“‘Did I request thee, Maker, from my clay / To mould me Man, did I solicit thee / From darkness to promote me?’” (Knoepflmacher 88). In essence, this quote that originates from Paradise Lost is similar to a child saying how they never asked to be born; therefore they do not deserve any ill treatment that may be received from their parents for the fact that they were born. In childhood, children are dependent on their parental figures to give them emotional support while also fulfilling their emotional needs. When placed in a nurturing, caring home during childhood, children will tend to grow up without any major problems. Yet if the childhood is filled with abandonment, rejection, and neglect, the children will most have to deal with the unfortunate …show more content…
results of poor parenting for the rest of their lives. Also, the children’s adulthoods will be deeply affected by any traumas faced due to this abandonment, neglect, and rejection. Mary Shelley, who wrote the novel Frankenstein, had a childhood filled with these unfortunate traumas. Shortly after Mary’s birth her mother died due to complications with the placenta after the birth.
The death of her mother would leave Mary without a maternal figure to guide her, leaving her to feel abandoned and alone. Although Mary grew up under the care of her father, she was rejected by him due to her gender. Her younger half-brother, William received favourable treatment from their father, while Mary was neglected. Due to the fact that Mary Shelley faced these traumas, it is not surprising that she would have these negative situations and outcomes showcased in her first novel, Frankenstein. The main characters are often in situations that leave them with feelings similar to what Mary had when she was growing up. By the time the three main characters, Victor, Robert and the Monster, had reached adulthood, they had all lost their mothers and all had fathers who rejected them. This left these characters in similar emotional situations as Mary was …show more content…
in. The unfortunate results of poor parenting on children throughout their lives are shown in Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein, through the characters Victor Frankenstein, Robert Walton, and the Monster.
Victor Frankenstein faced abandonment in his youth, leading to a fear of abandonment from those that he perceived as parental figures. This fear resulted in his obsession with the connection of life and death. The first true abandonment that Victor felt was when his mother died of the scarlet fever when he was a teenager. The abandonment he felt from his mother after her unexpected death made him obsessed with death and the creation of life from death. One night after his mother’s death, Victor was dreaming of his beautiful lover, Elizabeth, who was looking beautiful until she changed into “the corpse of… [his] dead mother” (Shelley 46). Victor’s dream started with his beautiful, young lover in the prime of health, but she slowly changed into his deceased mother’s corpse. This dream reflects Victor’s fear of abandonment due to the death of a relative. When Victor started to study the possibility of creating life from death; “one of Victor’s objects in finding ‘a passage to life’ is to restore his mother and ‘renew life where death had apparently devoted the body to corruption’... but his dream only underscores his rejection of the maternal or female model” (Knoepflmacher 108). Knoepflmacher’s
point is that Victor’s obsession with making the Monster was due the abandonment he felt when his mother died. Through the process of reversing death through the experimentation of the reanimation of a corpse, Victor guaranteed that he would never be abandoned by anyone else he loved due to death. Victor’s mother had abandoned him physically through her death, yet his father had abandoned him mentally. Alphonse Frankenstein abandoned Victor by not guiding his son’s interest in natural science. If Alphonse “had taken the pains” to explain what was wrong with studying natural science, Victor may have never “received the fatal impulse that led to … [his] ruin” (Shelley 27). When Victor was younger he started to read outdated books about natural science. After seeing his son read these books, Alphonse discouraged his son but failed to explain that the reason for this was because the science in the books was outdated. He also failed to get Victor new editions of these science books in order to encourage his son’s natural interest in science. Alphonse Frankenstein was “an absent father for Victor” since he did not “act to guide Victor’s interest in science” and failed to support his son (Ellis 142). When Alphonse abandoned his parental duty to guide Victor’s interest in science, he inadvertently drove Victor to dive deeper into his obsession of life and death, and from there his experiment to reanimate a corpse. Another example of poor parenting that affected Victor’s adulthood and drove him to create the Monster was when his parents decided to live in the country. The lives of Victor and his “parents were passed in considerable