Theme Of Fatherhood In Frankenstein

In Mary Shelley 's 1818 gothic novel Frankenstein, the parental figure, Victor Frankenstein, portrays actions of negligence towards his artificial child. Victor rejects his fatherly duties of teaching it how the world functions with speech and actions towards other members of society. This causes the monster to act uncivilized and violent towards the society that neglected him when all he wanted was acceptance for what he was. Shelley suggests that the world jumps too quick to judge a book by its cover, including parental relations such as Victor and the monster. To expand on this idea, let’s look at how the monster was just an example of how playing god had impacted VIctor’s wife. Victor’s destined wife, Elizabeth, had no knowledge whatsoever

This moment overall is one of the only times in which we see the two neither fighting nor embracing one another, but just kind of neutral as the monster explains himself, Victor is found in awe at how far the monster has come to learn the english language, but most importantly, the difference between good and evil. Victor, as well as the rest of society, cannot seem to put aside physical appearance in order to visualize something truly beautiful that has happened here. Despite the rejection of his father and proper upbringing, the monster has become a humble and somewhat civilized offspring that does not intentionally harm those he comes in contact with, unless they’re connected to Victor because of his negligence. This idea symbolizes shelley’s overall message about how society jumps to conclusions too fast about someone, simply due to their appearance, when they could indeed function, and even help those around

This whole time, the reader is led to believe that the monster is out to kill Victor when all along, it is blatantly obvious that he just the wanted the attention that Victor was giving those who were his friends and family. As a small child begs for his mother or father to watch them play, the monster sought Victor’s full, undivided attention for nourishment of knowledge, manners, simply hoping to be normal in the society that rejects him for his appearance. Now with his father dead, he realizes that there is no one left to acknowledge him. He thrived off of Victor’s attention to him, even though it was negative, whether he was being pursued by Victor or vice versa, the monster did it because he felt a connection to Victor every time he was running from him or after him in this constant chase of cat and mouse around the world that would eventually lead to the death of his