Lesson video

I'm Miss Howell.

Welcome to today's English lesson.

All you will need is a pen and a piece of paper, to take a moment to clear yourself of any distractions and make sure that you have everything you need at hand for today's learning.

Our lesson today will continue our exploration of the famous Gothic text "Frankenstein".

And we are going to work on your skills of analysing language.

Please take a moment to get down your title, analysing language in "Frankenstein", pausing here to do that now.

Now, please write down your key word for the lesson, resurrection and the definition, pausing here to do that now.

In the extract we are focusing on in our lesson today, Victor Frankenstein has spent months feverishly fashioning a creature out of old body parts.

One climactic night in the secrecy of his apartment, he brings his creation to life.

When he looks at the monstrosity that he has created, however, the sight horrifies him.

In a moment, you will reread an extract from our reading in our previous lesson.

When you do so, I would like you to focus on the question, how does Shelley use language to present the monster as terrifying? So make sure you keep your question for today's lesson in your mind as you read.

And if you would like to take any notes or write down any quotations from what you read that would support you in answering that question, then that might be a good idea.

Here's the first section of text you need to reread.

Pause the video here to allow yourself to do that.

Here is the next section, pausing here to reread.

And the final section, pausing here to reread.

Now you have re-read, we'll focus on a particular section and analyse the language Shelley has used to create her monster.

Before we do that, I just want to remind you of the steps that we take when we are analysing language.

So firstly, we need to make sure we understand the texts that we're analysing.

Secondly, that we read the question carefully and underline the key focus.

Then we need to make sure that we identify the best quotations to answer the question.

We need to use accurate subject terminology, when we're identifying our techniques or it could be particular key word choices.

And ideally, of course, it would be a combination of both of these within our answer.

So we need to make sure we explain the impact of these choices by the writer, linking back to the question, being very specific and thinking carefully and thoughtfully about the connotations of choices without repeating ourself.

And I'd like you to see if you can challenge yourself and identify multiple techniques used by the writer in one quotation.

And of course, more than one quotation within the extract, We will now work through each of these steps to successfully analyse language.

So your task is to write down the question and to highlight the key focus, pausing here to do that now.

Now for step three, you need to reread the section of text on the slide that you will use to answer the question on and select your quotation.

Please try and select at least two, making sure these are the best quotations that present the monster as terrifying.

Pausing here to do that now.

Now for step four, using accurate subject terminology, identify the techniques and the key words that you are going to focus on within your quotation.

Pausing here to do that now.

And finally, step five.

Really take your time here to explore the impact of these particular choices that Shelley has made.

Think carefully and thoughtfully about the connotation and how and why they specifically make the monster appear terrifying.

Try and remember you shouldn't be repeating any of your ideas when you're analysing the different choices that Shelley has made.

Pause here to do that now.

Now we will review your answers for your plan.

In your different coloured pen, please note down the feedback as I go through.

Even if you have not selected the same quotations that I have, it is really useful for you to practise this skill and you might find that it'll be useful for you to have when it comes to writing up your answer later in the lesson.

So, the quotations that I have selected are in pink on the slide.

So if you need to pause the video to allow yourself to get those down, please do so now.

In the first quotation I selected, you can see that what I'm going to focus in on is the adjective yellow and the adverb scarcely.

So that's my identification of the techniques.

And then I have explored really carefully and thoughtfully in my explanation what those mean and how that answers the question.

So the adjective yellow depicts how the monster's skin is dissimilar to a living human.

It has connotations of illness and decay and exposes how the monster is unnatural.

The adverb scarcely depicts how his skin, almost transparent, barely conceals his muscles and arteries suggesting the creation of him was substandard and grotesque.

Then, in the next quotation, I'm going to focus in on the adjectival phrase horrid contrast, the adjective watery and the adjective shrivelled.

So you can see here that I'm achieving that challenge because I'm focusing in on multiple techniques that Shelley's using within the one quotation.

So this is something to reflect on and to consider whether you have done this also in that independent task.

So the adjectival phrase horrid contrast describes the juxtaposition of the monster's perfect teeth and hair to its imperfect watery eyes and shrivelled complexion.

Despite the monster having some appealing individual features, the overall creation is hideous and fills Victor with disgust.

The monster's features are clearly incompatible with one another and amount to the presentation of him as grotesque.

Then the adjective watery exposes the monster as unnatural, despite having other more redeemable features, it depicts how his eyes, typically the window to a human soul, were almost weeping and were unnatural.

The idea that the monster's eyes were not his own disrupts the Victorian belief that it was God alone who could create new life.

Such a deviation from this belief would cause readers discomfort and feelings of dread.

And then finally the adjective shrivelled presents the monster at the beginning of its life in a state of deterioration.

The phrase serves to remind the reader that the monster wasn't just merely insentient a moment ago, the monster is a decaying corpse that is becoming increasingly wrinkled and shrivelled.

So what you can see there is that I have explained in detail, but I have not repeated any of my explanations so that I'm really building on my analysis.

In your write up, I would like you to try and incorporate the following to make your answer more analytical.

So your challenge is to try and include connectives to show you're building on your analysis.

And I've given you some examples of connectives here.

Furthermore, also, additionally, and there are, of course, others you could use.

And then secondly, I really want you to consider using cautionary language to show that your answer is an interpretation.

So when we are writing about another writer's work, what we're doing is just showing an interpretation of what they have done.

So instead of just saying, for example, the writing X shows or X suggests, we want to try and use verbs such as could and might.

Also use adverbs such as possibly, perhaps, feasibly, viably.

And what both of these do is show that you appreciate the nuances of language and it's a much more sophisticated way of writing about language.

There are sentence starters on this slide and the next to support your write ups, should you need them.

In the sentence starters, I've included some verbs and adverbs of nuance in bold, and that will help you to incorporate that success criteria into your answer should you need them.

Pause the video here to complete your task, using the sentence starters should you feel the need.

Now we will review your answers.

So using your different coloured pen, I would like you to edit, refine your answer as we go through the model paragraph.

In particular, focus on how carefully you have thought about the impact of the language choices Shelley has used and why that makes her monster so terrifying.

Also check that you have applied our key focus of that analytical phrasing in your work.

So check for your use of connectives and your verbs and adverbs of caution.

So you're adding that level of sophistication to your analysis.

Really well done if you have incorporated these into your work.

Pause the video as and when you need to as we go through the model paragraph now, so that you can check mine against your own.

Shelley portrays the monster as an uncanny object of both beauty and ugliness, which, combined, cause terror.

Firstly, Shelley uses the adjective yellow to feasibly imply how the monster's skin is dissimilar to any living human's because of the adjective yellow having connotations of illness and decay.

Additionally, the adverb scarcely might depict how his skin, almost transparent, barely conceals his muscles and arteries, suggesting the creation of him was unnatural and grotesque.

Furthermore, Shelley uses the adjectival phrase horrid contrast to describe the juxtaposition of the monster's perfect teeth and hair to its imperfect watery eyes and shrivelled complexion.

This could highlight that, although some of the monster's individual features may be appealing overall, it is hideous.

The adjective horrid perhaps connotes the unbearable aesthetic of the monster meaning that Victor is unable and unwilling to look upon his creation.

Once you have finished checking the work against the model and seeing whether you've incorporated those connectives and those verbs and adverbs of caution.

That brings us to the end of our lesson.

Thank you for your focus and I hope you've enjoyed our learning today.