Passage
It was, quite literally, a dark and stormy night. The volcanic eruption of Mount Tamborain faraway Indonesia had plunged Europe beneath unceasing cloud; 1816 was known as “the year without a summer”. Rain was falling on the shore of Lake Geneva as, on an evening in mid-June, five young people gathered in a swanky villa for a ghost-story competition. The host was Lord Byron, at 28 already a jaded superstar. With him was John Polidori, a doctor of 20. They were joined by Percy Bysshe Shelley, a 23 year oldpoet; his girlfriend Mary Godwin; and Mary’s stepsister Claire Claremont, also 18.
The contest yielded two ideas that became gothic classics. One was Polidori’s“TheVampyre”, originally intended as a queasy satire on Byron and the bloodsucking nature of celebrity. The other, infinitely more famous outcome was Mary’s tale of a scientist who confects a humanoid out of body parts. In the following weeks her story grew into “Frankenstein”, which was first published two centuries ago, in 1818.
Few novels have had such mythical beginnings, and few have themselves achieved the status of myths, as “Frankenstein” has. It was the founding text of modern science fiction. Each generation of its readers finds new allegories for the anxieties and ambitions of what they take for modernity; the monster each sees is a reflection of themselves. Yet at the heart of the story, as of Mary’s biography, were primevalsadnesses and fears.
Mary Shelley (as she soon became) was born into the radical aristocracy of her day. Writing her imaginary story of a being jolted to life by Victor Frankenstein, Mary drew on the cutting-edge science of her time, including galvanism and electricity. She formulated her plot as modern science itself was in its birth-throes. In the year of the novel’s publication an experiment was conducted in which electrical currents were passed through a corpse in a failed attempt at reanimation. The cadaver convulsed; its fingers twitched. But it remained resolutely dead— unlike Frankenstein’s monster:
“With an anxiety that almost amounted to agony, I collected the instruments of life around me, that I might infuse a spark of being into the lifeless thing that lay at my feet…by the glimmer of the half-extinguished light, I saw the dull yellow eye of the creature open; it breathed hard, and a convulsive motion agitated its limbs.”
For all the historical specificity of these references, the novel’s qualms about the underside of progress have never resonated more than in the 21st century. The issues raised by artificial life are no longer hypothetical. Genetic modification and robotics, current attitudes among scientists to techniques commonly known as “playing God”have made them urgent.
Over the centuries the monster has been enlisted as an avatar for other sorts of change. Just as Frankenstein loses control of his creation, Mary’s story has travelled around the world, metastasising in ways she could not have imagined. It is celebrated in the form of books, plays and films. Mary’s monster, though, is not confined to page, stage and screen. Every time children stick out their arms and affect a ghoulish plod, he lives again. He has entered the English language as a byword for hubris and unintended consequences.
Those coming to the original for the first time, expecting the sort of B-movie schlock horror it has inspired, may be surprised by its knotty, highbrow prose. Mary was a disciple of her philosopher father and, for all the science, the novel’s primary concern is ethics. That description of the monster’s birth, which became the primal scene in all the films, is actually fairly cursory. Her underlying aim was to explore the idea—derived from John Locke—of the newborn as a tabula rasa, whose character is determined by experience rather than innate qualities. It is because the creature is scorned, and deprived of a moral framework, that he becomes monstrous and seeks a gruesome revenge. “I was benevolent and good,” he pathetically tells Frankenstein;“misery made me a friend. Make me happy, and I shall again be virtuous.”
The common error of thinking Frankenstein the name of the monster, rather than of his maker, can be traced not just to his namelessness in the novel but to the fact that, in the cast-list for the first stage blockbuster, the part was called simply “----”. The conflation, though, is more than a mistake. It captures the symbiosis of the two figures—the mutual cruel
Question for 100 RCs for Practice Questions- 54
Try yourself:In the context of the passage, what is implicit when children, during play, “stick out their arms and affect a ghoulish plod”?
Explanation
Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus is considered to be one of the first science fiction novels ever written. The book is about a man called Dr. Victor Frankenstein who created a monster from an inanimate body he constructed. The manlike monster eventually turns on its creator and destroys him; Frankenstein is not the name of the monster itself, as is often assumed, but the name of its creator. Symbolically, "a Frankenstein's monster is a thing that becomes terrifying or destructive to its maker.” Option 1 is incorrect. The writer mentions the fact of children walking like Mary’s monster in the book Frankenstein as an instance of how the book’s impact has reached down to the popular imagination. There is no intention of connecting the children’s affected walk with the idea of pride and downfall. Reject option 1.
Option 2 is correct. The passage states that: “Mary’s monster, though, is not confined to page, stage and screen. Every time children stick out their arms and affect a ghoulish plod, he lives again,” he is said to “live again” when children affect a walk like his. This follows the statement that the monster created by Mary Shelley has become famous and not just via books and plays. Therefore, the writer implies that the popularity of the figure of Frankenstein transcends the reach of the stage and of books and has percolated down even to children’s play. Thus option 2 correctly concludes that what is implied is “The mythical status of Mary’s monster as a figure of horror that has caught the popular imagination”. Retain option 2.
Option 3 is incorrect. The children’s play is not meant to reflect on the connection between pride and the reaction to it but on the fact that Frankenstein’s popularity is so widespread that it is even reflected in the way children use his mannerisms to indicate what is scary. Reject option 3.
Option 4 is incorrect. The example serves to highlight how widespread the story of Frankenstein is. It does not seek to show that this popularity is unexpected or to wonder about why it is not seen in a more philosophical light. Reject option 4.
