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Childhood In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

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A child's first steps towards the future are taken in the home, during childhood. 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” meaning that events in a childhood growing can change a mind forever. This fact holds ground in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, as both Victor and Elizabeth's childhood and the Creatures “childhood” are vastly different; which propel them down acutely unlike paths.Shelley created these differences in childhood to shape the book to her overall messages: Commentaries on society’s emphasis on wealth and appearance, and the theme of Nature vs Nurture.
Firstly, Victor and Elizabeth’s childhood reflect the main meaning …show more content…

These showing in the two distinct childhoods of Victor and the Creature. Victor delineates Nature, as his upbringing in childhood follows his parents before him, mainly wealthy and filled with much adoration. His ancestry supports this, as his father's line of family“for many years counsellors and syndics”(Shelley 1), lofty positions for learned, wealthy individuals. This reveals Victors characteristics are inherited, such as his incurable drive for knowledge. Things noticeably differentiate in the Nurture side with the creature, as in his “childhood” he has no connection to any figure, only the domain around him. As he sets out alone alone, he knows nothing of the world and is impressionable as a newborn. The Creature must learn from small bits of information he gleans from the De Lacys and history in books such as paradise lost(Shelley 112). The environment he lived in taught him everything he knew, affecting and creating his mindset. Therein lies the key difference between Victor and the Creatures childhoods, that Victor never changed from his childhood where the creature in his learning drastically changed: from a being who wanted acceptance to a being who swore “eternal vengeance to all mankind”(Shelley

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Victor manifests hatred onto the embryonic creation, assuming the creature is programmed with evil nature. Instead, the creature, who desires affection, consumes his aversion and mirrors it. As Victor’s resentment becomes clear for the creation, he too forms animosity, forcing Victor to promise him happiness in the form of a female counterpart. Victor undertakes the promise, but reneges on it. He “destroy[s] the creature on whose future existence [the creation] depend[s] for happiness” and watches the creation, “with a howl of devilish despair and revenge, withdr[a]w.”

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Despite the exciting news of Alphonse and Caroline Frankenstein attributing another baby boy into the world, Victor has already hardly acknowledged the very existence of his own brother. For instance, “On the birth of a second son, my junior by seven years, my parents gave up entirely their wandering life, and fixed themselves in their native country” (Shelley 18). However, in Mary Shelley’s earlier published Frankenstein the characterization of Ernest Frankenstein reveals to be heart wrenching, yet still quickly advanced through in Victor’s mind. In the first published version it states, “Ernest was six years younger than myself, and was my principal pupil. He had been afflicted with ill health from his infancy, through which Elizabeth and I had been his constant nurses: his disposition was gentle, but he was incapable of any severe application” (Shelley Romantic Circles).

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The Duties a Parent Has Towards Their Children What gives humans the right to create life? Moreover, what responsibilities does a parent have to his child. Multiple philosophies have been formulated that address this question; communism and Christianity being two of the most prominent in the western modern world. In the novel Frankenstein, Mary Shelley uses Frankenstein’s monster to convey her belief that a parent's most basic duty to their child is to be present in their live while caring and nurture them. She does this through a multitude of literary devices.

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By Victor taking away what the creature saw at his only chance at happiness, the creature becomes furious and kills Elizabeth, Victor’s wife. By viewing the creature as a child, the opinions based on his image and actions are altered because a child is always considered innocent. The creature had the ignorance of a child when he first woke up. His actions and image then can be blamed on Victor for not teaching the creature like a guardian would teach a child.

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Victor is stirred by his work, but not in a positive manner. He goes on to explain his feelings towards the creature by saying, “… my heart sickened and my feelings were altered to those of horror and hatred” (136). Victor is so bewildered and repulsed by the creature that he misses key signs of violence, from the creature, that may have saved Victor’s family had he not been so

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Childhood is a time in a person’s life where the most growing occurs, not only physically but also mentally. The human brain is nourished and maintained by the love and affection children receive from both parents and it continues to do so for the rest of their lives. The creature’s inability to build up courage and try to interact with society as well as his constant questioning of his existence is a direct result of an inexistent childhood as well as the absence of a loving family. Frankenstein’s mother and Elizabeth were both orphans so he was well aware of the importance of love and nurturing for people of all ages, yet he denied the creature the opportunity to receive affection of any sort. “No father had watched my infant days, no mother had blessed me with smiles

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Victor and the Creature are both social outcasts. Since Victor is so intelligent and interested in science he often does not relate to other people and he does not have many friends. Since the monster cannot be around people without scaring them to death he tends to also act as an outcast around

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