Lesson 8 Speaking & Listening - Press Conference

Learning Intention

I can create a convincing character using words and non-verbal features

Key Competency

Relating to Others

Success Criteria

In drama:

I can use body language to express emotions and attitude

I can stay in character for the duration of a performance

I can respond to others' characters through my own

Lesson 7 After reading: Chapters 6-8 The death of William and Justine.

• Chapter 6 mainly serves as exposition through Elizabeth’s letter, developing the reader’s sense of William and Justine as characters. But what might Elizabeth’s letter suggest about her character and her relationship with Victor?
• How does Shelley make the reappearance of the creature in Chapter 7 dramatic? Also in this chapter how does the landscape and weather reflect Victor’s state of mind?
• How does Shelley present the justice system in Geneva during the trial of Justine? Considering gender representation contrast how Shelley presents Elizabeth and Justine with Victor/the men during Chapter 8.
• ‘Justine’ could be seen as an ironic name for a character who suffers such injustice. Consider the significance of other names in the novel, such as Victor, Elizabeth and the unnamed creature. How are names important in the novel?
• Victor never attempts to speak up for Justine – what reasons does he give and how do you react to them? Imagine that you could have put Victor on the stand; in your group devise questions you would ask and take it in turns to ‘hotseat’ Victor.  

Lesson 6 After reading: Chapter 5 The Creation

• Discuss how film versions have altered perceptions the creation scene. Watch the 1994 version (Kenneth Branagh). 
• Watch the extract from the 1931 version (James Whale).

• Produce a grid comparing the film versions to the sparse details in the opening to Chapter 5.

• Look closely at the opening of the chapter down to Victor’s dream of his dead mother. Make detailed notes in pairs on how Shelley uses language to create an atmosphere of gothic horror: features could include imagery, diction, allusion, symbolism, pathetic fallacy, onomatopoeia, fractured syntax, rhetorical questions. It is recommended that you copy the text from Gutenberg (Google it) so you can annotate it in Word, Google Docs or print it out for writing on.
• The National Theatre production opened with the creation scene. Why might the writer/director have wanted to start there? What would the novel lose/gain by doing the same?
• A key moment of textual ambiguity is Victor’s description of the Creature’s ‘hand…stretched out, seemingly to detain me.’ are there any other possible interpretations of this moment? Explore the concept of the unreliable narrator.
• Make individual notes on Victor’s immediate reaction to the creation of the creature. 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-12565544 (useful summary of reviews of the national theatre production)

NB Correct use of the term ambiguity in essays is a useful way of showing the examiner that you are aware texts have more than one possible meaning. 

Lesson 5 After reading: Chapters 3-4 Victor as scientist

• Read Chapter 3. Discuss your reactions to Caroline’s death and the betrothal of Victor and Elizabeth. What impression is given of science in this chapter?
• Find out / remind yourself about key contemporary scientific influences on Mary Shelley such as Galvanist scientist Luigi Galvani, Erasmus Darwin (mentioned in the 1818 preface by Percy Shelley) and Sir Humphrey Davy.
• Look up the definition of Science Fiction in a Dictionary of Literary Terms. Discuss and make notes on how far Frankenstein could be classified as science fiction.
• Close focus on the end of chapter 4. How does Shelley create an atmosphere of horror and dread around Victor’s experiments? Note also words from the semantic field of birth (‘conceive’, ‘labour’, ‘bore’) – why might Shelley use them?

www.neh.gov/news/humanities/2002-09/itsalive.html (useful background essay on the science which influenced Mary Shelley)

Lesson 4 After reading: Chapters 1 & 2 Victor's Early Life

CH 1. Class close reading and note taking / discussion of the first chapter. Key questions:

• What do you make of the rather unusual way Victor’s parents got together?
• How far are you convinced by Victor’s description of an idyllic childhood – what might be suggested by the image of the ‘silken cord’?
• How are Caroline (with her ‘soft and benevolent mind’) and Elizabeth (‘my more than sister’) presented in this chapter?
• Why might Mary Shelley have given such an emphasis to describing Victor’s family? (note that this is a novel very concerned with parental responsibility).

CH2. Close focus on the passage from the description of the lightning strike on the tree to the end of the chapter. Consider symbolism of lightning – what might it represent (fate, violent nature, electricity…?) Begin process of cataloguing recurring symbols in the novel (e.g. fire, lightning, light, books) in notes. 


You should consider the polysemy of symbols, that they can represent more than one concept.