Thus the correct answer is option 2.
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Question for 100 RCs for Practice Questions- 54
Try yourself:According to the passage, Mary Shelley’s book Frankenstein, is:
Explanation
Option 1 is incorrect. The passage refers to the book as one having “knotty, highbrow prose”. It does not state anywhere that “its philosophical perspective on the ethics of scientific progress” is what makes it difficult to comprehend. Reject option 1.
Option 2 is incorrect. The book is said to be “knotty” or difficult to read. It cannot then be said to be a populist or commonly appealing work. Reject option 2.
Option 3 is correct. The writer states that: “Those coming to the original for the first time, expecting the sort of B-movie schlock horror it has inspired, may be surprised by its knotty, highbrow prose”. In other words, her book is surprisingly intellectual for people who have associated Frankenstein with the “Bmovies” based on the book. Retain option 3.
Option 4 is incorrect as it derives a false conclusion from the given facts in the passage. The book is said to be “surprisingly complex” in comparison with the films derived from it. That does not mean that it is difficult, specifically, for those who have seen the films based on it. Reject option 4.
Thus the correct answer is option 3.
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Question for 100 RCs for Practice Questions- 54
Try yourself:Which of the following can be inferred from the passage, regarding John Polidori’s “The Vampyre”?
Explanation
Option 1 is incorrect. The writer does not comment on how “successful” The Vampyre was at any criteria. Reject option 1.
Option 2 is incorrect. While the passage does state that Frankenstein was a more famous book than The Vampyre, we cannot infer from the passage that “It created a new type of creature in the world of ghost stories”. There is just one reference to the book and not enough information to proceed on. Reject option 2.
Option 3 is incorrect. The Vampyre is mentioned only in passing. The passage makes one point about it when it refers to the intentions of the author while writing the book. We cannot therefore infer from the passage that it “emerged as a genre by itself”. Reject option 3.
Option 4 is correct. The second paragraph states: “The contest yielded two ideas that became gothic classics. One was Polidori’s “The Vampyre”, originally intended as a queasy satire on Byron and the bloodsucking nature of celebrity”. Thus one can infer that the intention of Polidori while writing the book, was to satirise celebrity as something that was bloodsucking, figuratively, ruthless and inhumane.
The passage reveals that while both he and Mary Shelley wrote ghost stories, Polidori’s intention originally was not so much to inspire horror through the story but to mock celebrity by painting a queasy or nauseating look at its “bloodsucking nature”. Retain option 4.
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Question for 100 RCs for Practice Questions- 54
Try yourself:The passage does NOT attribute which of the following motifs (themes)to the novel Frankenstein?
Explanation
Though they are not analyzed in detail the passage, it hints at several motifs (themes) that are pursued in Mary Shelley’s novel. The question asks us to find a theme that is not pursued. So we know that three of the given options are themes mentioned in the passage.
Option is incorrect. It is a theme pursed in the novel. The penultimate paragraph states, “Mary Shelley’s underlying aim was to explore the idea—derived from John Locke—of the newborn as a tabula rasa, whose character is determined by experience rather than innate qualities.” Eliminate option 1. Option 2 is incorrect. The sixth paragraph states, “For all the historical specificity of these references, the novel’s qualms about the underside of progress have never resonated more than in the 21st century. The issues raised by artificial life are no longer hypothetical. Genetic modification and robotics, current attitudes among scientists to techniques commonly known as “playing God” have made them urgent.”Eliminate option 2.
Option 3 is incorrect. The seventh paragraph states that the word Frankenstein has entered the English language as a byword for hubris and unintended consequences. Further the last paragraph also states that the novel is about the eternal truth about neglect and its consequences. Eliminate option 3. Option 4 is correct. The theme of bloodsucking nature of celebrity is mentioned as the theme of Polidori’s “The Vampyre”, and not Frankenstein.
Thus, the correct answer is option 4.
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Question for 100 RCs for Practice Questions- 54
Try yourself:According to the passage, “common error of thinking Frankenstein the name of the monster rather than of his maker is more than a mistake” for the following reasons EXCEPT:
Explanation
The last paragraph of the passage states, “The common error of thinking Frankenstein the name of the monster, rather than of his maker, can be traced not just to his namelessness in the novel but to the fact that, in the cast-list for the first stage blockbuster, the part was called simply “----”. The conflation, though, is more than a mistake. It captures the symbiosis of the two figures—the mutual cruelties of wayward offspring and remiss parent—and an eternal truth about neglect and its sequel.”
The author of the essay suggests that the conflation somehow helped signify the subtle ethical issue on the novel. In the readers’, the nameless monster came to be known by its creator’s name as Frankenstein. The essayist suggests that the symbolism of the novel unifies the characters in the theme of neglect and its sequel, or the relation between and irresponsible child and the inefficient and careless parent.
Option 1 is correct. The nameless monster had no association with the writer of the novel but only with its own creator, Victor Frankenstein. The novel does not highlight this aspect. Hence option 1 is the exception that will answer this question. Retain option 1.
Option 2 is incorrect. As stated in the last paragraph, it signifies the symbiosis or the intimate association between the monster and its creator. Eliminate option 2.
Option 3 is incorrect. The creator of the monster Victor Frankenstein and the nameless monster are two main characters in the novel. Eliminate option 2.
Option 4 is incorrect. As the last line of the passage suggests, the two characters in the novel symbolize the truth about neglect and its consequences. Eliminate option 4.
Hence the correct answer is option 1.
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