What Mary Shelley's Frankenstein asks — who is the real monster, the creature or the creator who abandoned it

What the New Critics argued — the poem is an autonomous object, ignore the author's biography and intentions

New Critics emphasized the poem's self-contained meaning, disregarding authorial context

What Nabokov's Lolita forces the reader to confront — seductive prose in the service of a monster's self-justification

Lolita's narrative compels readers to grapple with the moral ambiguity of aestheticized immorality

What Neruda's poetry does with everyday objects — transforms onions and socks into vehicles for love and wonder

Neruda's verse elevates mundane items to symbols of profound affection and awe

What Macbeth's 'tomorrow and tomorrow' soliloquy reveals — life as a tale told by an idiot, signifying nothing

Macbeth's soliloquy reflects life's futility and meaninglessness

What Sylvia Plath's confessional poetry does — turns personal suffering into art without flinching from extremity

Transforms personal anguish into poignant artistry, unflinching in its raw intensity

What Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey leaves unexplained — the monolith, the star child, human evolution

The film's monolith and star child symbolism remain largely open to interpretation