This definitions covers Key Terms within Theme: Responsibility & Abandonment for GCSE English Literature. Revise Theme: Responsibility & Abandonment in Frankenstein for GCSE English Literature with 10 exam-style questions and 15 flashcards. This topic shows up very often in GCSE exams, so students should be able to explain it clearly, not just recognise the term. It is section 9 of 15 in this topic. Make sure you can use the exact wording confidently, because definition marks are often lost through vague language.
📖 Key Terms
- Frame narrative
- A story-within-a-story structure. In Frankenstein, Walton's letters contain Victor's narrative, which contains the Creature's. The form itself mirrors the novel's moral argument about layered accountability.
- Prometheus myth
- Greek myth in which Prometheus steals fire from the gods and is eternally punished. Shelley's subtitle invokes this but adapts it: her Victor is punished not for creation but for failing to care for what he created.
- Doppelgänger
- A double or shadow-self. The Creature functions as Victor's doppelgänger — an externalised version of his creator's guilt, ambition, and moral failure. What Victor refuses to acknowledge in himself, the Creature enacts in the world.
- Anagnorisis
- A moment of tragic recognition. Victor never achieves full anagnorisis — even dying, he cannot entirely condemn his own creation of the Creature.
Practice questions for Theme: Responsibility & Abandonment
In the Creature's final speech (Chapter 24), which word does the Creature use to describe himself as something cast off and unwanted — connecting his state directly to Victor's act of abandonment?
How does Shelley present the act of abandonment in Chapter 5 of Frankenstein? Write about the technique she uses and its effect on the reader.