Poor Parenting Hurts
In the tale of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, a reader must pay attention to what the author’s message is. There are two sides of this novel, the monster's side and Victor Frankenstein's side. Frankenstein's past and family history can foreshadow not only his flaws but also the events of how he leads himself to his own downfall. The reader has to ask themselves, are all the event present in this novel Victor's fault or are they all a result of poor parenting. Mary Shelley shows how poor parenting can completely change a person's life, or in the books case Victor and the monsters life .Without a doubt Victor's poor parenting skills are at direct fault for both of the characters downfalls.
Love is not enough to shape a person’s
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personality. Victor was tended by his parents love, “They seemed to draw inexhaustible stores of affection from a very mine of love to bestow them upon me” (Shelley 28). Victor’s parents spoiled him because they had no experience of being a parent, so they tried to make his childhood with gifts and material possessions instead of the love of a parent. No matter how much love and good you put into someone, it doesn’t necessarily mean they will give that back out. Victor had made a statement, “My parents were possessed by the very spirit of kindness and indulgence. We felt that they were not the tyrants to rule our lot according to their caprice, but the agents and creators of all the many delights which we enjoyed. When I mingled with other families, I distinctly discerned how peculiarly fortunate my lot was, and gratitude assisted the development of filial love.”(32). Victor's parents gave him anything he could ever want, besides the attention that a parent should give to their child. The fact is humans judge others is just part of human nature, but self-confidence and the way you are brought up to deal with it can tell a lot. If a person is taught as a child to not listen to others then when other people judge, it wont affect that person. But that trait is taught with good parenting and shows that a parent taught their kids to have self perseverance. Victor said that it was hideous and the experiment went completely wrong and now Victor wants to get rid of the monster that he had just created just based on it’s looks. “Now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart. Unable to endure the aspect of the being I had created, I rushed out of the room and continued a long time traversing my bed chamber unable to compose my mind to sleep." (p. 42). Victor is showing the disgust that of what had dreamed about so long and what it had come out to be and he had simply given up on it. But the monster and Victor had a love hate relationship, or in other word their relationship showed the motif of fire and ice. Victor’s family had picked to adopt Elizabeth simply because she was beautiful.
That was the example for Victor to see. Everything to him was based off of natural beauty, it’s not saying he married Elizabeth just because she was good looking. He put a lot of pride into his work and wanted it to be perfect but he put it together and figured and clayed it to look like what he wanted it to. Victor wanted to create a being that would look beautiful as Elizabeth did, but when the monster came out alive, Victor was in shock and was instantly disgusted. [ “How can I describe my emotions at this catastrophe, or how delineate the wretch whom with such infinite pains and care I had endeavored to form? His limbs were in proportion, and I had selected his features as beautiful. Beautiful! Great God! His yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath; his hair was of a lustrous black, and flowing; his teeth of a pearly whiteness; but these luxuries only formed a more horrid contrast with his watery eyes, that seemed almost of the same color as the dun-white sockets in which they were set, his shriveled complexion and straight black lips.”(pg.43)] Victor is expecting this perfect creation, but when the creation was alive, Victor saw it and immediately rejected it without a second thought. It was the ugliest being Victor had encountered, and he was embarrassed of what he had now put on earth. When the rejection set it for the monster, the monster became Victor’s …show more content…
living hell. Knowledge is the world’s most powerful weapon, a person can gain through their lives. Victor has gained knowledge from nature that he should have never come in contact with, Victor managed to gain the power of lightning. As a child Victor also was in heavy contact with books of alchemy and science. This lead to Victor’s interest in the lighting and explains why he spent so much time observing it. This all comes from the lack of parenting from Victor’s parents. Yes, they gave him what he wanted but without attention Victor made other ways to entertain himself. Which lead to Victor becoming a weapon that could bring life to death and death to life. “Learn from me, if not by my precepts, at least by my example, how dangerous is the acquirement of knowledge and how much happier that man is who believes his native town to be the world, than he who aspires to become greater than his nature will allow. (pg. 39). Victor is ultimately taking knowledge from nature that no man should ever control and manipulating it for his own evil doing. It is saying that the less you know, is better for your own good in the long run. Victor Frankenstein completely and utterly neglected the monster that he created himself, which with the proper parenting could have turned out a good, normal civilian in the society at the time. Victor’s thirst for knowledge and poor tactics of raising what was proclaimed to be thought of as a child. But it also shows that without the guidance from a parent, a child will do things that no human ever should. When the creature was abandoned it grew a hatred for man in total, and wanted revenge on it’s creator Victor who abandoned it and left the monster to survive on its own. At this point in the novel Victor had finally realized that he had intentionally created his own hell on earth, that he had no chance to escape from."Great God! If for one instant I had thought what might be the hellish intention of my fiendish adversary, I would rather have banished myself forever from my native country and wandered a friendless outcast over the earth than have consented to this intention, and when I thought that I had prepared only my own death, I hastened that of a far dearer victim." (pg. 181). Victor is in a terrible situation, he is scared for the consequences of the murders that the monster he created had committed. Victor has created a true evil, a weapon, and Victor the creator took no action to try to stop this being. When you’re making a decision that can affect your future and everyone around you, it is important to make the right one.