seclusion [and] it was my [Victor’s] temper to avoid a crowd and to attach myself fervently to few” (Shelley 25). When Victor’s parents secluded their family from the chance of social interactions, they caused Victor to become very attached to those who he knew well, leaving him unable to cope with the loss of someone close to him. This drove Victor to obsess with creating life from death in order to prevent the loss of anyone he was close with. Victor’s fear of abandonment that developed due to poor parenting resulted in his deep obsession with life and death. When Robert Walton’s parental figures neglected his education, the lack of proper education left Robert unable to truly develop his sense of self. Robert’s father was very against his son ever receiving an education in sea faring. Unfortunately for Robert, he was extremely interested in this type of lifestyle, therefore he felt regret after learning that his “father’s dying injunction had forbidden... [Robert] to embark in a sea-faring life” (Shelley 2). By refusing to allow his son to embark on a life at sea and disapproving of his studies of navigation, Robert’s father led to his son’s education being neglected. Children who have “forbidding fathers” such as the father who “forbade Walton to embark on a seafaring-life” are often “divorced from female nurturance” and are unable to develop strong social relationships (Knoepflmacher 104). The neglect of his education along with the separation from a nurturing parental figure left Robert unable to discover himself and form social bonds. The neglect of his education coupled with the regret due to his father’s deathbed wish left Robert with the inability to function socially within society. Unfortunately Robert’s uncle, who became his parental figure after his father died, neglected to educate Robert, leaving him with no choice but to learn about the sea-faring life. Robert accounts that his “education was neglected” and that his uncle allowed him “to embark in a seafaring life” (Shelley 2). Robert’s uncle neglected to properly educate him in any subject after his father’s death, leaving him to learn everything from books about sea-faring. This left Robert somewhat illiterate and unable to interact with his peers to develop friendships or love affairs with. The loss of his mother left Robert with a lack of education in social situations. Although she died when Robert was young, his lack of a maternal figure left him unable to process certain social situations in order to make bonds with other people. Robert had a childhood that was a “youth passed in solitude” (Shelley 6). Robert’s mother is connected to his lack of social interactions due to the fact that he had to be raised by his sister. Due to his unusual upbringing “orphaned Walton..... is markedly uncomfortable in the presence of men who have not been similarity ‘fostered’ by women like his sister” leaving him isolated on his own ship (Ellis 127). In his youth he had no friends and was completely isolated from relationships with anyone other than family. Robert Walton’s parental figures affected his ability to thrive in society by neglecting to properly educate him. The Monster faced rejection from multiple possible families and parental figures, leaving him to become a violent murderer. Victor Frankenstein, the creator of the Monster, immediately regrets its creation as soon as the Monster came to life. The Monster was “abandoned ... an abortion to be spurned at, and kicked, and trampled on” and he had “murdered the lovely and the helpless” (Shelley 206) due to this rejection. The Monster admits that he murdered those who were innocent and helpless but he also has strong emotions connected to the abandonment he received from his creator. As soon as his creation was complete the Monster was already a “newborn ... [who was] at once [a] monstrous agent of destruction and piteous victim of parental abandonment” (Moers 85). The Monster’s rejection from his creator caused him to lash out very destructively and murder innocent people due to the pain he felt from this rejection. Although the Monster’s first rejection was from a parent, he also received rejection from a child. This child was Victor’s little brother, Will, who the Monster came across on his journeys. When the Monster saw Will, he thought that he “could seize him and educate him as... [his] companion and friend” (Shelley 126-127). Since the Monster had been all alone, the chance to create a family was an opportunity that he could not pass up. The Monster even ignored his oath of revenge on all humans in order to accept Will into his family. After all the rejections the Monster had already faced from potential families, the Monster was very excited to be part of a new family. Yet when Will rejected the Monster and after he mentioned the “name of... [the Monster’s] father, the oath of revenge... [was] remembered” which led to the Monster murdering little Will (Knoepflmacher 102). Even though it was Will who rejected the Monster, it was the first rejection from Victor that resulted in the Monster’s outburst of violence