In Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein shows how a child’s feelings of abandonment, can have an effect on a child’s upbringing into adulthood. Victor Frankenstein a young scientist interested in the study of chemistry, creates the monster as a scientific experiment. After he creates the monster, Frankenstein becomes fearful and disgusted over his creation. He runs away from him and mistreats him as a result. The monster now abandoned does not have anyone in his life to understand him. The relationship between Victor Frankenstein and the monster in this novel parallels how Mary Shelley felt growing up without her mother. Therefore, similarities can be drawn between Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein and the feelings of abandonment through the …show more content…
loss of her mother, the neglect from her husband Percy Shelley and the emotional abuse stemmed from her step-mother, Mary Jane Clairmont. The abandonment the monster suffers from Victor Frankenstein is similar to that Mary Shelley suffers from her mother’s death. Frankenstein’s creation of the monster from its inception correlates to the birth of a child. Just like a father, Frankenstein is anxious and excited to see his creation come to life. As he succeeds, his feelings towards the monster are of fear and disgust towards the monster, he says “his yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath; his hair was of a lustrous black and flowing, his teeth of pearly whiteness" (Shelley 35). Frankenstein starts to realizes what he has in front of him is not a work of beauty but of a horrid monster. He becomes repulsed by his own creation and he is unable to understand how something so beautiful at first could turn out to be so grotesque. After his new found revelation, Frankenstein runs away from the monster, leaving the monster abandoned and to fend for himself in a world he does not belong. This event leads to the monster having abandonment issues; he describes his feelings growing up without his father. He says, “I, the miserable and the abandoned, am an abortion, to be spurned at, and kicked, and trampled on. Even now my blood boils at the recollection of this injustice” (Shelley 165). The monster’s attempt to fit into society were unsuccessful and were met with failure and rejection. The monster yearns to be loved and accepted. Similarly, Mary Shelley grew up without her mother, just like the monster who grew up without his father. Shelley’s thoughts and feeling of abandonment stem from her mother’s dead. Shelley’s mother died just weeks after given birth to her. This left Shelley feeling alone and without anyone to understand her much like the monster. When Mary Shelley’s father got remarried to Mary Jane Clairmont, she felt she may have a chance of having a mother. Those feelings quickly relinquished when she quickly learned her step-mother favored her own kids, Charles and Claire over her. Mary Shelley’s feeling regarding her step-mother were indifferent and, “she grew up detesting her” (Mary 3). As a result, Mary Shelley endured many life struggles and her feelings of abandonment may have played an effect on her life choices. Mary Shelley was only 17 years old when she ran away with Percy Shelley. Percy Shelley a man who at the time was married to his wife Harriet and were expecting a child (Mary Shelley 4). These types of life choices are a good example of a child who is too young to know any better and is seeking love and affection somewhere else trying to fill a void due to not having guidance from a mother. Should her mother have lived maybe her life choices would have been different. In Erin Schreine’s article, “Child Behavior Problems with an Absent Mother,” states in many instances children who lack a mother feel anger. This anger and feeling of abandonment can lead to mood swings or physical aggression, leading to difficulty in school or when interacting with peers. The monster’s feelings of anger and aggression can be noted in his behavior towards his father Frankenstein. Another parallel, the feelings of neglect the monster feels, due to Victor Frankenstein, mirrors the feelings of neglect Mary Shelley suffers due to her husband, Percy Shelley. Due to Frankenstein's parental neglect towards raising his child, the monster, he grows up without having a secured emotional and stable environment. The monster did not have anyone to teach him right from wrong, no one to listen to him when he felt sad, scared or lonely. Should Victor Frankenstein taken the responsibility of being a parent, the monster would not have killed all of Frankenstein’s loved ones. The monster felt pain not having anyone to love him. When a child feels ignored by a parent their first reaction is to act out to get their parents attention. The monster recounts a time without his father he says, “But