The Situation:
NOTE: For our purposes we are assuming that a few weeks have passed since the end of the novel. This trial has been called to determine who, if anyone, should be held responsible for the atrocities and crimes committed throughout the novel.

Your job is to take on the role of an attorney presenting the “closing arguments” at the end of a criminal trial. You must choose the case: either Victor Frankenstein or his creature is on trial. You must choose what crimes the accused has been charged with: playing God, blind ambition, desertion, cruelty, murder, etc. Try to think creatively and don’t necessarily choose the most obvious crimes. You must choose whether you want to defend the accused from the accusations or to prosecute him for these crimes.

To prepare for your role you must do the following:
a) List all the possible arguments for both sides. Ex: if you plan to defend Victor, list not only the arguments you plan to use but also as many arguments as you can think of that will be used by the prosecution.
b) List all the possible responses to the opposition’s points. Therefore, you must consider both points of view.
c) Use your own opinions when developing your critical insight.
d) You must cite the novel whenever possible. Using vague generalizations in a closing argument is not appropriate. This is when you want to fully convince the jury of your point-of-view through proof.

Combine your ideas into an essay. Your closing argument should be approximately 3-5 paragraphs, with specific examples from the text. If you are in Foundations English 12, 2-3 paragraphs is acceptable.