In this case, Victor the main character didn’t think very hard about his future and this got him into very bad situations. He didn’t think how powerful knowledge can be and what it can do to others, unfortunately he didn’t just take himself down his loved ones went too. He wasn’t there for the creature, the creature didn’t have a parent, a role model to look up to, one of the most important figure in one’s life. Mary Shelley shows how a parenting mishap can lead to more than just a character's life. This also goes to show that anyone who does not want to take on the role of a parent shouldn't have a kid, or in Victor’s case create a monster just to neglect and judge it instantly based on its appearance. Just because something looks different doesn't mean that it should be judged and neglected without a second look, as many say you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, same goes to humans. This book is great for showing literary elements, throughout the story the elements of isolation are shown greatly. Isolation is shown in both the creature and Victor himself. It is present in the creature when Victor abandons him and he is left to suffer on his own. But then the same theme is prevalent when the monster comes back for Victor on his wedding night, Victor tries to hide but the monster still finds him. Isolation was also shown when Victor was creating the
monster, he isolated himself from all others and risked his own health for his creation, which he immediately turned away. Poor parenting is very present in the novel Frankenstein, but a person can never tell if a person was poor parented by looking at them, they have to dig deeper. The monster was treated very poorly, there is no doubt about that, but this whole story could have turned out different is the Victor was a proper parent.
As a tragic hero, Victor’s tragedies begin with his overly obsessive thirst for knowledge. Throughout his life, Victor has always been looking for new things to learn in the areas of science and philosophy. He goes so far with his knowledge that he ends up creating a living creature. Victor has extremely high expectations for his creation but is highly disappointed with the outcome. He says, “I had desired it with an ardour that far exceeded moderation; but now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart” (Shelley 35). Frankenstein neglects the creature because of his horrifying looks, which spark the beginning of numerous conflicts and tragedies. At this point, the creature becomes a monster because of Victor’s neglect and irresponsibility. The monster is forced to learn to survive on his own, without anyone or anything to guide him along the way. Plus, the monster’s ugly looks cause society to turn against him, ad...
When Victor animates his accomplishment, he is distraught by its physical appearance, stating that, “…no mortal could support the horror of that countenance” (Shelley 52). The outside judgment of the Creation from both his creator, and eventually, the rest of civilization, prevents the monster from fulfilling his emotion in healthy, normal ways. In the novel, beauty is a virtue. Elizabeth, for example, is treated as a tenderly cherished trophy: Victor describes her as a cherub, a “…a possession of my own” (Shelley 14). In a superficial society, the monster revels in his ugliness, forcing him into loneliness without choice, or even intent. When the Creation looks in the transparent pool to see his reflection and states, “…I was in reality the monster that I am, I was filled with the bitterest sensations of despondence and mortification. Alas! I did not yet entirely know the fatal effects of this miserable deformity” (Shelley 88), he realizes that his ostracization is caused by uncontrollable and permanent circumstances. His pain and internal desolation come from the external consequences of his appearance: abandonment from his creator and the rest of mankind. Although the monster is innately kindhearted, no human can look past his looks to understand and sympathize with the sorrow and misfortune he is doomed to
Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein, has captured people’s attention since it was first written. People often wonder how much of Mary Shelley’s life is documented in her novel. From the theme of parental abandonment, to the theme of life and death in the novel, literary scholars have been able to find similarities between Frankenstein and Shelley’s life. The Journal of Religion and Health, the Journal of Analytical Psychology, and the Modern Psychoanalysis discuss the different connections between Shelley’s life and Frankenstein. Badalamenti, the author of “ Why did Mary Shelley Write Frankenstein?” in the Journal of Religion and Health, primarily discusses the connection between Victor
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
...ions toward one another. However, Frankenstein’s uncaring, negligent-parent approach to his creation who emotionally resembles a lost child, allows Shelley to establish the conflict between scientific discovery and moral consequence, as well as the greater conflict between right and wrong. She allows the audience to question who the true villain is in the story, and allow each reader to determine for themselves if the “parent” Frankenstein or the “childlike” monster is truly to blame for all the evil deeds that occur. Today, our society should view Frankenstein as a cautionary tale of the possibilities and consequences of scientific discovery mixed with greed.
...s creation as a way of revenge and payback for all the distress he brought to the creature. The creature, beginning as the most innocent, is alienated by his creator and every individual who witnesses his presence. Finally, Victor isolates himself from his beloved ones in order to fulfill his ambitions. All these misfortunes are caused by the lack of moral decision making. Unfortunately, these decisions ruined the life of many people involved in Victor’s life. All these events are the proof of what people’s actions can result into when isolation is a major theme in one’s life.
