Description For your first essay, choose one of the topics listed below, and write at least twelve hundred words on it. In your essay, you should use at least three outside scholarly sources but no more than five. These sources should consist of literary critics of Ms. Shelley's work; they may not include dictionaries, biographies, the Bible, encyclopedias, or other works of fiction. Incorporate those sources into the text of your paper evenly throughout the essay. Use the standard MLA format that you learned in English 111. If none of the topics below appeals to you, then see me to clear a topic that you may wish to select on your own.  You must, however, clear that topic with me before you begin working on the paper. Your essay is to be argumentative in its approach. That is, you are to create a thesis statement that reflects your interpretation (your opinion) of some aspect of the work you've chosen. The thesis must have a specific focus. Once you have clarified this thesis, choose passages and incidents from the text of the work to argue that your opinion is a valid interpretation of whatever topic you've chosen. In your writing, I'm looking for a reasonable tone and for logical explanations and connections within the work. I don't want an essay based on emotions. I want critical thinking that reflects intelligence and thoughtfulness, supported by specifics from the text and your outside sources.  One other point: In the topics below, I don't want to know what you think about education, responsibility, and the role of men and women in society.  I want you to tell me what you think Mary Shelley thinks. As mentioned above, the essay should use the standard MLA form of documentation that is included in the back of the Diana Hacker text, The Bedford Handbook, which all of the English composition courses use on campus. Format of the Essay In writing your essay, I want you to adhere to the standard format for manuscripts; that is, type the paper, and be sure to double-space it; please be kind to my aging eyes and use a twelve-pitch font. A readable text is important, so don't rely on a weak ink cartridge. In the upper lefthand corner of the first page, include your name, Honors English 112, Essay #1, and the number of the topic you've chosen. If you've created your own topic, with my approval, please write out that topic at the top of the page. Be certain to create a title for the paper that connects with the thesis. On the second and succeeding pages, include your last name and the page number (Alvarez 2, Alvarez 3, etc.) in the upper right hand corner.  For additional hints about how to write a paper about literature follow this link. Confine your direct quotations to no more than approximately fifteen percent of your paper. And don't waste a great deal of time summarizing the plot of the novel. We've all read it.  As a general guideline, you should include about three sentences of analysis for each sentence of summary. If you do little more than summarize the story, you will earn no higher than a "D." I want to know what you think about this work, how you interpret it, and how you evaluate it. As long as you are willing to support your points with evidence from the text, don't hesitate to say "I think." Do the best you can with this paper. No one can ask more of you. The due date for the essay is listed on the syllabus. Topics 1. Mary Shelley subtitles her novel Frankenstein in the following way:  "or, the Modern Prometheus."  What is her purpose in creating this subtitle?  Once you have determined the purpose (or purposes), then argue that the subtitle is (or is not) appropriate for the story. 2. Cultural critics of the novel Frankenstein analyze the work as a dramatization of John Locke's views of the development of character.  In his 1689 Essay Concerning Human Understanding, Locke argues that humans are products of their experiences, not of any pre-determined Calvinistic belief that God has set a course and personality for them. Analyze the character of Victor Frankenstein's creation, and then argue that he is (or is not) an example of Locke's concept of how character develops. Of course, you will have to read seminal portions of Locke's essay to work on this paper. 3. Mary Shelley has Victor Frankenstein create a living being, who then becomes a murderer.  Who or what is responsible for the wretch's behavior?  Is Shelley casting blame on a society that refuses to accept the wretch?  Does she hold Victor responsible for his negligence as a "parent" (both father and mother), or is the wretch himself responsible for the chaos he creates? Support your views with incidents and quotations from the novel. 4. The novel Frankenstein begins with the narrator Robert Walton, an explorer on his way to the North Pole.  Shelley then creates a framed narration; that is, in Volume 1, chapter one, Victor Frankenstein takes over as a narrator within Walton's narration.  Later in the novel, Shelley creates a third layer of narration by having Victor's creation narrate his story (Volume 2, chapters 3-8).  Argue what you believe the purposes are for such a layered story and what effects on the reader this layering produces. 5. "If I could banish disease from the human frame, and render man invulnerable to any but a violent death!" says Victor Frankenstein (Shelley).  Victor has good intentions as he takes up his study of science, yet his results are disastrous for his family, friends, and himself.  Is this novel a Romantic's critique of education, in particular of the devastion created by scientific knowledge that ultimately cannot be controlled? Support your view. 6. Mary Shelley creates submissive female characters in this novel: Caroline Beaufort, Elizabeth Lavenza, and Justine Moritz, all of whom die, two indirectly at the hands of Victor.  What do you believe Shelley is saying about women--and the men in their lives-- in the novel?