Neglect In Frankenstein Research Paper

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Consequences of Neglect as Shown in Frankenstein To what extent can a murderer blame their violent actions on their upbringing, and how does society determine when to stop pitying them? This heavily debated topic is integral to Mary Shelley's Gothic classic Frankenstein. The novel, having been written at a time of industrialization for the European continent, has an underlying idea of the backlash associated with mechanization. The most obvious instance of this is the repercussions of the construction of a being; once this individual was created by man, havoc was unleashed among its creator. To add on, another important factor for readers to consider is the artistic/literary movement happening at the time of the novel’s creation: the Romantic …show more content…

This action has dire consequences, as one by one Victor's loved ones start to meet their demise. There is no definite monster throughout the tale; both Victor and his creation’s acts have potential justifications for their actions. Though the creature’s acts were not entirely caused by external pressures, the way that the "monster" was neglected by his own creator contributed most to his violent spiral. This is due to Victor dehumanizing his experiment and failing to sympathize with him. To start, it is important to identify the limit to which societal/parental rejection is to blame for the creation’s criminal record. While one may argue that the being’s despair over his lack of interaction with others conditioned/forced him to kill, it is ultimately hard to justify all of his acts given that a free will was bestowed upon him by his creator. This is depicted throughout numerous instances in the novel, but most heavily in the creature’s victims; he chooses who will fall to his strength, as well as who he will blame for their …show more content…

Also, Victor’s first reaction upon seeing his creature is to highlight its uglier qualities, such as its “shriveled complexion and straight black lips” (58). This is proof that the “monster” was denied a father figure since birth, which was pivotal to his socioemotional development or more specifically prevented him from learning appropriate interactions with human beings. Therefore, some of the blame for the death of Victor’s loved ones lies within his own hands, given that he was the start of his creation’s negative experiences with humankind. Moreover, Victor chose to victimize himself rather than sympathize with the creation throughout the majority of the novel. Victor immediately talks about how his experiment was a failure because it did not live up to his dreams; he refers to his work as a failure that caused “breathless horror and disgust to [fill] his heart” (59). Another instance in which Victor proves to view himself as a victim occurs toward the end of the novel, in which he still upholds the belief that the monster needs to be killed after tormenting Victor and his loved

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