Exam Prep Questions and Answers

Compare each novel's different aspects that make the main characters (Victor and Macbeth) a tragic hero. 

A tragic hero is a character that fills a high position, has a good moral system, and has problems relatable to the audience. The key element to a tragic hero is that their downfall is a result of free choice, and/or a character flaw. The hero will have a moment of discovery but it will be to late to change their outcome, and they will die a brutal death. Macbeth starts out at the high position of Thane of Glames, has an understanding the nature of society, and has the relatable problem of ambition. Due to his choice to listen to his wife and give into his over-confidence, Macbeth a great tragedy and kills the King. Hr realizes his mistake in his actions, but after those actions have carried him to far. He is caught by Malcolm and will be executed. Victor Frankenstein starts out as a only child in a rich merchant family, has a good sense of right and wrong, and has the relatable problem of arrogant pride. Due to his choice on how to deal with his Mother's death Victor becomes obsessed with beating death, It is only after he has created the monster and caused several deaths that he realizes his mistakes, but by this point it is to late and all his loved ones are gone. Victor dies after a long exhausting chase for the monster, but not in peace because the monster still lives.

In Frankenstein, who would be the puppet master? What is their ultimate goal?

In Frankenstein, the puppet master is Victor Frankenstein. This is because Victor controlled the outcome in the story. He dictated what his family knew, just as the puppet master does with the human race. Victor creates the monster us to abandon it, controlling how the monster would view society, human kind, and the world itself. When Justine was accused of the murder Victor was the one who controlled the outcome of her life, when the monster wanted a mate Victor controlled the fate of if he was to get one, when the monster threatened to destroy his happiness it was Victor who made the decision to marry Elizabeth her and cause her death. No matter what tragedy occurred Victor always made a choice that caused it. His ultimate goal as the puppet master was to have power over the monster, which he had as soon as he abandoned it.

Who do you believe controls Macbeth's decisions? Give proof. 

 

I believe that Macbeth controls his own decisions. Lady Macbeth used manipulation and threats to attempt to sway his decisions, well the Witch's used the supernatural and spells to sway him. But at the end of it all Macbeth had complete control in his desicions he made, you see proof of his decision making process in Act one, Scene three. Macbeth admits his desire to be King and but believes it would be wrong to harm him; showing he thought through his decision before giving it any action. There is also several other scenes he stops to think to himself about what he should do, and if its the right thing to do, for example dinner at his home. Those scenes proving to the audience that he had control over his choices, no individual can be forced to do something they truly don't wanna do. If Macbeth honestly did not want to commit the murder he would have just refused his wife and thought nothing more of it.       

Compare Victor and Macbeth in a chart, who made worse decisions? Why do you think this?

Victor Frankenstein: 

- Abandons his family to attend school 

- Lets obsession overtake his life

- Creates a monster and then abandons him 

- Lets Justine be executed for the murder of William, despite his knowledge that the monster did it

- Refuses to tell his loved ones about the creation out of his selfish need to look good

- Watches his entire family die one by one and does nothing about it

- Does not  make the monster a mate and leaves him forever alone

Macbeth:

-Betrays his morals for power

-Murders his cousin to take his position as King

-Turns to evil

-Murders his best friend in attempt to cover up his tracks

-Overtakes Scotland

-Does nothing to stop his wife from committing suicide

-Lies to his entire country out of greed for power

Comparing the two characters Victor Frankenstein makes the worse decisions. I say this because Macbeth made his decisions out of insanity and ambition, well Victor made his out of pure selfishness. Macbeth caused the deaths of his cousin, best friend, wife, and Macduff's entire family. As Victor caused the deaths of wife, father, brother, best friend, and family friend, leaving him alone in the world. Due to the fact that Victor's decisions were pure selfishness, compared to insanity makes him the worse individual.     

What kinds of archetypes are demonstrated in this poem? Explain. 

 

In this poem the main archetype is a grieving mother. The poem shows many pieces of evidence to support this archetype, the title for example.Childless Woman is clear reference to a mother who loses the child, my interpretation is a miscarriage. The poem's content supports this idea with lines such as "uttering nothing but blood", and "Discharges itself from the tree with nowhere to go.". They are referring to the tragic event of losing a child, and the graphic scene that comes with it.   

