English Every Day: Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

Your Daily English Programme #38 - Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (Reading B1-B2)

Think Before You Read

Have you read this story (picture, left) before? Do you know what it's about? Do you know the name of the author (picture, right)? (let us know in the comments below)

Time to Read

Read the Text Below, without paying attention to the missing words. Then read again, and place the missing adjectives in the right blanks (In some cases, more than one adjective may fit):

mouse over the words to see their meaning

isolated	horrified	brilliant	profound
chilling	horrifying	obsessed	renowned

In 1815, the ________ poet Lord Byron proposed a challenge to a few literary guests he had invited to his house on Lake Geneva: Who could write the most ________ ghost story?

Mary Shelley, Percy, John Polidori, and Lord Byron himself set pen to paper, each writing their own best version of a horror story. After thinking for days, eighteen-year-old Mary dreamed about a scientist who created life and was ________ by what he had made; and over the next few months, she composed the story that would later take the world by storm: “Frankenstein.”.

Frankenstein is the story of a ________ scientist by the name of Victor Frankenstein. ________ with creating a living human being all by himself, Frankenstein assembles a creature using body parts from a graveyard. But once his creation comes to life, he is so terrified that he runs away. He wants to make friends with humans, but his ugliness and clumsiness stand in the way and scare everybody away. Finding himself _________ and lonely, the innocent creature gradually turns into an enraged monster who now wants to take revenge on his creator, Frankenstein.

But Frankenstein does not just tell a ________ story. It also raises ________ questions about the nature of life and the place of humankind within the cosmos: How far can we go in our pursuit of knowledge? What does it mean to be human? What responsibilities do we have to each other?

(see answer in the first comment below)

Let's Practice

Take a Look at the Passage Again: 

a. Which paragraph gives a synopsis of the story?

b. Which paragraph tells about the major themes in the novel?

c. Which paragraphs describe the circumstances that led to the writing of the novel?

(see answer in the first comment below)

Over to You

Would You Like to (re)read the story? You can read the original novel chapter by chapter on Literature.org

Would You Like to listen to an audio version of the novel? You can listen to the audio-book in full here

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