should deserve theirs. Pursuing these reflections, I thought, that if I could bestow animation upon lifeless matter, I might in the process of time renew life where death had apparently devoted the body to corruption.” What is the relationship between a father and a son? How is that relationship different from the relationship between a scientist and his invention?  

6. In Chapter 10, the creature says to Victor, “Remember, that I am thy creature; I ought to be thy Adam; but I am rather the fallen angel, whom thou drivest from joy for no misdeed.” How does the creature view himself and why? How do books shape the creature’s view of the world? 

7. In Chapter 10, the creature says to Victor, “Make me happy, and I shall again be virtuous.” Does happiness make one virtuous? Are evil people unhappy people? Can good people experience hard trials and still remain good?  

8. There are three types of villains: 1. The villain that hates what he does but has an outside motive, 2. The villain that thinks what he is doing is right, 3. The villain that knows what he is doing is evil. Which is Victor? Which is the creature? 

9. In Chapter 17, the Creature says, “You must create a female for me, with whom I can live in the interchange of those sympathies necessary for my being.” What might go wrong if Victor creates a female?

10. In the final section, Victor says, “Like the archangel who aspired to omnipotence, I am chained in an eternal hell.” When did Victor become Satan? How are Victor and his creature similar?