Instructor Access (Optional grading support) is available for this course. Please note: this is ONLY recommended if you wish to write the optional paper. All quizzes are internally graded in this course. Optional papers will be completed via this page (click here) for an Instructor Access fee of $75.

Enjoy an in-depth analysis of these gripping novels and gain a deeper look at the stories -- and how Romanticism can affect our thoughts and faith.

How to get the most out of Monsters of Romanticism: Frankenstein and Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde with Henry Russell, PhD:

• First, read the course materials below before the first class recording.

• Then have a notebook ready and available for class notes each session.

• Read assignments before class recordings.

• Watch that week’s recording if you need to revisit information.

• Do the assignments, quizzes, and any extra work assigned for that week.

• Once the course is completed to the parent's and professor’s satisfaction, there is a Certificate of Completion at the end to be filled in for your records.

Total Classes: 11

Duration: 55 minutes

Prerequisite: The ability to read about 50 novel pages per week.

Suggested Grade Level: 10th to 12th grade

Suggested Credit: One full semester Literature or English

Instructor: Henry Russell, PhD

Course Description:  Both Frankenstein (by Mary W. Shelley) and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (by noted children’s author Robert Louis Stevenson) are utterly gripping novels that a reader can barely put down. Each explores the evil caused by human pride and self-absorption. These horrific novels are a natural reaction to Romanticism’s hope that divorcing a man (or woman) from Christianity and traditional modes of behavior would leave the individual not only “free” but godlike. Both writers swiftly see the reality beneath that naïve optimism; perhaps Mary Shelley’s book is the deeper and more bitter disappointment (since her famous husband, Percy Bysshe Shelley, was one of the most famous of the second-generation Romantics who were making a ghastly pretense of superior virtue). Mr. Stevenson’s novel later grows out a sense of the longer-term effects of the Romantic movement. Both books are a great antidote to false promises of progress. Enjoy analysis of the two books with a deeper look at the story and message.

Course Outline:

• Week 1: Romanticism and the Shelley Family

• Week 2: Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus: Letter 1-Chapter 3

• Week 3: Ch. 4-8

• Week 4: Ch. 9-14

• Week 5: Ch. 15-20

• Week 6: Ch. 21-23

• Week 7: Ch. 24

• Week 8: Biography of Robert Louis Stevenson

• Week 9:  Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Ch. 1-4

• Week 10: Ch. 5-8

• Week 11: Ch. 9-10

Course Materials: Frankenstein, Dracula, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (Signet Classics) 1978, ISBN #0451523636.  It is best if we all use this edition so we can easily go to the same pages together to see what is being discussed. If your family already possesses the books, we can do our best with coordinating by chapters.

Homework: There will be about 50 pages of novel reading per week. Your familiarity with the broad vocabularies of these authors, especially Mary Shelley’s will determine your reading speed. Dr. Russell estimates between one hour and one and one-half hours. There will be weekly computer-graded quizzes, a midterm, and a final

Technical Help: If you have any technical trouble or questions about course content, please email us at homeschoolconnections@gmail.com.

©2021 Homeschool Connections and Henry Russell, PhD. All rights reserved. This course is designed by Henry Russell, PhD

• This material is only to be used for its intended purpose by active subscribers of Homeschool Connections. Any other use without explicit permission is in violation of the seventh commandment (yes, the 7th commandment) and in violation of US and International copyright laws.

• You may print or download to local hard disk extracts for your personal homeschool and non-commercial use only. This is not to be used for homeschool co-ops without express written permission from Homeschool Connections.