Frankenstein Essay Prompts
- Rosie Jayde Uyola
- Apr 9
- 2 min read
Essay Option 1: Who is truly in control: Victor or the creature?
Argument Prompt: Although Victor believes he is pursuing the creature across Europe, some readers argue that it is actually the creature who controls the final outcome. Who has more power by the end of the novel: Victor or the creature?
Argue either:
That Victor is the one truly in control, because he created the creature, sets the terms of revenge, and ultimately defines the emotional stakes.
Or that the creature holds all the power, manipulating Victor’s journey, controlling timing, and determining the terms of closure at the end.
Creative open-ended elements:
Students can imagine alternative endings or “missing scenes” that reveal who is pulling the strings.
Students may incorporate speculative analysis of letters, the Arctic setting, or death as symbolic surrender.
Essay Option 2: Is Shelley’s ending a warning or a reconciliation?
Argument Prompt: Does the ending of Frankenstein offer a warning about the dangers of ambition and revenge, or does it show a kind of reconciliation between creator and creation?
Argue either:
That the ending is a final warning, emphasizing destruction, loss, and the futility of unchecked ambition.
Or that the ending offers a moment of reconciliation, where the creature finally mourns his creator and transcends his pain.
Creative open-ended elements:
Students can creatively reinterpret the final scene aboard Walton’s ship from either Victor’s or the creature’s perspective.
Students may explore metaphorical or symbolic readings of “burning,” “ice,” or “sailing away.”
Essay Option 3: Should the creature be remembered as a monster or a martyr?
Argument Prompt: By the end of the novel, should the creature be remembered as a monster shaped by vengeance, or a martyr destroyed by society’s rejection?
Argue either:
That the creature is ultimately a monster, who chose violence repeatedly and manipulated those around him.
Or that he is a martyr, a being capable of love, who was driven to cruelty by a world that refused to see his humanity.
Creative open-ended elements:
Students may write imagined epitaphs, obituaries, or final journal entries for the creature.
They can construct a “defense” or “condemnation” speech as if in court, citing key moments of the creature’s life and reasoning.