ipl-logo

Frankenstein Victor's Relationship Analysis

879 Words4 Pages

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein examines how the presence of a mother, negatively or positively, affects the development of a child. Victor’s mother, Caroline Frankenstein, dies while Victor is still a young man (he is about 17 years old), breaking their relationship between mother and son. Because Victor loses his bond with his mother, he is unable to act as a mother would when he creates his creature. Caroline Frankenstein’s absence in Victor’s life creates a disunion between the mother and child bond, which is evident in Victor’s creation and his fragmented relationship with the creature. Caroline Frankenstein, Victor’s mother, portrayed a traditional mother in the Frankenstein household, until her death. Victor’s mother met Victor’s father …show more content…

Because of this, Elizabeth had to play all feminine roles towards Victor: mother figure, sister, and wife. While Elizabeth becomes like a mother, Victor had already formed a friendly bond with her. Victor describes Elizabeth as “gentile and affectionate” (20), motherly characteristics, but Victor would never be able to see Elizabeth as a mother. Elizabeth and Victor had grown up together since the age of four. She was the only one who could make him forget his troubles, and he was the only one who could console her after the death of William and Justine. Victor and Elizabeth had a strong bond, but it developed differently from the bond Victor shared with his mother. Victor describes his marriage to Elizabeth as “the last moments of [his] life during which [he] enjoyed the feeling of happiness” (pg.163). While Victor’s mother brought sadness, Elizabeth was able to bring joy to him. Elizabeth could stand in as a replacement relationship, by being a friend and wife, but she could never fully replace the mother-son bond that Victor lost when his mother died. When Victor creates his creation, he is forming a relationship like the one he formed when his mother gave birth to him. When a mother gives birth, an unbreakable bond is formed with the child, no matter what happens after that moment. It is as if Victor is a mother giving birth, when he “infuse[s] a spark of being into the lifeless thing” (38). Victor worked

Show More
Related
906 Words | 4 Pages

There is also the concept of the balance of masculinity and feminity throughout the novel. Victor, although he is a male character, displays a need to create something and care for it, even if it is to fill some sort of abstract ‘debt’ he feels towards his parents and Elizabeth, and he inevitably ends up abandoning his creation. Victor’s desire to create a living being, despite the way he treated after its birth, is a trait that one typically associates with

Read More
858 Words | 4 Pages

“My children’, my firmest hopes of future happiness were placed on the prospect of your union” (Shelley 25). This quote clarifies Victor’s mother last wishes that consisted of requesting the marriage of Victor and Elizabeth. Both Mary and Victor are placed present with their mates in front of their admired mothers in an act that showed how powerful their bond with their mothers

Read More
731 Words | 3 Pages

Whenever I have had success, I never learn from it. Success usually breeds a degree of hubris. When you fail, that’s when you learn. Hubris is a great and foolish excessive pride or self-confidence which contributes to an individual’s extreme arrogance. Marry Shelley’s

Read More
798 Words | 4 Pages

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.”

Read More
643 Words | 3 Pages

Victor plays the role of brother, son, husband, cousin and creator throughout Frankenstein, however, his role of brother/ husband to Elizabeth is significant. His connection to Elizabeth begins when Elizabeth

Read More
525 Words | 3 Pages

The Downfall of Victor Frankenstein Mary Wollstonecraft, mother of Mary Shelley, believed that women should be treated as equals and said as much in A Vindication of the Rights of Woman; therefore, it is hard to imagine how Mary Shelley, daughter of one of the leading feminists during the Romantic era, managed to write such a horrific novel that is devoid of any strong female leads. The theme of Frankenstein could actually stem from the fact that, even though men are the main characters, it is full of mistakes they make; therefore, it makes sense that In the story Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, Victor 's loss of influential women in his life, ultimately leads to his downfall. Caroline Frankenstein’s death leads to the early loss of Victors

Read More
1297 Words | 6 Pages

When Victor rejected The Creatures want for a girl companion he replied, “I go; but remember, I shall be with you on your wedding night.” When this was said, Victor knew of the possible danger that Elizabeth was now in but refused to warn her of this danger and this lead to her death. The penalties that Victor faced due to keeping the existence of this creature a secret it what lead to the deaths of the people that he cared for, and the fact that he had the ability to save these lives but chose to not even try says a lot about

Read More
951 Words | 4 Pages

When writing the novel Frankenstein, Mary Shelley used many of her own struggles and experiences to develop the gothic story. However her own encounters with motherhood and pregnancy, as well as the different overwhelming emotions that result from it are strongly represented in the story. Along with this she explores the similar situations that result from child birth or the lack of it, such as abortion, post pardon depression and the effects that these have on the offspring. She then emphasizes these concepts by changing the gender of the protagonist, creating elements of feminism in a different way.

