5V Frankenstein Week 1 Lesson 1 introduction

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• vwo
• Leerjaar 5

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Week 1 Lesson 1

In Class Today

• Introduction to the theme
• The assessment 
• Mary Shelley
• Historical Context
• The workbook
• Picking a theme
• Start reading

Introduction to the theme

• Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
• Several chapters each week
• Analyse segments from each chapter each week
• 1 assessment

The assessment

A choice:

• a 5 paragraph 750 word essay 

or

• An infographic

More information will follow as the theme progresses

Mary Shelley

The Life of Mary Shelley

• Born 30 August 1797 as Mary Godwin
  
• Father was a political philosopher
  
• Mother was philosopher and feminist and died ten days after her birth
• Brought up by her father
  
• Encouraged in political views; homeschooled
  
• Father remarried, Mary despised her stepmother
  
• Financial problems
  

Percy Shelley

• Her father’s political follower
• Married to Harriet
• They fell in love when Mary was 16 and Percy was 21 years old
• Father disapproved 
• They eloped to France, leaving his pregnant wife Harriet
• Again, financial problems
• Married days after Harriet’s death

Mary's losses

1797 - Mother dies ten days after Mary’s birth 

1815 - Mary loses first daughter only weeks after birth

1816 - Fanny, her half-sister commits suicide

1816 - Harriet Shelley, Percy’s wife, drowns herself while pregnant

1818 – Mary’s daughter dies

1819 – Mary’s son dies

1822 – Miscarriage

1822 – Percy Shelley dies at sea at age 29

1824 – Friend Lord Byron dies

1826 – Percy and Harriet’s son dies after being struck by lightning

1831 – Mary’s half-brother dies

1836 – Mary’s father dies

1851 – Mary dies from a brain tumor at age 53

Historical/social context

It is set in the latter part of the 18th century, at the end of the Enlightenment and the beginning of the Romantic period.

It critizes the excesses of the Enlightenment and introduces the beliefs of the Romantics.

Romanticism: political and social revolt, attraction to the supernatural, the morbid, and the cruel.

Historical/social context

It reflects a shift in social and political thought - from humans as creatures who use science and reason to shape and control their destiny (Enlightenment) to humans as creatures who rely on their emotions to determine what is right (Romanticism). 

Other influences:

• Darwin and his religious views
• The Industrial Revolution
• the British Empire's expanding wealth and influence

Frankenstein

Published in 1818

The workbook

Read several chapters each week

Analyse several segments from these chapters each week

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dfhlcx-ttvcjNoJNoQ12cbb3u--_WBhoyRKpqSndItg/edit?usp=sharing

Pick a theme

Themes Key

1. Family, Society and Isolation
2. Ambition and Fallibility
3. Romanticism and Nature
4. Revenge
5. Prejudice
6. Lost Innocence

Start reading