Victorian Gothic conventions and analysis of short Frankenstein passage

1. What do you know about this 19th
Century text?
How is
Frankenstein’s monster
represented in
fiction and in film?

2. The Victorian
Gothic
The Victorian Gothic moves away from the familiar themes of Gothic fiction that were
popular in the 18th Century - ruined castles, helpless heroines, and evil villains - to situate the
themes of the supernatural, psychological and physical terror and madness within a
recognisable environment
L.O: To be able to understand 19th Century texts in the context of the Victorian Gothic

3. Modern stories and
films with Gothic
settings

4. •The Gothic genre is devoted to
stories of horror, the fantastic,
and the "darker" supernatural
forces.
•The focus is often a change in
rational thought to irrational thought
because something or someone is
scared.

5. • The following slides will go
through some of the common
features of gothic literature.
Please copy them down...
Gothic Characteristics
and Elements

6. • Gothic writing looks at the often
terrifying and bizarre forces of
the spiritual and supernatural –
the world beyond the physical.
Unknown
grotesque
frightening

7. Good versus Evil
• It paints life as a
mixture of good and
evil powers that
cannot be
understood
completely by
human reason.

8. • Supernatural
images and beings
appear throughout
the Gothic genre.
These can include:
–Vampires
–Ghosts
–Werewolves
–Monsters
The
Supernatural

9. The Double or
Doppelganger
(German for
‘double-goer’)
This refers to a
second self or
alternate identity,
sometimes, but not
always, a physical
twin.
Does this remind you of any
19th Century texts?

10. Forbidden Knowledge or
Power
Often the hero will struggle to
gain knowledge or power.
Does this remind you of any
19th Century texts?

11. The Fallen Hero
The search for forbidden
knowledge or power leads the
hero to a fall or destruction,
such as Satan’s or Adam’s fall.
Consequently, the hero in
Gothic literature is often a
"villain." The hero is isolated
from others and either
becomes a monster
or confronts a monster who is
his double.

12. Dreams/Visions:
Terrible truths are
often revealed to
characters through
dreams or visions. The
hidden knowledge of
the universe emerges
through dreams
because, when the
person sleeps, reason
sleeps, and the
supernatural, world can
break through.
Does this remind you of any
19th Century texts?

13. Foreshadowing/
Omens:
Strange
happenings in
nature often
represent conflict
in the character’s
mind
Does this remind you of any
19th Century texts?

14. Often there
is a female
victim
Does this remind you of any
19th Century texts?

15. A scary atmosphere
The setting of
gothic stories is
usually in some
remote, out of
reach place,
and could
include an old
mansion or
castle.

16. Definition: The attribution of human
emotions or characteristics to inanimate
objects or to nature; for example, angry
clouds; a cruel wind.
Gothic literature often contains
examples of pathetic fallacy, which help
to establish an eerie setting or character.
Pathetic fallacy

17. Gothic in Art: Dante’s Inferno

18. What gothic conventions can you
Identify in the extract?

19. 1. List the descriptors of Frankenstein’s monster in the
extract.
2. Victor Frankenstein’s first reference to the creature is
as ‘the lifeless thing’. Find all the other nouns and
noun phrases that he uses to name his creation. What
do these descriptions suggest about his feeling
towards it?
3. How do Frankenstein’s emotions progress from the
beginning of the extract to the horror he feels at the
end of the passage?
4. How has Shelley portrayed Victor’s fears, expectations
and reality in this passage?
5. Look at the behaviour of the monster in paragraph
three. What do you think it was trying to express? How
does Frankenstein react to it?

20. How is Victor’s despair and horror captured as the extract progress?
Create a PEEZL paragraph or two
–Point:
- Evidence: We can see this in the quote,
“………………..”
–Explain: This suggests………..
–Zoom – The word/phrase “………………..”
implies…………….

21. Plenary
321
3things you have learned:
-
-
-
2questions that you want to ask about your
learning:
-
-
1way in which today’s learning links with
another subject or something in the wider-
world.