Uploaded May 2023 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
For ESL teachings. No copyright infringements
5) Fill in the blanks based on what you listen:
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. ___________________, it’s a novel about a scary monster, but her sympathetic description of a soulful creature makes us rethink who we label as the “monster.” Remember, this is not Frankenstein. This is. Although Shelley’s character was not a doctor of any kind, he actually never even finished his university studies. I’ve decided to refer to him as Dr. Frankenstein as he was first called in the 1931 movie to emphasize the distinction between him and his creation.
Dr. Frankenstein was the Scientist who created the nameless Creature. Shelley’s Dr. Frankenstein ____________________ his Creature from materials found in “charnel houses,” the vaults where corpses were kept. But he also took bits from “the slaughter-house.” So, yes, her Creature is made of both human and animal parts.
But here’s the thing. The Creature definitely looks scary, but just because something looks scary, doesn’t mean it is. Shelley’s original creation is a highly intelligent vegetarian who hates the idea of harming another living creature. At the beginning of the novel, he wants nothing more than to be accepted and loved by another being.
Ironically, it’s the monstrous treatment he receives from humans that drives him to kill.
Dr. Frankenstein abandons the Creature at the moment of his animation, letting what basically amounts to a newborn ____________________ into the darkness alone to defend for himself.
The tension between Frankenstein and the Creature represents the struggle between parent and child, self and other, love and hate, science and morality, abandonment and acceptance.
It’s a warning, to treat all living things with respect, or else.
What led Mary Shelley to explore these dark and tragic themes? ...That’s complicated.
Mary’s life was _______________ by death. Her own mother died from delivery complications only a few days after giving birth. Shelley would mourn the woman she never knew for the rest of her life. Shelley’s first child with her married lover Percy died shortly after birth in 1815.
The following year was known as the “Year without a summer” due to the ________________ effects of the eruption of Mount Tambora.
Shelley’s story came to her in a nightmare. In 1818, she finished Frankenstein, and was finally able to get married - but only because Percy’s pregnant wife committed suicide.
Mary’s second child Clara, also died that year, and their third child, William followed Clara to the grave in 1819. Then, just four years later, in 1822, Percy’s drowned body washed ashore.
All that death and ____________________ may be why when editing Frankenstein for an 1831 edition, Shelley made Dr. Frankenstein’s decision to form the Creature a matter of “fate.”
This change makes the Creature more of a monster as his violence and desire to destroy Frankenstein becomes his “destiny.”
The 2017 comic series Victor LaValle’s Destroyer updates Shelley’s story for the current
moment - adding important conversations about race, gender, immigration, police brutality, social injustice, and the proliferation of violence in the modern world. All of these interpretations show sympathy for both the creatures and their tragically __________ creators.
Despite all the destruction that comes from scientific experimentation in these adaptations,
I don’t believe Shelley intended her original story to scare readers into believing all science is evil or monstrous. I do think she warns us to consider the repercussions of technological and scientific advancement. Just because we can, doesn’t mean we should. Shelley’s novel calls us to be _________________ for what we create, and what might be destroyed in the process.
For ESL teachings. No copyright infringements
5) Fill in the blanks based on what you listen:
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. ___________________, it’s a novel about a scary monster, but her sympathetic description of a soulful creature makes us rethink who we label as the “monster.” Remember, this is not Frankenstein. This is. Although Shelley’s character was not a doctor of any kind, he actually never even finished his university studies. I’ve decided to refer to him as Dr. Frankenstein as he was first called in the 1931 movie to emphasize the distinction between him and his creation.
Dr. Frankenstein was the Scientist who created the nameless Creature. Shelley’s Dr. Frankenstein ____________________ his Creature from materials found in “charnel houses,” the vaults where corpses were kept. But he also took bits from “the slaughter-house.” So, yes, her Creature is made of both human and animal parts.
But here’s the thing. The Creature definitely looks scary, but just because something looks scary, doesn’t mean it is. Shelley’s original creation is a highly intelligent vegetarian who hates the idea of harming another living creature. At the beginning of the novel, he wants nothing more than to be accepted and loved by another being.
Ironically, it’s the monstrous treatment he receives from humans that drives him to kill.
Dr. Frankenstein abandons the Creature at the moment of his animation, letting what basically amounts to a newborn ____________________ into the darkness alone to defend for himself.
The tension between Frankenstein and the Creature represents the struggle between parent and child, self and other, love and hate, science and morality, abandonment and acceptance.
It’s a warning, to treat all living things with respect, or else.
What led Mary Shelley to explore these dark and tragic themes? ...That’s complicated.
Mary’s life was _______________ by death. Her own mother died from delivery complications only a few days after giving birth. Shelley would mourn the woman she never knew for the rest of her life. Shelley’s first child with her married lover Percy died shortly after birth in 1815.
The following year was known as the “Year without a summer” due to the ________________ effects of the eruption of Mount Tambora.
Shelley’s story came to her in a nightmare. In 1818, she finished Frankenstein, and was finally able to get married - but only because Percy’s pregnant wife committed suicide.
Mary’s second child Clara, also died that year, and their third child, William followed Clara to the grave in 1819. Then, just four years later, in 1822, Percy’s drowned body washed ashore.
All that death and ____________________ may be why when editing Frankenstein for an 1831 edition, Shelley made Dr. Frankenstein’s decision to form the Creature a matter of “fate.”
This change makes the Creature more of a monster as his violence and desire to destroy Frankenstein becomes his “destiny.”
The 2017 comic series Victor LaValle’s Destroyer updates Shelley’s story for the current
moment - adding important conversations about race, gender, immigration, police brutality, social injustice, and the proliferation of violence in the modern world. All of these interpretations show sympathy for both the creatures and their tragically __________ creators.
Despite all the destruction that comes from scientific experimentation in these adaptations,
I don’t believe Shelley intended her original story to scare readers into believing all science is evil or monstrous. I do think she warns us to consider the repercussions of technological and scientific advancement. Just because we can, doesn’t mean we should. Shelley’s novel calls us to be _________________ for what we create, and what might be destroyed in the process.
