Activity Frankenstein

Instructions. Complete the following chart by relating these concepts with the story.

Concept	Interpretation	Example
paranormal phenomena
science
monstrosity
secrecy
women
light
fire

Frankenstein

Author: Mary Shelley

Biography: Born in 1797, Mary was the daughter of William Godwin - a famous writer with revolutionary ideas - and Mary Wollstonecraft, herself a writer and arguably the world's first feminist. Her mother died days after giving birth to her - the first of many tragedies in Shelley's life. Some of these tragedies would later inspire events in Frankenstein. In 1812, Mary met the poet Percy Shelley. Percy and his wife Harriet were frequent visitors to the London home of Mary's father. Mary ran off to France with Percy in 1814. She gave birth to his child in 1815 - but the baby died just 12 days later. Harriet drowned herself in 1816, allowing Percy to marry Mary soon after. The general public was outraged. After coming up with the idea for her novel in Switzerland, Frankenstein was published two years later in 1818 - Mary was still only 20. Mary's second son, William, died aged three in 1821. Percy drowned in 1822. Mary and Percy's great friend, the writer and poet Lord Byron, died in 1824. Mary was devastated by this, and the loneliness caused by the death of so many of her friends and family. Mary died in 1851. Although she wrote many other books, none matched the success of Frankenstein.

Background: By the time Shelley was born; scientific, artistic and political revolutions were at a peak point. She was close to radical thinkers who had large influence on Mary’s ideas.

Theme: Gothic horror

Mood: letter-writing narration giving the sense of realism.

Style: prose

Setting: end of the 18^th century.

Characters: the major characters are Victor Frankenstein, the Monster, Robert Walton, Alphonse Frankenstein.

Figurative Language: ordinary language at that period of time.

Imagery:

“What could not be expected in the country of eternal light?” asks Walton, displaying a faith in, and optimism about, science. In Frankenstein, light symbolizes knowledge, discovery, and enlightenment. The natural world is a place of dark secrets, hidden passages, and unknown mechanisms; the goal of the scientist is then to reach light. The dangerous and more powerful cousin of light is fire. The monster’s first experience with a still-smoldering flame reveals the dual nature of fire: he discovers excitedly that it creates light in the darkness of the night, but also that it harms him when he touches it.

The presence of fire in the text also brings to mind the full title of Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus. The Greek god Prometheus gave the knowledge of fire to humanity and was then severely punished for it. Victor, attempting to become a modern Prometheus, is certainly punished, but unlike fire, his “gift” to humanity—knowledge of the secret of life—remains a secret (source: http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/frankenstein/themes.html).

Plot: Robert Walton tells of both his family history and hopes for the highly dangerous expedition he has embarked upon. He meets Victor Frankenstein shortly after seeing a creature 'of gigantic stature' on an ice raft speed away from his ship, which has become trapped in ice somewhere in the Arctic.

Victor is very ill and is looked after by Walton, who has complained in his letters of not having a companion to share his feelings. As the two become friends, Victor begins his tale; one he hopes will be a warning to Walton about the dangers of ambition and the pursuit of knowledge. Walton says he will write down everything his friend tells him (source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/english_literature/prosefrankenstein/1prose_frankenstein_plotrev1.shtml).

Activity Industrial Revolution

Instructions. Complete the following timeline using the information below.

	Power loom		Liverpool and Manchester Railway begins			Science degrees at University of London		Telephone invention
1712		1811-15		1850	1859		1867		1903

