Frankenstein: The Portrayal of Women!

This engaging and informative lesson aims to improve students’ understanding of the portrayal of women in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. The lesson places a particular focus upon the perceived role and characteristics of women in the late 1700s, and compares this to the manner in which they are presented in the text. By the end of the lesson, students demonstrate an ability to argue whether they think Shelley’s portrayal of women challenges or recycles existing ideas of women living at the time.

The lesson follows a step-by-step learning journey, in which children learn through:
- Understanding the social and historical context of life for women in the late 1700s;’
- Making links between contextual understanding and what is noted from the text;
- Reading and understanding key extracts from chapters 8, 22, and 23 - extracts that provide exposure to the female characters in the text;
- Inferring, and interpreting the key events of the extracts, and considering the impression that is given of women by Shelley;
- Arguing whether they feel that Shelley recycles or challenges the role of women at the time, using a purpose-made essay template;
- Peer assessing each other’s learning attempts.

Included is:
- Whole lesson PowerPoint - colourful and substantial; (including an animated Frankenstein’s monster to guide them through the lesson);
- Inferring and interpreting worksheet (and a teacher answer sheet);
- Extracts from Chapters 8, 22, and 23;
- The role of women worksheet;
- Analysis template with success criteria for creating well-structured responses;
- Comprehensive lesson plan.

There are also opportunities for group learning, peer assessment, and whole class discussion. This was originally taught to middle-ability year 9/10 groups, but can easily be differentiated for groups of different ages and abilities.

All images are licensed for commercial use, and image rights are listed on the last page of the presentation.