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Frankenstein Complicated Grief

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Many people, after experiencing the loss of something they love, experience a period of grieving, as they learn to cope with the loss. No two people will grieve the same, and learning how to not let the sadness of the loss consume one’s life is necessary to live with the loss. However, in Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein,” the narrator, Victor, never truly processes the death of his mother, instead pushing his grief aside and burying himself in his school work, as a result of his complicated family dynamics. The complex relationships in Victor’s family complicate his grieving process for his mother, causing him to completely neglect his emotions. Victor was an only child, showered with his parents' attention and love during his early life, until …show more content…

Those who are suffering from normal grief will find that the intensity of their emotions surrounding the loss will gradually fade over time, whereas those suffering from complicated grief will either linger or continue to worsen as time progresses. Common indicators or symptoms of complicated grief include numbness or detachment, distrust in other people, inability to live in the moment and enjoy life, social isolation, and depression (Mayo Clinic), all of which are applicable to Victor after his mother’s death. Victor dedicates himself to his schoolwork, specifically his project surrounding the creation of the creature, but in the process completely isolates himself from everyone in his life. He stops reaching out to his family, and completely devotes himself to this one project for two years. Over the course of these two years, he is still struggling with the death of his mother, and has trouble expressing his grief. He hyper focuses on his studies in an attempt to suppress his emotions, and as a result, goes further and further down a lonely path, completely isolated and trapped with his ideas and thoughts. Victor doesn’t feel quite right, but continues to work on his project, but when it is completed, and the creature comes to life, “the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled [his] heart,” (Shelley 58). Victor completely neglects everything except his creation, due to his prolonged grief, but his devotion blinds him to the monstrosity he has been creating. After Victor abandons his creation, he suffers through a deep depression, unable to reconcile his guilt, grief, and other painful emotions. He struggles to find joy in his life, constantly stricken by the weight of his decisions, unable to forgive himself or take any steps toward stabilizing his mental health. The inability to process his

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Finally, Victor shatters his life when he ultimately causes his own death. As a result of his mind being consumed with grief and revenge, he becomes morose, melancholy, and eventually lifeless. Victor allows the monster to rummage his head, and he permits his creation to drive him crazy; consequently, he slowly kills

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However, the monster yet asserts that his capacity for “revenge remains” and tells Victor that he shall again with him “on his wedding night” (140). Frankenstein, due to his emotional disconnect with his family, perceives the target of this threat to be himself, but instead on the fated night finds Elizabeth, his own companion, “lifeless and inanimate… [with the] mark of the fiend’s grasp on her neck” (165-166). Elizabeth’s murder causes Frankenstein “the agony of despair,” to the extent that he is made to feel “the heat of fever” in recollection of the event (166). In killing Elizabeth, the monster effectively mirrors onto Victor the pain felt at a lack of companionship, thus ensuring that Victor’s emotional isolation from his family becomes absolute—just as the monster is absolutely alone with the abortion of his own companion.

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The four main symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder are also quite noticeable in Victor: reliving the event, avoiding others, hyperarousal, and negativity. (Board). Victor also had terrible nightmares after this altercation, stating that he “was possessed by a kind of nightmare,” feeling powerless to a monster whose “grasp was around my neck and I could not free myself from it” (Frankenstein 537). Frankenstein kept away from most people, another symptom, in an attempt to avoid activities, places, or people that arouse recollections of his psychological trauma (Paul’s Case). Alphonse, Victor’s father, also notices this in his son, questioning why he is “still unhappy and still avoiding our society” (Frankenstein 438).

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