Family has played a crucial role in society throughout history. Parents are expected to instill morals, guide children through the early stages of life, and support their children in any expressed interests. Unfortunately, some parents neglect these expectations, affecting many children’s lives forever. In Mary Shelley’s Gothic novel Frankenstein, Shelley examines paternal conflicts, particularly father-son relationships, between both the Frankenstein family and between Victor Frankenstein and the creature to illustrate the negative effects living with a distant and uninvolved parent can have.
How the Frankenstein’s raise their children drives Victor's god-like desires and arrogance. Victor claims that he was his parents’ “plaything and their
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If parents view their child as some sort of deity, it can be assumed the child would receive constant praise, adoration, and little to no discipline. Frankenstein is seen as perfect in the eyes of his parents, producing an arrogant adolescent that never learns that life has boundaries. Frankenstein claims that during his childhood his “temper was sometime violent, and [his] passions vehement” he was not intrigued by “childish pursuits” but rather the “secrets of heaven and earth” and “the physical secrets of the world,” (Shelley 23) . Frankenstein’s language oozes vanity and reveals his god-like desires. One might even find it hard to remember Frankenstein is speaking of his adolescence here, but since he was held in such high regard by his parents and treated as ‘God’ it is easy to see why he attempts to emulate a creator. Frankenstein's determination to become a ‘God’ is unnatural and obviously was not dealt with properly. A great attribute to teach children is humbleness but since the Frankensteins are so uninvolved in the lives of their children, a smug, egotistical, and bratty personality is unleashed and it is all the children will ever know and understand. Frankenstein does not