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The Significance Of Family In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

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The Significance of Family in Frankenstein The role of family is a reoccurring theme throughout Mary Shelley’s epistolary novel Frankenstein and the idea that family has significant role in one's life is evident. In addition, Mary Shelley’s life is also alluded to in many ways throughout her novel such as the death of her mother and her trip to the Swiss Alps with Percy Shelley. The sequence of unfortunate events throughout the book suggest the idea that the disconnect to one's family causes emotional turmoil that he or she cannot overcome. 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 …show more content…

He lives in a hovel observing a family of cottagers for the majority of his short life where he discovers the image of family. The creature attempts to unite with the cottagers, but his plan fails him and he becomes enraged admitting to Victor “I gave vent to my anguish in fearful howlings. I was like a wild beast that had broken the toils, destroying the objects that obstructed me and ranging through the wood with a staglike swiftness. Oh! What a miserable night I passed” (Shelley 146). After telling Victor the story of his short, miserable life, the creature’s longing to be a part of a family continues as he begs Victor to give him a female creature, similar to himself, that he can run away and avoid humanity with forever. The creature explains to Victor “You must create a female for me with whom I can live in the interchange of those sympathies necessary for my being” (Shelley 156). The absence of family throughout Frankenstein causes psychological as well as physical illness in several characters. This suffering Mary Shelley brought upon her characters may have been a reflection of the pain she felt in her life growing up without a mother. Her personal experiences enabled her to put her feelings into her characters making Frankenstein the infamous novel it

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Mary Shelly’s purpose in this passage is to displays the sorrow and dismay that Victor Frankenstein experiences when his mother passed away because of the scarlet fever. The reminiscent melancholy tone of the passage was established through the author’s use of diction. Because of the death of his mother, Victor felt “despair” and the damage that has done to his emotion is an “irreparable evil.” These words convey that this is the first time Victor experience the grief of losing someone that is so dear to him and he have yet to know how to cope with it. Because of this, he is lost within his mind as his mind drift to the memories that he had with his mother.

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When Victor creates the creature he also abandons it. Once Frankenstein’s creature begins to murder off his family thus he begins’ to realize the importance of family. Caroline’s death contributes to Victor’s isolated nature.

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After successfully creating the monster, Frankenstein is perplexed by what he has created. Due to the monster’s annoyance with Frankenstein, he acts back against Frankenstein mostly due to his lack of parenting and responsibility. Shelley’s novel strongly connects with the act of parenting. It is clear that Victor Frankenstein did not complete his role as a parent. Due to this, it further led the monster to misbehave and feel as if he does not have a purpose in life.

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But these are not thoughts befitting me; I will endeavour to resign myself cheerfully to death, and will indulge a hope of meeting you in another world”(24). Victor shows the strong love of family in his childhood “No human being could have passed a happier childhood than [me]. My parents were possessed by the very spirit of kindness and indulgence” (Shelley,40), he raised with excellent conditions and with parents who loved their children, but we do not see that Victor gives this love to his creature and ignored him, notwithstanding the fact that the two figures shared many characteristics. As a result of Frankenstein 's darkness and ignorance toward his creature, he refused to accept the monster because of his physical appearance and Frankenstein sees the creature as if he were the monster when the creature

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I could with pleasure have destroyed the cottage and its inhabitants and have glutted myself with their shrieks and misery. ”(117) It really shows the how miserable Victor has made the Creature, In every moments of the Creatures life he is in

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Victor’s parental figures in Frankenstein poison him by surrounding him with countless indulgences. From childhood, Victor was given all of his desires without question and this led to him becoming self-centered and dependent on the service of others. Victor describes his childhood with

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Once noted, the parallels between Frankenstein’s fears and desires and the reality the monster experiences are many. Now that Victor is in university, he no longer has family and friends to fall back upon in the unknown territory of his university. Frankenstein voices is that “[he] believed [himself] totally unfitted for the company of strangers,” irrational as it may be, and believes himself solely dependent on his family and childhood friend for companionship. Without the love guaranteed to him by his family, Victor believes he is unfit to make companions by himself and destined to a life of loneliness. He places much importance on the fact that his father and Elizabeth love him and are concerned with his well-being.

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By denying both main characters the sensation of domestic affection, or any other kind of social belonging, Mary Shelley highlights the importance thereof. The resulting isolation became the driving force behind both Frankenstein and his creation’s abominable actions which, in turn, shows that trying to avoid isolation and seeking the feeling of social belonging is the primary message of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and of

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Interestingly enough, the novel resembles Shelley’s own life and can be interpreted as a reflection of her perception of families. Shelley shares many of the same characteristics with most of her characters. As the main character in the novel, Frankenstein’s creature is depicted as “a motherless orphan” who had an “unnatural birth” (Griffith). This correlates with Shelley’s own childhood as she was raised without a mother and her birth was in some ways “unnatural” as mothers are not naturally made to die during childbirth.

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He was able to develop the intelligent aspect by listening and learning from the De Lacey family, but he did not know how to control his anger against mankind when they lashed out violently towards him. Trying to save a little girl from drowning, her father thought the creature was trying to harm her, and shot the creature. This caused the creature great pain and “[he] vowed eternal hatred and vengeance to all mankind”(Shelley). The creature thought if “I am miserable” why shouldn't “[mankind]... share my wretchedness” (Shelley). When he wanted Victor to make him a female companion, and Victor denied him his one request his anger overcame him and he told Victor “not only you and your family, but thousands of others, shall be swallowed up in the whirlwinds of [my] rage” (Shelley).

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Beginning with Victor abandoning the creature at birth, the series of revenge and hatred-filled events begin to occur as both attempt to find justice and retribution. The creature stole the lives of everyone beloved by Victor, and Victor stole the monster’s chance at happiness by abandoning him. As the characters continuously harm each other, their isolation increases as well as their sanity. In the end, numerous family members perish, Victor Frankenstein dies of physical exhaustion, and the creature conveys his desire to

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Mary Shelley 's timeless story seeks to help readers beware of alleviating loneliness through valuing others, and she warns readers that living a life of secrecy drains the joy out of life. The human condition of loneliness triggered many of the events in this book. This creature that Victor Frankenstein forged from cadavers was immediately abandoned. Right after Victor created this innocent monster, he fled from him out of fear.

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As seen in Frankenstein, family plays a key element in the development of each character. Victor Frankenstein was nourished by his family from crib to grave and they served as a support system for him. In contrast, The Creature was abandoned from the day he was created. It was the lack of family that drove the creature to seek revenge on his creator, Victor Frankenstein.

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In the novel Frankenstein,by Mary Shelley, the mysterious and unnatural origins of the character of Frankenstein’s monster are an important element. The Monster, having been created unethically and haphazardly, is at odds throughout the novel, resulting in his alienation from society and prolonged feelings of anger, desertion, and loneliness. Shaping his character, his relationships with other characters, and the meaning of the work as a whole, the Monster’s origins are what define him. The Monster faces rejection and violence every time he attempts to make contact with the new, foreign world he has been thrust into.

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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.

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