when he murdered Will. The Monster had wanted a family so badly due to the rejection from his father figure, that he went back on his vows to destroy all humans. He wanted to accept Will into his family and did not intend the harm the child. But when Will rejected the Monster and mentioned the name Frankenstein, the Monster assumed that this child’s father was also his own father. When the memory of his father’s rejection was evoked, followed the rejection he faced from Will, the Monster became very angry. Yet when the Monster began to believe that his creator had accepted Will, while abandoning the Monster, the retriggered hurt from the previous rejection mixed with a newfound jealousy caused the Monster to snap and kill the young child. The rejection from a possible family that affected the Monster the most was when the De Lacey family rejected him. After this rejection, the Monster “declared everlasting war against” all humans therefore he became very violent towards all humans (Shelley 122). The extreme emotion that the Monster felt after this rejection was due to the fact that he felt like he was part of the family already. The Monster had been living alongside the De Lacey family without their knowledge for months. When the Monster finally decided he was going to introduce himself to the family in hopes of them accepting him, he was rejected. The Monster was “disappointed in his long-cherished desire for a welcome home from the De Lacey family” (Mellor). Yet when he is rejected by them he “feels anger, then a desire for revenge” against all humans (Mellor). The Monster was truly disappointed by this rejection since the De Lacey family were outcasts like him. As a result of all these rejections he faced from possible families, and the lack of parental support, the Monster became violent and sought revenge. In the novel, Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein, Robert Walton, and the Monster all faced poor parenting in their childhood which caused unfortunate results on these characters in their adulthood. Victor faced abandonment from his mother and father that later caused his obsession with life and death, leading to his experiment where he reanimated a corpse. Another example in Frankenstein of poor parenting resulting in effect on adulthood is when Robert’s parental figure neglected to educate him. By neglecting to properly educate him, Robert was unable to have the ability to properly socialize with others. Lastly, the rejection that the Monster faced from parental figures and potential families left him with a violent rage again all humans. Children are affected by bad parenting throughout the rest of their lives. This theme is seen throughout Frankenstein in the main character’s childhood. If these characters had received proper parenting the characters may have led normal lives. By receiving proper parenting, children are better able to adapt to adulthoods without the possible negative effects from the lack of support.
(Nocks 3)” The second assumption is that “our natural impulse to continually recreate the universe quiet often ignores fundamental human needs: Besides depriving himself of health and companionship during the two years that lead to the reanimation experiment. (Nocks 3)” Nocks goes ahead to point out that some biographers have relate the relationship between Victor and the monster to that of Shelley and her father. Shelley’s father was said to have abandoned her after she eloped with her husband Percy Shelley, who was still married at the time. Another great observation by Nocks is that, Shelley’s mother, who died two weeks after she was born, also left her with feelings of abandonment; she was said to have spent many hours over the years at her gravesite. One can imagine the level of abandonment felt by a young motherless girl. Shelley must had thought about this fact in writing Frankenstein; it probably aided Victor’s acquiring the body parts for his monster. Shelley understood what true sadness abandonment meant; she it lived the life she wrote and Nock enlightens the reader of this in her
Before leaving Victor, his mother died of scarlet fever, and the family was left in the care of Frankensteins Elizabeth. Victor zealously took up the study. It turned out that the work of medieval alchemists who was fond of the young man, hopelessly outdated, so he had to study modern science, especially chemistry, with the basics. After two years, Victor has achieved great success. Fascinated by physiology, he decided to identify "where lurk start in life," and soon reached his goal - to open a way to revive the lifeless matter. To apply the knowledge in practice, he gathered from various parts of the body found in the morgues, tombs and in slaughterhouses. Victor dreamed of a perfect being, a new breed of
In Shelley?s Frankenstein, Victor brings a monster to life, only to abandon it out of fear and horror. ? gThe beauty of the dream had vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart? (Shelley, 35). The reader must question the ethics of Victor. After all, he did bring this creature upon himself.