This evolution of Victor’s attitude about the creation occurs during the time immediately following the creation. In these few hours, Victor’s imagination creates an increasingly grotesque image of the creation. This developed condemnation that Victor imposes upon the creation is similar to all of the creation’s other encounters with human beings. This repeated rejection causes the creation to realize that "All men hate the wretched; how then must I be hated, who am miserable beyond all living things" (Shelley 65). Eventually, therefore, the creation accepts its role as a monster based solely on the reactions it receives from other human beings.
As Victor Frankenstein recounts his informative tale to a seafaring Robert Walton, he makes it known that he was a child of nobility; however it is sadly transparent that, combined with insufficient parenting, Victor’s rare perspective on life pushes him towards a lifestyle of conditional love. Children are considered symbolic of innocence, but as a child Victor’s arrogance was fueled by his parents. With his family being “one of the most distinguished of the republic,”(Shelley 17), Victor’s parents saw him as their “plaything and their idol, and something better-their child, the innocent and helpless Creature bestowed on them by Heaven, whom to bring up to good, and whose future lot was in their hands to direct to happiness or misery, according as they fulfilled their duties towards me,”(19). “The Social Order vs. the Wretch: Mary Shelley's Contradictory-Mindedness in Frankenstein Sylvia Bowerbank.” Bowerbank, "The Social Order vs. the Wretch", knarf.english.upenn.edu/Articles/bower.html.
When Victor goes to college and his interest in science and nature grows, his curiosity to find the secret of immortality causes him to want to create a creature and bring it to life. Victor starts to create his unnatural work hoping that it will bring success in the future, “I prepared myself for a multitude of reverses; my operations might be incessantly baffled, and at last my work be imperfect, yet when I considered the improvement which every day takes place in science and mechanics, I was encouraged to hope my present attempts would at least lay the foundations of future success.” (43). Victor states his concerns about what he plans to do but dismisses them based on the importance he places on his work. For that reason, he starts to meddle with nature to create something no one can do but God. Finally, when Victor completes his creation, the monster, he realizes that he has made a serious mistake by interfering with nature, “I had desired it with an ardour that far exceeded moderation; but now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart.” (47). He thinks he has achieved this beautiful dream of creating a life, but now that he has, all he can see is an ugly monster. Trying to take on divine creation fails and instead of beauty, all Victor can create is something horrifying. Therefore, disrupting with nature is a trait that proves Victor is the true monster because it is a limit that no human should overstep. Eventually, it will come to a miserable
Victor Frankenstein, the monster’s creator, is the victim of his own pride. An ego unchecked is a dangerous thing. But in truth, it really just shows Victor’s humanity. He is privileged, educated, talented, loved, adored, but he is not perfect. His flaw is his own ego and pride. Without doubt, this is the result of a childhood where he was overindulged. Overindulged to the extent he was given a little girl “Elizabeth” as a “present”, whom he considered from childhood “mine only” (Shelley 21). Little wonder the twenty year old Victor would think he could create, control and command life. But Victor as with any indulged child did not take the time to learn much from his parents about parenting and fath...
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...
Victor has a lack of respect for the natural world that leads him on the path to becoming a monster. In creating the monster Victor is trying to change the natural world. He is trying to play the role of god by creating life.
Victor had plans to create a new, beautiful species. However, when his creation came to life, he was terrified by how ugly the monster was. The night the monster came to life Victor describes: “I took refuge in the courtyard belonging to the house which I inhabited, where I remained during the rest of the night… catching and fearing each sound as if it were to announce the approach of the demoniacal corpse to which I had so miserably given life” (44). Victor is disapproving of the monster - going as far to call it the demon himself - even though it had done nothing wrong. This may not seem like a
After Victor creates his monster he us instantly horrified and cannot control his emotions toward the monster and runs away.”I took refuge in the courtyard belonging to the house which I inhabited; where I remained during the rest of the night, walking up and down in the greatest agitation, listening attentively, catching and fearing each sound as if it were to announce the approach demoniacal corpse to Wichita I had miserably given life”(Shelly44). Realizing what he has created it sends him into a state of paranoia and anxiety. Once he collects his thoughts he realizes his creation was not beneficial to anyone and was a huge mistake”oh no mortal could support the horror of that countenance”(Shelly44). After seeing the monster he realized he was far from the perfect human and is in fact the complete opposite. Human body parts that were sewn together did not represent a progression for science but a graphic failure. Not only is Victor affected mentally from the creation of the monster, but the monster itself is negatively affected. The monster states” I had a minor the perfect form of my cottagers-their grace, beauty, and delicate complexions: but how was I terrified and I view myself in a transit pool!”(Shelly101). The monster sees what normal look like and envies them. He feels disgrace and horrified that what he is and that transfers to anger towards his Creator. But some good does come from