Human Connection In Frankenstein

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein reflects her real life; a life filled with loss. She lost her mother, and so did Victor Frankenstein. It would only make sense that the theme of the novel is human connection. Throughout the story, the monster searches for it, as well as Victor, and quite frankly everyone else. To begin, the monster longed for human connection so badly, he even begged Victor to create his wife: “You must create a female for me with whom I can live in the interchange of those sympathies necessary for my being. This you alone can do, and I demand it of you as my right which you must not refuse to concede,” (174). In this quote, the monster asks Victor to make him a companion, which Victor blatantly denies. This eventually leads to

When Victor died, the monster wept over his body. “‘But soon,’ he cried with sad and solemn enthusiasm, ‘I shall die, and what I now feel be no longer felt. Soon these burning miseries will be extinct,’” (277). This quote from the monster exhibits the void he felt after Victor died. The realization that his creator is dead becomes too much to bear for him, so he proclaims that he will die. This is symbolic to Mary Shelley’s real life. One of the most significant connections in the story is that of Henry and Victor’s. They traveled across Europe together, and Henry always worried about Victor. “‘I had rather be with you,’ he said, ‘in your solitary rambles, than with these Scotch people, whom I do not know; hasten, then, my dear friend, to return, that I may again feel myself somewhat at home, which I cannot do in your absence,’” (198-199). This quote from Henry perfectly displays the bond between him and Victor. In closing, the theme of Frankenstein is undoubtedly human connection. It was displayed through the relationships between the DeLacey family, Elizabeth and Justine, Henry and Victor, and even Victor and his monster. The monster searches and longs for human connection for the duration of the novel, but only ever finds it within himself. Victor may have given the monster life, but he could never give him what he truly wanted; a