Essay Assignment Three - Frankenstein - 50 Points

Requirements:  

1. YOU MUST TURN IN BOTH YOUR ESSAY AND AN OUTLINE OF YOUR ESSAY ON A SEPARATE PAGE. The outline should have at least one line for each paragraph. Your thesis statement should be included in full.

2. Your essay should be word-processed, double-spaced, one-inch to one and one-half inch margins.

3.. It should be spell-checked.

4. Your name and the page number should be on each page.

5. Each paragraph should be numbered.

6. Each essay should be approximately 3 pages long (not including the Works Consulted page).

7.  Be sure to cite all sources used.  You must include a Works Consulted page which contains all works cited and/or consulted. You do not have to use any sources except those we have read for class. I will assume that you have read and understood Harvey, Writing with Sources on how to cite sources. CAREFUL AND CORRECT CITATION IS REQUIRED. WHEN IN DOUBT, CITE. Remember that simply paraphrasing or changing every third word is not OK. Quote and cite or radically summarize and cite. Use quotation marks when quoting or indent if quote is five lines or longer. Guessing at where your information comes from is not OK. Use page numbers in your in-text citations, footnotes or endnotes.

Essays will be graded for both form and content as indicated in the Critical Thinking, Speaking, and Writing - Goals and Grading Criteria and Points to Consider in Evaluating an Essay. Form includes proper attribution of sources as well as spelling, grammar, etc. 

Choose one of the following questions/prompts:

1. How does Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley’s Frankenstein tackle the questions of what it means to be human and whether there is a human nature? Be sure to discuss both how she poses the questions and her answers. In your essay be sure to define terms, identify assumptions, include examples from the text to support and/or illustrate, and respond to possible objections/consider alternative interpretations.

2. How does Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley’s Frankenstein address the roles of nature and culture in shaping identity? What does the novel suggest these roles are? In your essay be sure to define terms, identify assumptions, include examples from the text to support and/or illustrate, and respond to possible objections/consider alternative interpretations.

3. Pick one of the modern critical essays in the Norton Critical edition of Frankenstein. Describe its thesis(es) and the support offered for the thesis. Evaluate the argument/interpretation. What are its strengths and weaknesses? In your essay be sure to define terms, identify assumptions, include examples to support and/or illustrate especially from the text of Frankenstein, and respond to possible objections/alternative interpretations.

4. Compare and contrast the novel Frankenstein and the 1931 James Whale film on at least two points. What do you think motivated the changes in the film? Be sure to comment on at least one aspect of the medium of film in your answer. In your essay be sure to define terms, identify assumptions, include examples to support and/or illustrate especially from the text of Frankenstein and from the film, and respond to possible objections/alternative interpretations.

5.  Discuss one theme that you find central to the novel and/or the James Whale film.  Explain how this theme is developed and why you believe it is central. In your essay be sure to define terms, identify assumptions, include examples to support and/or illustrate especially from the text of Frankenstein and/or from the film, and respond to possible objections/alternative interpretations.  Note:  The list of themes from http://www.english.upenn.edu/knarf/Themes/index.html with associated passages could be very useful.  If you use it, be sure to cite it correctly in your essay.  If you use the passages from the online version of the novel, be sure to cite them correctly.

6. *Wild Card. Choose your own topic, but have it approved by the instructor.