Industrial Revolution

1563	Rev. William Lee, born at Woodborough near Nottingham, invents the Stocking Frame, a mechanical device for knitting stockings.
1709	Abraham Darby uses coke to smelt iron ore, replacing wood and charcoal as fuel.
1712	Thomas Newcomen builds first commercially successful steam engine. Able to keep deep coal mines clear of water. First significant power source other than wind and water.
1769	Arkwright's "water" (powered) frame automates the weft.
1787	Cartwright builds a power loom.
1792	William Murdock (James Watt's assistant) lights his home with coal gas.
1807	Robert Fulton's Clermont first successful steamboat.
1811-15	Luddite riots: laborers attack factories and break up the machines they fear will replace them.
1821	Faraday demonstrates electro-magnetic rotation, the principle of the electric motor.
1830	The Liverpool and Manchester Railway begins first regular commercial rail service.
1838	Daguerre perfects the Daguerrotype.
1844	Commercial use of Morse's telegraph (Baltimore to Washington).
1850	Petrol (gasoline) refining first used. Natural Science Honours School established at Oxford.
1851	Singer invents first practical sewing machine. Natural Sciences Tripos at Cambridge.
1854	Bessemer invents steel converter.
1859	Charles Darwin, The Origin of Species. Edwin Drake strikes oil in Pennsylvania. Etienne Lenoir demonstrates the first successful gasoline engine.
1860	Science degrees at University of London.
1863	Siemens-Martin open hearth process (along with the Bessemer converter) makes steel available in bulk. Steel begins to replace iron in building: steel framing and reinforced concrete make possible "curtain-wall" architecture--i.e., the skyscraper.
1867	Alfred Nobel produces dynamite, the first high explosive which can be safely handled.
1876	Bell invents the telephone.
1877	Edison invents the phonograph.
1879	Edison invents the incandescent lamp.
1884	Maxim invents the machine gun, making possible mass slaughter and beginning the mechanization of warfare.
1888	Hertz produces radio waves.
1889	Eiffel Tower.
1895	Lumière brothers develop Cinematograph. Roentgen discovers X-rays.
1896	Marconi patents wireless telegraph.
1899	Aspirin invented.
1900	First Zeppelin built.
1901	Marconi transmits first trans-Atlantic radio message (from Cape Cod).
1903	Wright brothers make first powered flight.
1908	Henry Ford mass-produces the Model T.

Source: The Vicrtorian web Literature, History & Culture in the age of Victoria

                http://www.victorianweb.org/technology/ir/irchron.html

The Pardoner's Tale

Author: Geoffrey Chaucer

Biography: Geoffrey Chaucer was born between 1340 and 1345, probably in London. There is no information about his early life and education. In 1357, he was a page to Elizabeth, Countess of Ulster, wife of Edward III's third son. Chaucer was captured by the French during the Brittany expedition of 1359, but was ransomed by the king. Edward III later sent him on diplomatic missions to France, Genoa and Florence. His travels exposed him to the work of authors such as Dante, Boccaccio and Froissart.

Around 1366, Chaucer married Philippa Roet, a lady-in-waiting in the queen's household. They are thought to have had three or four children. Philippa's sister, Katherine Swynford, later became the third wife of John of Gaunt, the king's fourth son and Chaucer's patron.

In 1374, Chaucer was appointed comptroller of the lucrative London customs. In 1386, he was elected member of parliament for Kent, and he also served as a justice of the peace. In 1389, he was made clerk of the king's works, overseeing royal building projects. He held a number of other royal posts, serving both Edward III and his successor Richard II.

Chaucer's first major work was 'The Book of the Duchess', an elegy for the first wife of his patron John of Gaunt. Other works include 'Parlement of Foules', 'The Legend of Good Women' and 'Troilus and Criseyde'. In 1387, he began his most famous work, 'The Canterbury Tales', in which a diverse group of people recount stories to pass the time on a pilgrimage to Canterbury. Chaucer disappears from the historical record in 1400, and is thought to have died soon after. He was buried in Westminster Abbey.

Background: He was the first great poet writing in English.

Theme: Morality

Mood: Irony showing the doctrine of a host and the contradiction with his actions.

Style: Poem; rhyming couplets

Setting: Medieval Catholic Church (God, the Devil, mercy, sins); sermons.

Characters: The pardoner, his victims, three riotous men, their deceased buddy, a young knave, an old man.

Figurative Language: The tale presents a format of a vernacular sermon.