Shelley’s mother died eleven days after Mary was born ( Britton 4). Like Mary Shelley, the monster was born motherless, and this deeply affected him. The monster proclaimed, “no mother had blessed me with smiles and caresses” (Shelley 86). Just as the monster longed for a family connection, so did Shelley. Barbara D’amato wrote, “The unconscious conflicts and psychic experiences of loss and of longing for connection are captured and revealed in the orphaned character of Mary Shelley’s fictional story, Frankenstein (118). Shelley and the monster also share the struggle of feeling abandoned and hated by their fathers. Shelley’s father abandoned her twice during her life. The first time was when Shelley was a young child. Shelley believed that her stepmother was interfering with Shelley’s and her father’s relationship, and this jealousy caused conflict between the family members. Shelley’s father later sent her to live somewhere else. When Shelley was older, her father disapproved of her decision to elope with Percy Shelley which resulted in him disowning Mary. This abandonment left Shelley with the feeling that there was something terribly wrong with her (D’Amato 126). The monster was also abandoned by Frankenstein, or the man that can be considered his father. The monster explained to Frankenstein why he had become the violent being that he was, when he told Victor, “Believe me Frankenstein: I was benevolent; my soul glowed with love and humanity; but am I not alone, miserably alone?” (Shelley
After learning about the life of Mary Shelley, I have grown to appreciate the novel, Frankenstein, even more since the first time I read it. She led a life nearly, as tragic as the monster she created through her writing. Mary seems to pull some of her own life experiences in Victor’s background, as in both mothers died during or after childbirth. Learning about Mary’s personal losses, I have gained a better appreciation of her as an author and a woman of the 17th century. She had association with some the most influential minds of that
Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein is book about the importance of human relationships and treating everyone with dignity and respect. The main character of the book is Victor Frankenstein who is a very intelligent man with a desire to create life in another being. After he completes his creation, he is horrified to find that what he has created is a monster. The monster is the ugliest, most disgusting creature that he has ever seen. Victor being sickened by his creation allows the monster to run off and become all alone in the world. Throughout Frankenstein, Mary Shelley uses the theme of human relationships to illustrate the bond that man has with other beings and the need for love and affection. The importance of human relationships is shown throughout the book in many ways. Victor’s mother says to him, “I have a pretty present for my Victor—tomorrow he shall have it”(18).Victor is very excited that he has such a precious gift that will always be his. They become very close and refer to each other as cousins. However, there is a deeper a relationship between the two, and Victor vows to always protect and take of the girl whose name is Elizabeth. Mary Shelley uses this quote to explain how special Elizabeth is to Victor and that she is gift sent to him. Victor’s mother reinforces this again when she says to Victor and Elizabeth, “My children, my firmest hopes of future happiness were placed on the prospect of your union. This expectation will now be the consolation of your father. Elizabeth, my love, you must supply my place to my younger children. Alas! I regret that I am taken from you; and, happy and beloved as I have been, is it not hard to quit you all? But these are not thoughts befitting me; I will endeavour to resign...
“Allure, Authority, and Psychoanalysis” discusses the unconscious wishes, effects, conflicts, anxieties, and fantasies within “Frankenstein.” The absence of strong female characters in “Frankenstein” suggests the idea of Victor’s desire to create life without the female. This desire possibly stems from Victor’s attempt to compensate for the lack of a penis or, similarly, from the fear of female sexuality. Victor’s strong desire for maternal love is transferred to Elizabeth, the orphan taken into the Frankenstein family. This idea is then reincarnated in the form of a monster which leads to the conclusion that Mary Shelley felt like an abandoned child who is reflected in the rage of the monster.
An idea becomes a vision, the vision develops a plan, and this plan becomes an ambition. Unfortunately for Victor Frankenstein, his ambitions and accomplishments drowned him in sorrow from the result of many unfortunate events. These events caused Victors family and his creation to suffer. Rejection and isolation are two of the most vital themes in which many dreadful consequences derive from. Victor isolates himself from his family, friends, and meant-to-be wife. His ambitions are what isolate him and brought to life a creature whose suffering was unfairly conveyed into his life. The creature is isolated by everyone including his creator. He had no choice, unlike Victor. Finally, as the story starts to change, the creature begins to take control of the situation. It is now Victor being isolated by the creature as a form of revenge. All the events and misfortunes encountered in Frankenstein have been linked to one another as a chain of actions and reactions. Of course the first action and link in the chain is started by Victor Frankenstein.
Throughout the book of Frankenstein, the creator of the being Frankenstein, Victor, is experienced as a suffering being. He recalls from the very beginning a time during his childhood where he was happy and surrounded by love, a time when his mother lived. Victor’s downfall or the beginning of his disgrace, initiates with the death of his mother. Victor leaves his family to start a new stage in his life, he leaves on quest for answers a true quest for knowledge. Personal motivation will lead Victor to take on the challenge of overcoming death, or to be more specific, give life to a dead body.
