Key Terms

Here is a list of the key terms with which you should be familiar when studying Mary Shelley's Frankenstein:

Term	Definition
Epistolary	Written in the form of a series of letters.
Narrative	The person, as distinct from the author, who is telling the story
First person narrative	Present themselves as an ‘I’ who is involved in or witness to the events described.
Antithesis	A contrast or opposition. ‘I ought to be thy Adam, but I am rather the fallen angel.’
Oxymoron	A combination of contradictory words.
Embedded narrative	A story enclosed within a frame narrative, a tale within a tale. The creature’s narrative is an embedded narrative. Victor’s narrative frames that of the monster. Victor’s narrative is embedded within the frame narrative of Walton.
Paradox	An apparently contradictory statement which is nevertheless somehow meaningful.
Protagonist	The leading character in a story.
Confessional novel	Appearing to deal with intimate experiences of the narrator’s life.
Ambiguity	When something can be interpreted in more than one way, often used to suggest uncertainty in meaning.

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