FRAME NARRATIVE IN FRANKENSTEIN

FRAME NARRATIVE

Story outside of a story

Example: the Princess Bride. Ozymandias. Ancient Mariner.

Definition of Topic

FRAME NARRATIVE

The story-teller becomes a character in the story

Results of Research

FRAME NARRATIVE

Effects: you get the story second-hand More believable? Depends on the

credibility of the story-teller (the Ancient Mariner)…

Results of Research

FRAME NARRATIVE

A fusion of two respected 18th century genres

epistolary novel, a traditionally feminine genre

explorer’s journal, a traditionally masculine genre and an archetypal enlightenment genre

Research

FRAME NARRATIVEFunctions: provide a frame of verisimilitude to an

improbable tale

It SEEMS more true It is VERY familiar and

conventional: it was told… Ancient Mariner Ozymandias

Learned from Research

LAYERS OF STORIES IN FRANKENSTEIN

Robert Walton’s NarrativeVictor’s Story

Creature’s Story

FRANKENSTEIN Frankenstein opens with letters from an

explorer, Robert Walton, to his sister. The Explorer is stuck on his ship in the

ice of the North Pole.

Connection to Frankenstein

QUESTIONS1. Would you use a frame narrative

in telling your own life story?

2. What is the point to using a frame narrative?

3. Can you think of other stories that use a frame narrative?

3 Questions to ask the class

WORKS CITED Felluga, Dino. "Terms Used by

Narratology and Film Theory." Introductory Guide to Critical Theory.[Nov 28, 2003]. Purdue U. [04/03/2010]. <http://www.purdue.edu/guidetotheory/narratology/terms/>.