where were my friends and relations? No father had watched my infant days, no mother had blessed me with smiles and caresses; or if they had, all my past life was now a blot, a blind vacancy in which I dintingued nothing” (Shelley 86). The monster lets us know how miserable and lonely he must have felt not having any recollection of human contact with a father or mother in his life. He he grew up without any of those found memories we all develop as we grow with alongside friends and family in our lives. Similarly to the monster, Mary Shelley’s life with Percy Shelley was not always full of happiness. In October, when Mary, Percy and Claire received the news that Percy’s wife Harriet had given birth to his son Charles, they traveled back into town and stayed at Church Terrace, St. Pancras. This made Mary Shelley very happy as she waited for visits from her once neighbors and friends but nobody ever came (Seymour 116). Just like the monster, she felt alone, rejected and unloved. Further in the relationship, Mary Shelley also had to deal with Percy’s love affairs. She saw very little of Percy when they were in Switzerland because she was so sick during her first days of pregnancy. Percy would take advantage of her state and would use to his advantage to go out with Claire every day to have a good time. (Mary Shelley UMC 3) Moving forward, Mary Shelley came to depend very much on Percy Shelley’s friend named Thomas Jefferson Hogg. He would visit her in the daytime when Percy and Claire had left her. His companionship made her feel better. He really loved and cared for her more than a friend but Mary Shelley was content with just his friendship. Percy Shelley was out everyday, due to creditors constantly looking for him (“Mary Shelley UMC” 4). She went through so much turmoil with Percy. The despair after losing a child and not having Percy talk to about her feelings only brought her to a more deep depression. He left her alone to deal with her depression and neglected her needs. In Katherine Montwieler’s critical insight, “Neglect and Childhood Trauma in Frankenstein and Wuthering Heights: Writing the Domestic (Abuse) Novel,” she explains how the creature’s upbringing is what started his behavior and resentment, “An abusive “childhood” results in their thoughtlessly steamrolling nearly everyone unfortunate enough to find themselves in their path” (Montwieler). If Frankenstein would have nurtured the monster with love and acceptance, his loved ones would not have been murdered by the monster. His loved ones would not have perished at the hands of the monster. Finally, the emotional abuse that is inflicted upon the monster by Victor Frankenstein is similar to the emotional abuse inflicted on Mary Shelley by her step-mother.
After Frankenstein runs away from the monster, he finds himself all alone in his apartment. He decides to leave and heads out to find shelter and food. After, he finds some berries to eat near a stream and he falls asleep. As he is recounting his emotions to his father Frankenstein he says, “It was dark when I woke; I felt cold also, and half frightened, as it were, instinctively, finding myself so desolate” (Shelley 71). The monster makes reference to the way he felt after realizing he is all alone in the woods, with no one to help him or guide him to safety. He feels cold, frightened and lonely. He goes on to state, “I was a poor, helpless, miserable wretch; I knew and could distinguish, nothing; but feeling pain invade me on all sides, I sat down and wept” (Shelley 71). After he is wondering in the woods for several hours, not knowing where he is or where he is going he starts to feel hopeless. The only thing he felt he could do was to give up and start crying. After walking through the woods for some days, he finally finds a place to stay. He finds a hovel near a village where he learns about the cottagers named, the De Lacey family. Through this family, the monster learns the dynamics of having a family. He learns about respect, love, and acceptance. When the monster witnesses Agatha crying and her father, the old man De Lacey, showing her affection, it brings him unusually feelings. He states, “He raised her and smiled with such kindness and affection that I felt pain and pleasure, such as I had never before experienced, either from hunger of cold, warmth or food; and I withdrew from the window unable to bear these emotions” (Shelley 75). The monster for the first time witnessed the selfless bond between a father and a child. He yearned for this type of relationship with his father. The only
