Mary Shelley's perceptions of science and the dangerous power it potentially holds are intuitive.

I agree with Mary Shelley's perceptions of science and the dangerous power it potentially holds. Many humans tend to experiment to learn how things work and to invent things to help us survive. But others go too far and want to play to God, creating things that they know humans cannot. Victor Frankenstein wants to be remembered after he dies, so he decides that he's going to create life with his own hands. He wasn't aware of the ethics involved in creating such a thing. He did it because it suited him. "Learn from me, if not by my precepts, at least by my example, how dangerous is the acquirement of knowledge and how much happier that man is who believes his native town to be the world, than he who aspires to become greater than his nature will allow(p.31)." This quote describes Victor very well because he isn't satisfied with his surroundings, he wants to branch off into some unknown territory. His creation that he thought would be a blessing to the world was actually a disaster. Victor tortured the monster by abandoning it and letting people harm him. In return for that injustice, the monster tormented Victor's conscious. Mary Shelley seems like she is trying to give us some type of warning of how powerful humans can be when it comes to science. There isn't a need to go beyond the normal standard to create something that can possibly be harmful to human race just to be better than the next person.

What is the significance of the many references to the domestic tranquility of the Frankenstein household?

The many references to the tranquility of the Frankenstein household foreshadows what will happen in the rest of the book. It's the calm before the storm. "I feel exquisite pleasure in dwelling on the recollections of childhood, before misfortune had tainted my mind, and changed its bright visions of extensive usefulness into gloomy and narrow reflections upon self (p. 20)." Everything Victor exprienced as a child, would eventually lead him to explore other realms of his environment. I believe Victor had too much time on his hands, which led him to learn things that maybe he shouldn't have.

Who is the novel's Protagonist? Antagonist? "Hero"?

I think that the monster is the protagonist and Victor is the antagonist because Victor is always out to get the monster. Victor wants to destroy the monster simply because he thinks he can. He uses the monter's crimes as a real reason to harm him. If anyone should be the "hero", then it should be the monster because he exhibits good character. He didn't get people to feel sorry for him like Victor did. He handled his own and didn't have help from anyone. Victor had the family and friends, but he took them for granted. "...my accumulated woes..(p.155)." Victor cared only about himself and ignored the people around him. The monster always took into consideration other peoples' feeling, which makes him a hero!

Demon or Daemon?

The defintion of demon is an evil passion or influence. Daemon is a genius spirit. I belive that Mary Shelley used daemon instead of demon because she also believed that the monster wasn't evil. If she used demon, the reader would probably not have any sympathy for the monster, but feel sorry for Victor. "I thought of pursuing the devil...(p.50)." This line gives you the idea that the monster is bad. Victor is more of the demon than the monster because he shifts all the blame on the monster. He makes Walton believe that the monster is a horrible being.Victor doesn't want to believe that he can create something so bad.

Final words of the monster and Victor

"When Victor meets Walton, he asks him to kill the monster he has been chasing. Victor doesn't want the monster to continue to live while he is on the verge of death. "Oh! when will my guiding spirit, in conducting me to thye daemon, allow me the rest I so much desire; or must I die, and he yet live? If I do, swear to me, Walton, that he shall not escape; that you will seek him, and satisfy my vengeance in his death. And do I dare to ask of you to undertake my pilgrimage, to endure the hardships that I have undergone? No; I am not so selfish. Yet, when I am dead, if he should appear; if the ministers of vengeance should conduct him to you, swear that he shall not live-swear that he shall not triumph over my accumulated woes and survive to add to the list of his dark crimes. He is eloquent and pesuasive; and once his words had even power over my heart: but trust him not. Hear him not; call on the manes of William, Justine, Clerbval, Elizabeth, my father, and of the wretched Victor, and thrust your sword into his heart. I will hover near, and direct the steel aright (p.155)." His final words are harsh towards the monster. Victor is only upset because he has nothing left. He didn't see himself dying this way. He now feels what the monster has been feeling all along. His final words differ from the monster's. The monster's final words are angry, yet forgiving, He saw Victor laying in the coffin and you could sense that the monster still felt anger toward him even though he was dead. He gives reasons for his murderous rampage. He wanted to let Victor know how much he has suffered. "Farewell! I leave you, and in the last of human-kind whom these eyes will ever behold. Farewell, Frankenstein! If thou wert yet alive and yet cherished a desire of revenge against me, it would be better satiated in my life than in my destruction. But it was not so; thou didst seek my extinction, that I might not cause greater wretchedness; and if yet, in some mode unknown to me, thou hadst not ceased to think and feel, thou wouldst not desire against me a vengeance greater than that which I feel. Blasted as thou wert, my agony was still superior tho thine; for the bitter sting of remorse will not cease to rankle in my wounds until death shall close them for ever (p.166)." The monster never once wished bad things on Victor. He showed his caring side which Victor never got a chance to experience. The way their final words compare is that they each expressed what they truly felt. They didn't get a chance to tell each other how they felt too.

Qualities of a Human? Qualities of the monster?

Feelings and emotions are the biggest things that makes us human. Understanding people and situations, not being prejudice, and having common sense are qualities I believe makes us human. The monster possesses all these qualities because he has feelings of having a companion, someone to talk to and bond with. He cries, so this shows that he has emotion. By observing the cottagers, he was better able to understand people and their ways. he wasn't prejudice at all, but he knew humans were. He used common sense to figure out that his actions were causing the cottager to go hungry, so he stopped taking their food and helped them. He exhibited sympathy toward them. "I discovered also another means through which I was enabled to assist their labours. I found that the youth spent a great part of each day in collecting wood for the family fire; and, during the night I often took his tools, the useof which I quickly discovered, and brought home firing sufficient for the consumption of several days (p. 78)." The only thing i saw was that he lacked sympathy for the people he killed.