Frankenstein Questions

1. Briefly summarize what we learn about Victor’s family and background. Remember, we are trying to see how things from his childhood would affect him to build the man he becomes. 

In chapter one and two we learn several things about Victor's family and background. We learn that he was born and raised in Switzerland into a family of merchants. His Father marries late has he is a very career minded person, and ends up betrothing his friends daughter. His life long friend Beaufort loses all his riches and is forced to live in poverty, due to this poverty he gets very depressed and eventually passes away from his grief. When this happens his Father feels obligated out of duty to take his daughter Caroline into his care, and ends up marrying her. After Victor is born, and they take a family trip to see the Italian countryside. Due to being an only child for so long he becomes spoiled. During there trip they find a beautiful blonde girl that has been orphaned by her family, and Caroline decides to bring home and make her the daughter they never had and Victor's future wife. Victor and Elizabeth become the best of friends, along with their schoolmate Henry Clerval. Victor finds a novel written by Cornelius Agrippa, this begins his love for natural sciences. It did not take him long to branch out to other natural scientists such as Paracelsus and Alberta Magnas.

2. We see some immediate evidence of this old concept that people ARE their looks, or rather, that their looks are their personalities. Look for this in these chapters and evaluate.

The immediate evidence we see that people are there looks when Caroline discovers Elizabeth on the Italian countryside. Elizabeth is seen as an angel in a sense, because of her fragile features, blond hair and white comp-lactation. If you follow the mind set that people are their looks, then Elizabeth is pure.     

3. Compare the personalities and essential nature of each of the three young friends - Victor, Henri Clerval and Elizabeth. A chart would be handy for this.

Elizabeth Beaufort and Henry Clerval were kind loving people. they were loyal to their friends even in the worst situations. For example, Justine accused of murder, and Victors insanity after making the monster. Victors unlike these two. He is greedy and self centered. He let Justine be accused of murder when he knew it was his creation. Also, he expected his creature to be more than he is. He abandoned it because he wasn't good enough.   

4. Do some research and give me a brief outline of the three thinkers whom Victor studied in his youth: Cornelius Agrippa, Paracelsus and Albertus Magnus.

Cornelius Agrippa (1486- c.1535) was a philosopher and scientist with a deep interest with magic, astrology and other supernatural aspects. He was a critic of the church system and argued for a return to the old and new testaments as the basis of christian teachings. Paracelsus (1490-1451) was a renowned physician in the first century. Due to his studies in medicine he contributed a large amount of understanding and treatment of disease. He had a great interest in alchemy and was thought to be a fake who relied on magic and superstition as much as he did science. Albertus Magnus (c.1205- c.1278) was a very versatile scholar whose work ranged from philosophy and theology to psychology and natural science. He had a strong opinion that experimental science and christian faith were able to co-exist together without conflict. He was excused of using sorcery and magic instead of theology.   

5. Describe Victor’s interest in these thinkers and consider why they appealed to him.

Victor's main interest in these thinkers was that they all were thought to use supernatural powers such as magic in their work. Magic is something that is not understood and goes against the natural way of life, defying God. Due to Victor's obsession to defeat, which goes against the natural way of life, he is appealed to this supernatural possibility of anything.      

Lady Macbeth Character Sketch

   In the beginning of the play Lady Macbeth is portrayed as an arrogant, self-indulged wife. In act one, scene five Lady Macbeth is first introduced to the audience, you see her reading a letter from her husband that had been sent to her. Macbeth informs his wife of the witch’s prophecy and the new title of Thane of Cawdor. Upon hearing the news she gets immediately thrilled by the idea of being royalty and thrilled by the idea of being in becoming so. Due to her arrogance she believes that she could kill the king and not get caught. This scene clearly shows the degree of her arrogance and the starting point in her character arc.

   You see Lady Macbeth’s character begin to take another step in act five, scene one when her sleepwalking begins. During her sleepwalking episodes she confess’s to the murder and constantly scrubs her hands in attempt to wash away the murder. This is showing her arrogant attitude is giving way, and she is being brought back to reality that is life.

    Lady Macbeth’s transformation is complete in act five, scene five when she is completely brought back to reality and her illusions of strength have crumbled. She finally understands the consequences of going against nature and cannot handle it. Macbeth hears a woman’s scream, the is Lady Macbeth ending her life.