FRANKENSTEIN Unit Test — Free PDF for High School ELA

This Frankenstein unit test is designed for grades 9–12 ELA. It covers comprehension, literary knowledge and analysis, short response, and essay prompts. The free 37-item test is available to print or download. The full test maker includes 118 questions, a customizable Word file, and an answer key. A Frankenstein reading test (strictly comprehension) is also available.

Frankenstein Test options:

→ Print or save the free sample test (FREE) 37-item PDF, ready to print

→ Cut and paste from the questions below (FREE) comprehension questions, literary analysis questions, short response prompts, and essay prompts

→ Get the Frankenstein Test Maker (PURCHASE) 118 questions, answer key, and customizable DOCX

→ Frankenstein Reading Test (PURCHASE) Useful in determining if students read with fidelity. Works great for summer reading or assigning the novel as extra credit. 20 multiple choice, two short answer, and one extended response.

What Is in the Frankenstein Test Maker?

The Frankenstein Test Maker gives teachers a complete bank of assessment items across all four sections. The questions address allusions and source materials, narrative structure and structural effects, characterization, allegory, symbolism, theme development, word choice, point of view, historical context, and more.

40 comprehension questions with answer key
42 literary analysis questions with answer key
22 short answer prompts
12 extended response prompts
Questions of varying difficulty
Two file formats: PDF and DOCX — easy to customize in Microsoft Word or Google Docs

The Frankenstein Assessment Pack bundles the test maker with 29 assignment pages.

Frankenstein Test Questions and Prompts

The comprehension and literary analysis sections below are multiple choice. The final two sections list the writing prompts.

Comprehension Questions

1. In the novel Frankenstein, the doctor’s story is being re-told…

A. By an investigator who is researching the murders.
B. By a ship captain who is writing it down.
C. When Abigail finds Dr. Frankenstein’s journals.
D. By a professor who is giving a lecture.

2. How does the doctor treat his creature when it first comes to life?

A. He is strict and cruel in order to control it.
B. He is as loving and caring as a parent.
C. He abandons the creature immediately.
D. He tries to kill it.

3. To learn about human beings, the creature observes…

A. Inmates in a prison.
B. People living and working in a city slum.
C. A family in a country cottage.
D. People visiting a church and graveyard.

4. What name does the creature choose for himself?

A. Adam.
B. Cain.
C. Prometheus.
D. Lucifer.
E. Trick question! He takes no name.

5. The doctor’s attempts to create a second creature are ruined when…

A. The police arrest him.
B. The monster burns down the laboratory.
C. The doctor destroys his own work.
D. It refuses to live.

6. What threat does the creature issue to Dr. Frankenstein?

A. “If I am first to reach Geneva, nothing will await you.”
B. “You, too, will be fatherless.”
C. “Mankind will loathe you as it loathes me.”
D. “I shall be with you on your wedding-night.”

7. Why does the doctor decide to tell Walton his horrifying story?

A. So that Walton will tell the world what happened.
B. To give the captain a warning and make him wiser.
C. Because they are having a scary story contest.
D. To convince the captain to give him control of the ship.

8. Which choice accurately describes the doctor’s relationship with the natural world?

A. He finds nature to be upsetting and disgusting.
B. He cannot enjoy nature because he analyzes everything.
C. He finds nature to be beautiful and soothing.
D. He is afraid of nature and its power.

9. In order to save the innocent Justine from execution, the doctor…

A. Sends an anonymous letter from the supposed murderer.
B. Tells the court the truth about the creature, but they do not believe him.
C. Plans an elaborate escape, but the plan fails.
D. Trick question! He does nothing to save her.

10. How does the De Lacey family lose their wealth and status?

A. Agatha has a forbidden affair.
B. Mr. De Lacey makes a series of terrible investments.
C. Felix breaks a man out of jail.
D. Safie is involved in a failed coup.

11. What is remarkable about the creature’s speech?

A. He shows no emotion.
B. He has the voice of a child.
C. He is highly intelligent.
D. He struggles to pronounce every word.
E. Trick question! He cannot speak.

12. To what does the creature attribute his evil behavior?

A. He is controlled by demons.
B. He has been twisted by negative life experiences.
C. The doctor gave him the brain of an insane murderer.
D. He has no conception of right and wrong.

13. The second creature dies when…

A. She accidentally starts a fire.
B. The first creature strangles her.
C. The doctor shoots her.
D. Trick question! She is never brought to life.

14. How does Dr. Frankenstein fail in protecting Elizabeth?

A. The doctor believes that he is the creature’s target.
B. The doctor is imprisoned at the time and can do nothing.
C. The creature switches places with Elizabeth, and the doctor shoots her.
D. He tries to warn her, but she refuses to believe him.
E. Trick question! He saves her.

Literary Analysis Questions

1. Which of the following is an accurate definition for the framing device in narrative?

A. A character is “framed” in an unusual context where they are out of place.
B. The setting is a frame that contains the actions. Characters can neither leave nor enter the frame of action.
C. The author describes a specific scene or view in great detail.
D. An outer story is used to “frame” an inner story.

2. Mary Shelley’s full title, Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, is an example of…

A. Synecdoche.
B. Allusion.
C. Consonance.
D. Dialect.
E. Authorial intrusion.

3. “…vivid flashes of lightning dazzled my eyes, illuminating the lake, making it appear like a vast sheet of fire; then for an instant every thing seemed of a pitchy darkness…” This excerpt is an excellent example of…

A. Characterization.
B. Structure (foreshadowing).
C. Structure (frame).
D. Figurative language.
E. Allusion.

4. Which statement is true about Shelley’s characterization in the novel?

A. She makes the creature and the doctor opposites in every way.
B. She makes her characters purely good or purely evil.
C. She makes the reader despise Captain Walton and then care for him.
D. She makes the creature and the doctor similar in important ways.

