full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Iseult Gillespie: Everything you need to know to read "Frankenstein"

Unscramble the Blue Letters


The book traces Dr. Frankenstein's futile quest to impart and sustain life. He constructs his monster part by part from dead matter and electrifies it into conscious being. Upon completing the ereenimxpt, however, he's horrified at the result and feles. But time and space aren't enough to banish the abandoned monster, and the plot turns on a chilling cahse between the two.

Shelley subtitled her fireside ghost story, "The Modern Prometheus." That's in reference to the Greek myth of the ttain Prometheus who stole fire from the gods and gave it to humanity. This gave hautnmiy kdgwoelne and power, but for tarenmipg with the status quo, peouremths was cnihead to a rock and eaten by vultures for eternity. Prometheus enjoyed a resurgence in the literature of the Romantic Period during the 18th century. Mary was a prominent Romantic, and serahd the movement's appreciation for nature, emotion, and the purity of art. Two yaers after Mary released “Frankenstein,” Percy rgeiianmed the plight of Prometheus in his lyrical drama, "Prometheus Unbound." The Romantics used these myachitl references to signal the prtuiy of the ancient wrold in contrast to modernity. They typically regarded science with suspicion, and "Frankenstein" is one of the first cautionary tales about artificial iinlceltnege. For Shelley, the terror was not supernatural, but born in a lab.

Open Cloze


The book traces Dr. Frankenstein's futile quest to impart and sustain life. He constructs his monster part by part from dead matter and electrifies it into conscious being. Upon completing the __________, however, he's horrified at the result and _____. But time and space aren't enough to banish the abandoned monster, and the plot turns on a chilling _____ between the two.

Shelley subtitled her fireside ghost story, "The Modern Prometheus." That's in reference to the Greek myth of the _____ Prometheus who stole fire from the gods and gave it to humanity. This gave ________ _________ and power, but for _________ with the status quo, __________ was _______ to a rock and eaten by vultures for eternity. Prometheus enjoyed a resurgence in the literature of the Romantic Period during the 18th century. Mary was a prominent Romantic, and ______ the movement's appreciation for nature, emotion, and the purity of art. Two _____ after Mary released “Frankenstein,” Percy __________ the plight of Prometheus in his lyrical drama, "Prometheus Unbound." The Romantics used these ________ references to signal the ______ of the ancient _____ in contrast to modernity. They typically regarded science with suspicion, and "Frankenstein" is one of the first cautionary tales about artificial ____________. For Shelley, the terror was not supernatural, but born in a lab.

Solution


  1. knowledge
  2. tampering
  3. titan
  4. mythical
  5. world
  6. years
  7. humanity
  8. reimagined
  9. chained
  10. experiment
  11. flees
  12. chase
  13. shared
  14. intelligence
  15. purity
  16. prometheus

Original Text


The book traces Dr. Frankenstein's futile quest to impart and sustain life. He constructs his monster part by part from dead matter and electrifies it into conscious being. Upon completing the experiment, however, he's horrified at the result and flees. But time and space aren't enough to banish the abandoned monster, and the plot turns on a chilling chase between the two.

Shelley subtitled her fireside ghost story, "The Modern Prometheus." That's in reference to the Greek myth of the Titan Prometheus who stole fire from the gods and gave it to humanity. This gave humanity knowledge and power, but for tampering with the status quo, Prometheus was chained to a rock and eaten by vultures for eternity. Prometheus enjoyed a resurgence in the literature of the Romantic Period during the 18th century. Mary was a prominent Romantic, and shared the movement's appreciation for nature, emotion, and the purity of art. Two years after Mary released “Frankenstein,” Percy reimagined the plight of Prometheus in his lyrical drama, "Prometheus Unbound." The Romantics used these mythical references to signal the purity of the ancient world in contrast to modernity. They typically regarded science with suspicion, and "Frankenstein" is one of the first cautionary tales about artificial intelligence. For Shelley, the terror was not supernatural, but born in a lab.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations




Important Words


  1. abandoned
  2. ancient
  3. appreciation
  4. art
  5. artificial
  6. banish
  7. book
  8. born
  9. cautionary
  10. century
  11. chained
  12. chase
  13. chilling
  14. completing
  15. conscious
  16. constructs
  17. contrast
  18. dead
  19. dr
  20. drama
  21. eaten
  22. electrifies
  23. emotion
  24. enjoyed
  25. eternity
  26. experiment
  27. fire
  28. fireside
  29. flees
  30. futile
  31. gave
  32. ghost
  33. gods
  34. greek
  35. horrified
  36. humanity
  37. impart
  38. intelligence
  39. knowledge
  40. lab
  41. life
  42. literature
  43. lyrical
  44. mary
  45. matter
  46. modern
  47. modernity
  48. monster
  49. myth
  50. mythical
  51. nature
  52. part
  53. percy
  54. period
  55. plight
  56. plot
  57. power
  58. prometheus
  59. prominent
  60. purity
  61. quest
  62. quo
  63. reference
  64. references
  65. regarded
  66. reimagined
  67. released
  68. result
  69. resurgence
  70. rock
  71. romantic
  72. romantics
  73. science
  74. shared
  75. shelley
  76. signal
  77. space
  78. status
  79. stole
  80. story
  81. subtitled
  82. supernatural
  83. suspicion
  84. sustain
  85. tales
  86. tampering
  87. terror
  88. time
  89. titan
  90. traces
  91. turns
  92. typically
  93. unbound
  94. vultures
  95. world
  96. years