thing he wanted was for his father, Frankenstein to give him the same love and acceptance in return. These emotions were too much to bare and caused him a lot of emotional pain. Similarly to the monster, Mary Shelley also often felt, “alone and unhappy” (Mary Shelley Bio 1). Mary Shelley’s mother died when she was only a couple of weeks old. She died from complications after childbirth. Her father remarried a woman named Mary Jane Clairmont. Shelley was not very fond of her new step-mother. Her expectations perhaps of having a mother may have vanished after learning she was not the person she wanted her to be and left her feeling disappointed. Mary Jane Clairmont made sure to let Mary know she was not very liked. She favored her own children, “while picking on the shy, solemn Mary,” (“Mary Shelley UCM 1”). This type of emotional abuse must have Mary feel very sad and unwanted. These emotions may be seen through the story of the monster as she felt depressed and lonely which makes us understand why her novel had such a dark and lonely feeling of belonging. Also, Mary Shelley’s step-mother felt she did not deserve a good education like her children. She did not sent off to study abroad but instead she stayed behind learning from her father, and using her father’s library to grow her knowledge. Mary Shelley was smarter than her stepmother's children and this made Mary Jane Godwin treat her unfairly. She told her, “she was sly, slow, stupid, useless, and selfish” (Mary Shelley UCM 2). This kind of emotional and verbal abuse had a direct effect on Mary and it caused a lot of emotional stress as such that her nerves in one of Mary's arms were bothering her this is what we now know to be eczema. Mary uses the monster through her writing of the novel to show her true feelings towards her step mother treatment. Shey may have been trying to hide these feelings inside of her painful upbringing but felt that through her writing was the only way to express what she really felt. Similarly, these feelings were as ugly and disgusting as her monster (Mary Shelley’s Life 1).
A child's first steps are taken in the home. These experiences shape their existence for the rest of their lives. Jean Hall says that “The family may help the child grow up...loving...or a tyrant”. This fact holds ground in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, as Victor and Elizabeth's childhood and the Creatures “childhood” are vastly different, which push them down very unlike paths. These differences are made so to connect the book to Mary Shelley's overall messages she wants to articulate about: Society's emphasis on wealth and appearance, and Nature vs Nurture.
In a world full of novelty, guidance is essential to whether a being’s character progresses positively or negatively in society. Parents have a fundamental role in the development of their children. A parent’s devotion or negligence towards their child will foster a feeling of trust or mistrust in the latter. This feeling of mistrust due to the lack of guidance from a parental figure is represented in the relationship between Victor Frankenstein and his creation in Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein. The creature created by Frankenstein was shown hatred and disgust from the very beginning, which led to its indignant feelings toward his creator and his kind.
In Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein the protagonist Victor Frankenstein creates a monster. The monster in the novel is deprived of a normal life due to his appearance. Like the creature, some serial killers today are killers due to the same rejection. In the novel Frankenstein, Mary Shelley warns that a childhood of abuse and neglect will often result in evil actions.
In the novel "Frankenstein," Victor Frankenstein is the creator of a "monster." Because of his thirst for knowledge, he goes too far and creates a huge monster, which he immediately rejects. This rejection plays a major part in the monster's hatred for humans. The author, Mary Shelley, supports the theme, loss of innocence, through plot, setting and characterization. This paper will explain the many ways that the characters lost their innocence throughout the novel.
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
Throughout Mary Shelley’s classic novel Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein pursues, with a passion lacking in other aspects of his life, his individual quest for knowledge and glory. He accepts the friendships and affections given him without reciprocating. The "creature," on the other hand, seems willing to return affections, bringing wood and clearing snow for the DeLaceys and desiring the love of others, but is unable to form human attachments. Neither the creature nor Victor fully understands the complex relationships between people and the expectations and responsibilities that accompany any relationship. The two "monsters" in this book, Victor Frankenstein and his creation, are the only characters without strong family ties; the creature because Frankenstein runs from him, and Victor because he runs from his family.