5. “I have one secret Elizabeth, a dreadful one; when revealed to you, it will chill your frame with horror… I will confide this tale of misery and terror to you the day after our marriage…” This excerpt is an excellent example of…

A. Plot structure (climax).
B. Structural effects (suspense).
C. Bookending (frame device).
D. Authorial intrusion.
E. Hyperbole.

6. When the author presents one character to highlight the traits of another character it is…

A. A character foil.
B. A Venn method.
C. A persona.
D. An archetype.
E. A side-by-side.

7. “You have read this strange and terrific story, Margaret; and do you not feel your blood congeal with horror, like that which even now curdles mine?” This excerpt highlights Shelley’s use of…

A. Omniscient narrator.
B. Symbolism.
C. Structure (framing device).
D. Counterargument.
E. Word choice (allusion).

8. Which of the following is NOT true about Romantic literature?

A. The main characters are often tragic and emotionally troubled.
B. The plots often include fantastic, far-fetched elements.
C. The themes celebrate scientific and industrial progress.
D. It idealizes individual feelings rather than rational thoughts.

9. Which of the following is NOT a type of foreshadowing?

A. Concrete clues (Chekhov’s gun).
B. Direct (prophecy).
C. Climactic clues.
D. Word choice clues.
E. Symbolic / allegorical clues.

10. Which source material is NOT referenced by an allusion in Frankenstein?

A. Paradise Lost.
B. The Bible.
C. “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.”
D. Macbeth.

11. “I had an obscure feeling that all was not over and that he would still commit some signal crime, which by its enormity should almost efface the recollection of the past.” This excerpt is an excellent example of…

A. Imagery / sensory details.
B. Foreshadowing.
C. Character foil.
D. Allusion.
E. Flashback.

12. “…a few shattered pines were scattered around; and the solemn silence of this glorious presence-chamber of imperial nature was broken only by the brawling waves or the fall of some vast fragment, the thunder sound of the avalanche…” This excerpt is an excellent example of…

A. Imagery.
B. Allusion.
C. Resolution.
D. Foreshadowing.
E. Flashback.

13. Which choice is an accurate theme statement for Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein?

A. Playing God.
B. Personal ambition can have disastrous consequences.
C. The pointlessness of revenge.
D. Science and knowledge ultimately benefit humanity.

14. “The modern Prometheus” of the title most aptly applies to…

A. The doctor.
B. The captain.
C. Mary Shelley.
D. The creature.

15. “‘Slave, I before reasoned with you, but you have proved yourself unworthy of my condescension. Remember that I have power; you believe yourself miserable, but I can make you so wretched that the light of day will be hateful to you. You are my creator, but I am your master; obey!'” This excerpt is an excellent example of…

A. Dramatic irony.
B. Sound devices.
C. Personification.
D. Tone.

16. “‘I will watch with the wiliness of a snake, that I may sting with its venom. Man, you shall repent of the injuries you inflict.'” In this excerpt, the creature makes a reference to…

A. Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night.
B. The Bible.
C. “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.”
D. Homer’s The Odyssey.

17. Shelley is called “the mother of science fiction” because…

A. She was the first to tell a story that imagined possible developments.
B. She invented the term science fiction to describe her book.
C. Frankenstein is a modern example that moralizes over scientific developments.
D. All her real-life children had superpowers.

18. Which choice has the LEAST symbolic importance in Frankenstein?

A. The ship.
B. Lightning / electricity.
C. Deserted places.
D. The creature’s scars.

19. Romanticism as a movement was largely a reaction to…

A. Shakespeare / Elizabethan culture.
B. The Enlightenment.
C. The Dark Ages.
D. Modernism.

Short Response Prompts

Identify one allusion from Frankenstein and briefly explain how Shelley uses it.
What are the key features of Romanticism? What did the Romantics idealize? What topics interested them? Use examples to develop your answer.
Choose one character from Frankenstein who serves as a foil to the doctor. How does Shelley develop and use this character foil?

Essay Prompts (choose one)

Choose one Frankenstein theme subject to analyze in an essay. Put the theme subject in an accurate theme statement and explain how Shelley develops the theme. Use examples from the text in your analysis.
Where does Frankenstein fit in literary history? What came before and after? Briefly explain the ideological and historical context of the novel. Your response should include a paragraph on Romanticism.
Write an essay analyzing Shelley’s craft in terms of word choice. Use relevant word choice terminology in your explanation. You may find the following excerpt helpful in your analysis: “‘As the night advanced, a fierce wind arose from the woods and quickly dispersed the clouds that had loitered in the heavens; the blast tore along like a mighty avalanche and produced a kind of insanity in my spirits that burst all bounds of reason and reflection. I lighted the dry branch of a tree and danced with fury around the devoted cottage, my eyes still fixed on the western horizon, the edge of which the moon nearly touched. A part of its orb was at length hid, and I waved my brand; it sank, and with a loud scream I fired the straw, and heath, and bushes, which I had collected. The wind fanned the fire, and the cottage was quickly enveloped by the flames, which clung to it and licked it with their forked and destroying tongues.'”

The full Frankenstein Test Maker (118 questions, answer key, and customizable DOCX) is available at the Frankenstein Test product page. For assignments, extension tasks, and the test maker bundled together, see the Frankenstein Assessment Pack.

FRANKENSTEIN Unit Test — Free PDF