Frankenstein gets sicker- eventually dying from the disease. Through Mrs. Frankenstein dying, Elizabeth takes the place as the mother in the household, thus becoming the mother in Frankenstein’s eyes. Mrs. Frankenstein’s last wish is for Victor and Elizabeth to eventually get married. Frankenstein cannot come to terms with the union and decides that he needs some time to think about it, this shows that he is not ready to move on and accept his mother’s death, thus having to love another. Frankenstein uses Elizabeth as a substitute for his mother; Mrs. Frankenstein and Elizabeth share a similar past; they were both orphan children in a small village, saved by a loving wealthy man/family. Elizabeth is a mirror image of Mrs. Frankenstein which is why Frankenstein is drawn to her. After creating the monster, Frankenstein has a dream: “I thought I saw Elizabeth, in the bloom of health, walking in the streets of Ingolstadt. Delighted and surprised, I embraced her; but as I imprinted the first kiss on her lips, they became livid with the hue of death; her features appeared to change, and I thought that I held the corpse of my dead mother in my arms; a
Victor Frankenstein's upbringing in a perfect society ultimately led to the destruction of his life which coincided with the lives of those emotionally close to him. Victor was raised in an atmosphere where beauty and physical appearance define one's quality of life. This superficial way of life results in a lost sense of morals and selfishness, which in turn produces a lost sense of personal identity. This can cause a feeling of failure and resentment in the later stages of life which, in Victor's case, can be externalized into a form of hatred directed toward himself.
The creator of the monster, Victor Frankenstein is a man full of knowledge and has a strong passion for science. He pushes the boundary of science and creates a monster. Knowledge can be a threat when used for evil purposes. Though Victor did not intend for the being to be evil, society’s judgement on the monster greatly affects him. As a result he develops hatred for his creator as well as all man-kind. Victor’s anguish for the loss of his family facilitates his plan for revenge to the monster whom is the murderer. While traveling on Robert Walton’s ship he and Victor continue their pursuit of the monster. As Victor’s death nears he says, “…or must I die, and he yet live? If I do, swear to me Walton, that he shall not escape, that you will seek him and satisfy my vengeance in his death…Yet, when I am dead if he should appear, if the ministers of vengeance should conduct him to you, swear that he shall not live-swear that he shall not triumph over my accumulated woes and survive to add to the list of his dark crimes” (pg.199). Victor grieves the death of William, Justine, Clerval, Elizabeth and his father. Throughout the novel he experiences the five stages of grief, denial/ isolation, anger, bargaining, depression and finally acceptance. Victor denies ...
In Frankenstein, Shelley creates two very complex characters. They embody the moral dilemmas that arise from the corruption and disturbance of the natural order of the world. When Victor Frankenstein is attending school, he becomes infatuated with creating a living being and starts stealing body parts from morgues around the university. After many months of hard work, he finishes one stormy night bringing his creation to life. However, “now that [Victor] had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled [his] heart” (Chambers). Right after Victor realizes what he has done, he falls into deep depression and must be nursed back to health by his friend. Victor spends the rest of the story facing consequences and moral problems from creating unnatural life. When he realizes that the ‘monster’ has killed his brother, even though no one believes him, he feels responsible for his brother’s murder because he was responsible for the existence of the ‘monster’. Also feeling responsible, Victor...
“Dr. Victor Frankenstein feels uncontrollably compelled to create animation in the lifeless body” (Storment) this obsession with the creation of life alienated him from his loved ones. His impending marriage to Elizabeth was one aspect of his life that he sacrificed. In chapter 22, Elizabeth writes to him “Tell me, dearest Victor. Answer me, I conjure you by our mutual happiness, with simple truth-- Do you not love another?” Elizabeth’s concern
In the nightmare, Elizabeth turns into his mother’s dead body. His mother is part to blame for him having to attend the university of Ingolstadt, which lead him to create the monster. By Mary Shelley relating the two characters here, this leads us to believe that they have some type of direct correlation together with Victor. He is happy to see Elizabeth, but then frightened to see his mother’s body, and then freaked out again when he opens his eyes and sees the monster looking over him. He loves Elizabeth, but it is because of her that he has the relationship he has with his mother that sent him to the university of Ingolstadt, which led him to create this hideous