A predominant theme in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is that of child-rearing and/or parenting techniques. Specifically, the novel presents a theory concerning the negative impact on children from the absence of nurturing and motherly love. To demonstrate this theory, Shelly focuses on Victor Frankenstein’s experimenting with nature, which results in the life of his creature, or “child”. Because Frankenstein is displeased with the appearance of his offspring, he abandons him and disclaims all of his “parental” responsibility. Frankenstein’s poor “mothering” and abandonment of his “child” leads to the creation’s inevitable evilness. Victor was not predestined to failure, nor was his creation innately depraved. Rather, it was Victor’s poor “parenting” of his progeny that lead to his creation’s thirst for vindication of his unjust life, in turn leading to the ruin of Victor’s life.
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 a thought provoking story to read because the subject matter speaks to me. Dark, supernatural and gothic is exactly the style of reading I would choose in my own reading choices. It was only one step from my Victorian Vampire reading to Frankenstein therefore my choice to read the novel was almost a given to me. Several areas that I as a human can relate to are the human nature of each character, the unrelenting revenge the monster feels, and betrayal in the pursuit of self-preservation Victor bestows on his monster, his family, and mankind. The story speaks of betrayal, a strong an intense emotion that hurt the monster to the core so deeply he commits unspeakable acts. Frankenstein outlines Victor’s betrayal of his son, the monster. Victor literally created a child, a rebirth of flesh in his own design but he felt no love or sense of responsibility for the monsters well-being. This betrayal of the preverbal parent over their “child” is felt greatly by the monster and Frankenstein suffers at his own cost, unwilling and incapable to see he was his own destructor. A notable act of betrayal is when Victor can but does not save Justine from death. His own brother was dead and he was
“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.
Isolation is often a result of choosing to seek refuge in solitude, however, in many cases, it is a result of brutality from the surrounding environment. In Mary Shelley’s Gothic novel, Frankenstein, a gruesome and painful story serves as a cautionary tale in order to prevent another from a similar downfall. Although Victor Frankenstein is the narrator for the majority of the novel, the audience learns of the destruction that has followed his decisions as well as the forced estrangement upon those he has encountered. In Frankenstein, Shelley uses relatable characters that reflect the harsh superficial aspects of society. Victor’s initial isolation as a child foreshadows the motif of detachment that occurs throughout the novel.
Frankenstein is novel where a single man condemns himself, his family, and creation to complete misery. Family is the first significant theme we are introduced. From the beginning of the novel, Alphonse Frankenstein, shows his loyalty and appreciation to family as he adopts a child that may not be very fortunate. This action becomes very important as the adop...
In the novel Frankenstein, the monster is deserving of empathy because as a young child he did not have the guidance nor care from a parent or guardian like most people do. He was brought into the world and then cruelly rejected by the ...
In Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein, many similarities can be seen between the creature and his creator, Victor Frankenstein. While Victor and the creature are similar, there are a few binary oppositions throughout the book that make them different. The binary oppositions in the novel serve as thematic contrast; and some of the most illustrative oppositions between the two characters are on the focus of family, parenthood, isolation and association with others.
Mary Shelley’s gothic novel Frankenstein is a novel narrated by Robert Walton about Victor Frankenstein and the Monster that he creates. Frankenstein grew up surrounding himself with what he loved most, science. He attended Ingolstadt University where he studied chemistry and natural philosophy, but being involved in academics was not enough for him. Frankenstein wanted to discover things, but did not think about the potential outcomes that could come with this decision. Frankenstein was astonished by the human frame and all living creatures, so he built the Monster out of various human and animal parts (Shelley, 52). At the time Frankenstein thought this creation was a great discovery, but as time went on the Monster turned out to be terrifying to anyone he came in contact with. So, taking his anger out on Frankenstein, the Monster causes chaos in a lot of people’s lives and the continuing battle goes on between the Monster and Frankenstein. Throughout this novel, it is hard to perceive who is pursuing whom as well as who ends up worse off until the book comes to a close.