FRANKENSTEIN It never fails! It s your theatre
FRANKENSTEIN BEFORE GOING TO THE THEATRE THE STORY 1.- Read the story of Frankenstein Victor Frankenstein is a brilliant scientist in love with his fiancée Elizabeth. Everything is perfect in his life, but one day his mother dies and he is devastated. As a consequence, he decides to experiment with human life and he builds a human being using parts taken from different dead bodies. When he finishes, he realizes he has created a monster. The monster awakens and, seeing his image in the mirror, he runs away, taking Victor s journal with him. On his way, he is insulted and beaten by several people. After a while he comes to a forest where he meets a blind woman who, unable to see his appearance, treats him as a human being. However, her son arrives and chases the monster away. Reading the journal, the monster discovers what he really is and swears revenge against Victor, his creator. First, he kills Clerval, Victor s best friend, and then he asks Victor to create a female monster to spend his life with. If not, he will suffer the consequences. Victor does not want to create this new monster, so he decides to run away with Elizabeth. Nevertheless, the monster finds them and kills Elizabeth on their wedding night. Victor feels a great sorrow and decides to revive Elizabeth using his abilities as a scientist, without realizing he is doing exactly what the monster had demanded. Elizabeth revives, but seeing herself in the mirror, she discovers her new nature and kills herself. Having lost all his family, Victor decides to chase the monster to destroy him. Finally, he arrives at the North Pole, where he tells his story to Robert Walton, an English explorer, before dying. Victor s monster appears then to take his father s body. 2
READING COMPREHENSION 2.- Answer the following questions related to the text: a) Who is Victor Frankenstein? b) Who is Elizabeth? c) What is their relationship? d) What kind of experiments is Victor doing? e) Does he succeed? How so? f) How do people treat the monster? g) Why does the monster seek revenge against Victor? h) What does the monster ask Victor? 3
i) Does Victor agree? Why? j) How does the monster take his revenge? VOCABULARY 3.- Define the following words appearing in the play: a) Needle: b) Misfortune: c) Defy: d) Devil: e) Disease: f) Rush: g) Defeat: h) Corpse: 4
i) Journal: j) Evil: 4.- Make a sentence with each one of the words appearing in exercise 3: a) b) c) d) e) f) g) h) i) j) 5
WRITING 5.- Imagine you are Victor Frankenstein and you keep a journal where you explain about your new experiment. Write about the different phases of your experiment. (About 200 words). 6
6.- Do you know who wrote Frankenstein? Where was she from? Do you know any other novels written by her? Is the date of publication relevant to understanding this work? Why? Search on the Internet and try to find information about this novel. 7
AFTER GOING TO THE THEATRE 7.- Answer the following questions related to the play. a)why do you think Victor Frankenstein wants to create the monster? b) Do you think such an idea is ethical? Why? Why not? c) Why is the monster unhappy? Do you understand his unhappiness? d) Why, in your opinion, does Elizabeth kill herself? e) Why do you think the monster comes to take Victor s body at the end of the play? Why does he call him father? f) Is Frankenstein the monster s father? 8
LISTENING 8.- Listen to track 13 and answer the following questions: a) What characters are speaking in this scene? b) Where are they? c) Why are they so sad? What has happened? d) What characters are going to get married? e) Are they going to have dinner together? 9.- Listen to track 14 and answer the following questions: a) What is Victor doing in his laboratory? b) What elements is he using? c) What is Clerval s reaction? d) Why does Victor want to do this? e) Do Victor and Clerval part as friends? 9
SPEAKING 10.- Work in pairs. Explain to your partner who your favourite character in the play was and why. Then change roles. WRITING 11.- Write a description of each one of the main characters appearing in the play.(about 300 words) 10
WRITING 12.- Did you enjoy the story? Write a brief review and send it to us. We would like to know your opinion. Tell us which part you liked the most, which one the least, if you would change or add something 11
VOCABULARY 13.- Look at the list of vocabulary below. If there are any words you do not know, look them up in your dictionary. All these words appear in the play. According to Balance Corpse Crazy Defeat Defy Develop Devil Disease Guest Incurable In spite of Journal Knowledge Look after Lung Misfortune Needle Priest Purpose Reach Revenge Rush Succeed Threaten Trace Unfair Weak 12
TEACHER S NOTES AND ANSWERS READING COMPREHENSION 2.- Answer the following questions related to the text: a) He is a scientist. b) She is Victor s fiancée. c) They are a couple about to get married. d) He is trying to create a human being. e) Yes, he does. He creates a new human being using parts taken from dead bodies. f) He is chased and beaten. g) He considers him responsible for his misfortune. h) He asks him to create a new human being, a female. i) No, he doesn t. He doesn t want to create another monster. j) He kills Clerval, Victor s friend, and Elizabeth, Victor s fiancée. LISTENING 8.- Listen to track 13 and answer the following questions: a) Victor, Elizabeth and Clerval. b) At the cemetery. c) They are sad because Victor s mother has just died. e) Victor and Elizabeth. f) Yes, they are. 9.- Listen to track 14 and answer the following questions: a) He is doing some kind of experiment. b) He is using electricity and a human body. c) He is scared. d) He wants to control life and death. e) No, they don t. They get angry. 13
VOCABULARY 13.- Look at the list of vocabulary below. If there are any words you do not know, look them up in your dictionary. All these words appear in the play. According to: as stated by someone. Balance: a state of equality. Corpse: a dead body. Crazy: mad. Defeat: To win a battle, contest, election against another Defy: confront. Develop: to change to a more advanced form. Devil: an evil spirit opposite to God. Disease: Illness. Evil: wrong, bad. Guest: an invited person. Incurable: not able to be cured. In spite of: despite, although. Journal: diary. Knowledge: information about a topic. Look after: take care of something/someone. Lung: an organ used to breathe. Misfortune: bad luck. Needle: A small object with a point end at one side and a hole at the other side used to sew clothes. Priest: A person who has been trained to perform religious duties. Purpose: why you do something or why something exists. Reach: to arrive at a place. Revenge: harm done to someone as a punishment for harm they have done. Rush: to move very fast. Succeed: to achieve a desired result. Threaten: to tell someone that you will kill or harm them. Trace: a sign that something has happened or existed. Unfair: not treating people in an equal way. Weak: the opposite of strong. 14
Information and reservations Telephone 934 740 002 Fax 902 370 070 On line section Reservas Transeduca, S.L. C/ Doctor Valentí Carulla, 9 08940 Cornellà de Llobregat Barcelona Frankenstein Teaching pack: Noelia Díaz López Mary Shelley s classic par excellence in English for your pupils. Bring out your most gothic part and consider with us the limits of science and morality. A show for the older pupils with the most suitable grammar and vocabulary. The modern Prometheus is awaiting you, don t let him down! Cròniques de la veritat oculta (NOMES CATALA) OTHER PLAYS High School