Frankenstein Victor's Relationship Analysis

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

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