Frankenstein - Mary Shelley

www.elireaders.com

with Audio CD

withBooklet

S T A G E 4

Victor Frankenstein is a young, ambitious scientist who wants to make a better world, but does not understand the consequences of his work. Victor makes great advances in the study of medicine and biology and creates a new species of human being – one that is so terrifying it is known simply as ‘the monster’. In this fantastic adventure story, Victor and the monster fi ght an epic battle of courage and endurance. This science-fi ction masterpiece asks questions about science that we are still asking today.

In this reader you will fi nd:- Information about Mary Shelley’s life- Sections focusing on background and context- Glossary of diffi cult words- Comprehension activities- FCE-style activities- Exit test

TagScience FictionFantasy/Horror

Mary Shelley

Frankenstein

ST

AG

E 4

MARY SHELLEY FRANK

ENSTEIN

YO

UN

G A

DU

LT

EL

I RE

AD

ER

S B 2 Y O U N G A D U L T R E A D E R S

MARY SHELLEYFRANKENSTEIN

ELI s.r.l.

YOUNG ADULT ELI READERS

Frankenstein

ISBN 978-88-536-0505-4

Y O U N G A D U L T R E A D E R SY O U N G A D U L T R E A D E R S

Eli Readers is a beautifully illustrated series of timeless classics and specially-written stories for learners of English.Eli Readers is a beautifully illustrated series of timeless classics and specially-written stories for learners of English.

S T A G E 1

S T A G E 2

S T A G E 3

S T A G E 4

S T A G E 5

S T A G E 6

Classic

Elementary

Pre-Intermediate

Intermediate

Upper Intermediate

Advanced

Profi ciency

600 headwords

800 headwords

1000 headwords

1800 headwords

2500 headwords

Unabridged Texts

KET

PET

FCE

CAE

CPE

A1

A2

B1

B2

C1

C2

MAIN CHARACTERS

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

12

mile* from us, a gigantic fi gure wearing furs* was riding at full speed on a sledge* pulled by eight dogs. We watched him as he disappeared towards the north.

Last night, the ice around the ship broke, and we were free to continue our journey. Next morning when I woke up, I saw the crew pulling something up onto the ship from the ice below. To my surprise, I saw a man, thin and ill from the cold and lack of food. He spoke English but had a European accent. What was even stranger, in my view, was that he only allowed us to bring him onto the ship when I told him we were searching for the North Pole, because that was where he wanted to go too! When I looked over the side of my ship, I saw his sledge was half broken and only one of his dogs was left alive to pull it.

After that, he collapsed* and we carried him to my cabin. We looked after him as well as we could, but he was very weak and I was worried that he would die. His eyes gave an expression of wildness*, even madness*, but he is so grateful for everything we do for him, he gives us the sweetest smiles. It was many days before he was well enough to speak to us. We had a lot of questions to ask him.

‘Why have you come so far north on that strange sledge, risking your life in this way?’ I asked.‘I am following someone who is running away from me,’ he replied.‘Is this person also travelling on a sledge pulled by dogs?’ I asked, and when he nodded I told him of the gigantic man we had seen.‘That is him,’ the stranger said.

half a mile a little less than one kilometrefurs skins of animals sledge vehicle pulled by horses or dogs across ice and snow

collapsed fell downwildness (here) violent, extremely intensemadness insanity, craziness

104

AFTER-READING ACTIVITIES

1 Find 22 words below taken from Chapter 7, and discover one of

Victor’s favourite places.

E V E N T S R E A S O N S

S T R A I G H T E N E D C

U C M I S E R A B L E C O

N T E M P T E D H A M E N

C D A M A G E D B P T R G

O D T H E A L O O A W E R

N E I F I R E D A N I M A

S S R W A T E R T I S O T

C E E T E A R S S C T N U

I R D W E A P O N S E Y L

O V D E D I C A T E D N A

U E D E T E R M I N E D T

S D E P R E S S E D I X E

Vocabulary

2 Circle the word which is the odd one out in the following groups

of words.

1 weapons shot pistol dagger gun

2 talk tell say scream write

3 scared depressed frightened afraid terrifi ed

4 guilty tired suffering upset miserable

5 destroy murder die attack defend

6 wedding ceremony party wind wife

7 lake clouds mountains moonlight room

8 pale lifeless happy horrifi ed shocked

105

3 Are the following sentences about Elizabeth true (T) or false (F)?

1 Elizabeth is happy to hear from Victor that they had

arrived in Paris.

2 She has had a diffi cult winter.

3 She is sure that Victor is beginning to feel better.

4 She has something important to ask Victor when he

gets back to Geneva.

5 She thinks that Victor does not love her any more.

6 She thinks that one of the reasons he has been ill is

because he does not want to marry her.

7 She says she does not love him because he has been

away for so many years.

8 She says she has fallen in love with someone else.

9 She has always wanted to marry him.

10 She does not want to marry him if he does not love her.

Comprehension

T F

■■ ■■■■ ■■■■ ■■

■■ ■■■■ ■■

■■ ■■

■■ ■■■■ ■■■■ ■■■■ ■■

Writing

4 Write a letter from Elizabeth to her best friend. Describe her

feelings about her wedding to Victor and describe her feelings

about Victor’s behaviour.

134

FOCUS ON...

Mary Shelley

Early Life

Mary Shelley was born Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin on 30th August 1797. Her father was William Godwin, a British political philosopher, who questioned whether government and marriage were necessary. The Romantic poets, in particular, Wordsworth and Coleridge found his radical ideas interesting. Mary’s mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, was also an important thinker. Her most famous work was A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1790), where she wrote about the need for a completely new view of women in society. Mary did not know her mother as she died ten days after Mary was born.

135

LoveMary’s father had many admirers, including Percy Bysshe Shelley, one of England’s most important Romantic poets. Shelley was a regular visitor to the Godwin house. In 1814, Mary and Shelley ran away to Europe, she was only 16 and Shelley was married with two children. English society at the time was shocked and for all his radical ideas, so was her father. Mary became pregnant, but the child was born prematurely and died.

Frankenstein

Later YearsIn 1822, Mary’s husband drowned in a sailing accident in the Bay of La Spezia, Italy. She and her son, Percy, returned to England in 1823, where she devoted herself

to him. Although she wrote other books, Frankenstein was the only one which was commercially successful. In her later years, she became close to her father again. Mary died (probably of a brain tumour) on 1st February 1851, aged 53.

Task

Complete the form with the information about Mary Shelley.

Name:

Date of birth:

Occupation:

_______________________

_______________________

_______________________

In 1816, Mary and Shelley went to spend the summer with Shelley’s friend Lord Byron who had rented a house on the shores of Lake Geneva. It was here that Mary started to write Frankenstein or The Modern Prometheus. At the end of 1816, following the suicide of Shelley’s wife, Harriet, the couple got married. They travelled around Italy, had two more children, but both died. Eventually, Mary gave birth to Percy Florence who survived. Mary’s father was unsympathetic about his daughter’s tragedies and fi nancial diffi culties.