Read More
1141 Words | 5 Pages

The gothic fiction novel, Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley describes “what happens when a man tries to have a baby without a woman” (Mellor). In the novel, females are shown with vital feminine nurture and empathy. However, the monster is denied this nurture due to man’s lack of femininity. This absence of nurture leads to the monster’s violence and vengeance. In Frankenstein, Mary Shelley employs the monster’s violent tendencies due to lack of nurture as a way to communicate the importance of feminine nurture in humanity.

Read More
931 Words | 4 Pages

The Creature’s Attack Against Victor In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, the creature acts as a foil for his creator, Victor Frankenstein, revealing how men who act as God face consequences that ultimately lead to their own emotional decline. With this, the creature’s repulsive appearance, harm to Victor’s brother and wife, and desire to be accepted by society accentuates Victor’s fear, misery after the creation of his creature, and societal acceptance. The creature’s cadaverous looks emphasize Victor’s fear to take care of his creature. The creature being “Formed into a hideous and gigantic creature (Shelley 58)” made “Disgust fill [Victor’s] heart (59).” This made Victor “unable to endure the aspect of [the] being [he] created, [causing Victor to] rush out of the room (59).”

Read More
524 Words | 3 Pages

His experience with death persuaded him to continue on with mindset of creating the creature was best for the benefit of mankind. Without the tragic death of Victor’s mother, he would have not had continued in his endeavor to create the

Read More
1134 Words | 5 Pages

He failed his parental duty to take care of his child and his needs and as a result he got Elizabeth killed. Finally, Victor learns that he has been in the wrong the entire time so he pledges to end his creation even if its the death of him. “I, who irretrievably destroyed thee by destroying all thou lovedst. Alas! He is cold, he cannot answer me” (237).

Read More
897 Words | 4 Pages

During, the time of Elizabeth’s illness Mrs. Frankenstein can hardly abandon her favorite child and continues to serve to her needs. As Elizabeth recovers Mrs. Frankenstein too fall ill however, she does not recover and to the family's dismay she passes away. At the time of Mrs. Frankenstein’s death, she wished for only one thing, for Victor and Elizabeth to be wed. Mrs. Frankenstein asks for this because it would be the “INSERT QUOTE1 HERE” ( only thing to console father quote). Victor and Elizabeth’s peculiar life events can only be used to explain Victors Submerged hostility for Elizabeth. Elizabeth was Victor’s cousin, sister, playmate, mother figure for Victor’s siblings and wife.

Read More
339 Words | 2 Pages

A Backstory and Examination of Frankenstein's Obsessive Nature In order to understand why Victor runs from his inner conflict brought upon by himself and others, it is important to examine the event that established his obsessive nature early in his adolescence. Victor speaks of his childhood very highly, he says that his parents were present in his life and loving, so what could be the problem? Enter Elizabeth. When Alphonse and Caroline adopted Elizabeth as their own, Victor feels as if he was pushed to the side because he isn't receiving every single ounce of his parents attention anymore.

Read More
1419 Words | 6 Pages

Mary Shelley adds a very interesting perspective to this book by having Victor portrayed as the mother/parent to the monster and having the gender role of the parent to be enforced. Shelley doesn’t portray Victor as a good parent which makes sense during her time because he lacks many of the qualities that are essential to being a good parent such as “being a woman”. This lack of parenting drives the monster away from Victor and he learns morals from another source, Victor is in turn portrayed as a very irresponsible mother. Mother is a term that should be used to describe Victor, should. However, this term is not used as all because Shelley uses Victor’s lacking maternal qualities to exemplify the feminist point of view of the novel.

Read More

More about Frankenstein Victor's Relationship Analysis

Open Document