Imagery:

-        Taverns as a symbol of sins: lechery, gluttony, sloth, false oaths, and gambling.

-        The irony of three sinful men trying to kill Death.

-        The Old Man looking for someone to exchange youth.

-        The Old Man’s directions to look for Death.

-    Oak where the Death is hidden

Plot: The Pardoner explains his how he deceives them with false relics while preaching against greed to stimulate more plentiful donations to his purse, and then he preaches against various sins and illustrates them with a tale of three young men who try to kill Death. They meet an old man who must wander the earth until he can find someone who will exchange his youth for the old man's age, but they turn to kill each other and find Death at the same time. The Pardoner urges the Hoost to come forward and kiss his relics, but he has none and the Pardoner becomes extremely angry. The Knight prevents violence by inducing Harry to "kisse the Pardoner" and they ride on together

Point of view: The tale is plenty a hypocrisy showing thoughts and beliefs common in the Medieval epoch.




Activity

1.       The Pardoner has a particular trick he uses to force even the most reluctant and skeptical in his audience to pay money and to seek his relics (VI.377-8). How does it work? Could his prologue or his tale be designed to have a similar, hidden power over his hearers?

2.       The old man bears a curious doom. What must he find in order to die, and why can’t he find it? Why are human beings reluctant to make that exchange, and why is it one of their greatest follies?

3.    What is it to "kisse the Pardoner" (VI.965)? Why does the Knight ask Harry to do so, and why does Harry do it?

Beowulf Essay

Beowulf Essay

Beowulf is an England's heroic epic which shapes and interprets elements related with the tribes from northern Europe, the Angles, Saxons and Jutes, who invaded England after the Roman invasion. It is familiar: it tries to keep humankind alive. The main protagonist, Beowulf, a hero of the Geats, comes to the aid of Hrothgar, the king of the Danes, whose great hall, Heorot, is plagued by the monster Grendel. Beowulf kills Grendel with his bare hands and Grendel's mother with a sword, which giants once used, that Beowulf found in Grendel's mother's lair.

Later in his life, Beowulf is himself king of the Geats, and finds his realm terrorised by a dragon whose treasure had been stolen from his hoard in a burial mound. He attacks the dragon with the help of his thegns or servants, but they do not succeed. Beowulf decides to follow the dragon into its lair, at Earnanæs, but only his young Swedish relative Wiglaf dares join him. Beowulf finally slays the dragon, but is mortally wounded. He is buried in a tumulus or burial mound, by the sea.

Beowulf is considered an epic poem in that the main character is a hero who travels great distances to prove his strength at impossible odds against supernatural demons and beasts. The poem also begins in medias res ("into the middle of affairs") or simply, "in the middle", which is a characteristic of the epics of antiquity. Although the poem begins with Beowulf's arrival, Grendel's attacks have been an ongoing event. An elaborate history of characters and their lineages are spoken of, as well as their interactions with each other, debts owed and repaid, and deeds of valour.




Activity
Place in order the following puzzle related to the story "Beowulf".

Activity

Activity
Look in the word search puzzle the answers for the questions below.

S	m	n	b	v	c	x	z	a	L	s
H	s	H	d	f	g	h	j	k	A	l
A	q	E	W	s	u	i	c	i	D	E
K	e	C	r	O	t	y	u	I	Y	N
E	m	A	n	N	b	v	c	X	M	G
S	G	T	f	S	d	s	a	z	A	L
P	h	E	j	k	l	q	w	e	C	A
E	m	p	o	i	u	y	t	r	B	N
A	n	b	v	c	x	z	a	S	e	D
R	h	g	f	d	g	h	o	S	T	W
E	j	k	l	o	p	y	t	r	H	E

1.       Who kills Macbeth?

2.       Whom does Macbeth see sitting in his chair during the banquet?

3.       Which army invades Scotland at the end of the play?

4.       Who is the goddess of witchcraft in the play?

5.       How does Lady Macbeth die?

6.       Malcolm and Donalbain are King’s …                                    

7.       Macbeth’s author name.