Sunday, September 18, 2011

Prompts for Thursday, September 22nd

Prompt 1:  Pick a single one of Ward's illustrations from the second half of Frankenstein.  Discuss in detail what interpretation he is making of the text with that illustration, and then evaluate that interpretation.  It should be clear to the reader why this interpretation matters:  in other words, you should pick an image which makes a kind of argument, then evaluate that argument.


Note:  Yes, this is recycled from last week.  Yes, if you did it before you can do it again, but you need to use an illustration from the second half of the novel.  


Prompt 2:  Read Coleridge's Rime of the Ancient Mariner.  Copies are easily acquired; I suggest this etext if you don't have another option in mind (because of the illustrations, fitting for this class).  First, briefly explain why Shelley might be quoting Coleridge in one of the several places where she quotes him.  Then, argue that we can (and should!) use Coleridge to help explain some incident, problem, or passage in the novel where he is not directly quoted, and how we should do so.


Prompt 3:  Watch a Frankenstein film - but not the 1910 Edison production I have asked you to watch, nor the 1931 version we watched in class.  Good options include Bride of Frankenstein (1935), the sequel to the one we watched in class, The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) or Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1994).  Discuss, in depth, a visual choice made by the movie as a response to some element of the novel, citing the relevant passages in detail.  


In other words, point out a visual way in which the film develops/resists/questions/changes the novel, and present a clear argument about what that choice means (and why it matters).

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