Marilyn Butler "Frankenstein and Radical Science" (1993)
** Homework Questions **
440:
Explain: "It is not so much because of what Mary Shelley
thought, but because of what readers thought, that Frankenstein
became a substantially different and less contentious novel
when reissued in popular form in 1831" (440).
Discuss the importance, according to Butler, of the 1831
Introduction.
441:
Which edition of Frankenstein--1818 or 1831--does
Butler prefer? Why?
441-42:
Summarize the theoretical argument between Lawrence and
Abernethy.
444:
How, according to Butler, does Frankenstein enact
the debate between Lawrence and Abernethy?
448:
What connections to Blumenbach's work does Butler identify
in Lawrence?
Which of Lawrence's "professional issues" does Mary Shelley
address in Frankenstein, according to Butler?
449:
How, according to Butler, does Frankenstein
"ironically" illustrate "Lawrence's observations about
parenting" (449)?
451:
What "tell-tale signs," according to Butler, did
Mary Shelley remove from Frankenstein for the 1831
edition?
Why, according to Butler, were these alterations
"inevitable"?
Other Discussion Questions: 439:
What difference does Butler identify between modern views
of Frankenstein and the responses of
its first readers?
440:
What views, according to Butler, did the Quarterly
Review propound in the years surrounding the publication
of Frankenstein?
442:
Describe the appeal, according to Butler, of
Lawrence's theories to the Shelley circle.
What is perfectibility?
443:
What "coincidences" does Butler identify between
Lawrence's Lectures on Physiology, Zoology, and the
Natural History of Man (1819) and Frankenstein?
Explain: "The materialist thinker sees no means of
abstracting the animating power from the mind" (443).
445:
Explain: "Frankenstein as first devised seems to
know too little science rather than too much" (445).
How, according to Butler, does the Creature
compare to Victor and Walton as a narrator?
446:
Explain the significance of the Wild Boy of Aveyron.
What does Butler find significant about Shelley's
"treatment of the Creature's rearing in isolation from
humanity" (446)?
447:
On what two levels, according to Butler,
does the Creature's career "work"?
What other works of Lawrence's does Butler
identify as influences on Frankenstein?
449:
In what way, according to Butler, is the Creature
"the dominant partner" to Victor?
450:
Describe the consequences to Lawrence of the
publication of his Lectures on Physiology,
Zoology, and the Natural History of Man.
