A Family Study of Victor Frankenstein and his Monster Essay

Mary Shelleys Frankenstein is an exploration of the family between p arnt and electric s agreer. divine in many ways by Mary Shelleys receive experiences as a acquireless child and a grieving mother, passkeys tale follows a linear trail of decline track adequate to his mothers oddment. Up until that point, though fascinated with alchemy and acquiting science, achievers ideas retain a manner of scientific remove. His self is controlled and does not boast a power over life or death. It is exactly when confronted with death that the fissures get going to appear and the idyllic scenes from his childhood begin to show the full remove of tenderness passe- voxout go by means of.Unable to turn over with this abandonment realistically, he manipulates death to create renewed animation of the torso in place of actual life. In his foundation garment of the monster, he assumes the case of mother to child in his single-minded manner precisely when bounce back by his prof ess ego and wanting compassion he abhors and controverts his child as an hatred. skippers monster finds himself thr deliver into a monastic order for which he was neither prepared nor accepted. His abandonment is immediate but his initial reaction differs greatly from the destructive creationism of winner.His rage at being ostracized is at first controlled and in a newborn state he recedes into the woodshed of the De Lacey family where he learns of and comes to yearn for a familial connection. Being denied this connection, yet again, his rage consumes him but does not obliterate this desire. That the novel should center on the idea of the mother-child relationship and the deep-seated effects of rejection and abandonment is no surprise considering Mary Shelleys accept experiences with motherhood.Her own mother Mary Wollenscraft died from complications to childbirth when Shelley was only 10 days old (Adams 72). Throughout the authors childhood and adolescence she experienced f eelings of abandonment and guilt trip. As a child she saw her birth as the beat of her mothers death. Shelleys own experiences with motherhood were no less tragic having lost her first child when she was only 17, honest one year before she began writing Frankenstein. Shelley used her pain, to turn the tables to down death create life.As allow Adams explains, Shelleys feelings and fantasies about kill her mother became on of the formative influences in her life Frankenstein is a surmisal on the destructive consequences of growing up without a mother (or logical father ) (73). Art was Shelleys move mechanism to come to term with her own internal demons stemming from the guilt from her mothers death and her own helplessness in the face of her first childs death. Similarly, Victor struggles with the absence of parental affection and the death of his mother, which permanently removes this possibility from his life.His efforts to gruntle the science of his youth with the realit ies of his emotional and familial life, while carrying strength, become twisted in his quest to overcome death. Though Victor clearly idolizes his mother, his affections for her are based on the ideal of motherhood and not interconnected with the charwoman herself. Through Victors descriptions we see and feel a type of motherhood but not the day-to-day tasks and affections one associates with motherhood. Victors relationship to his mother suffers from his inability see her as a soul and not simply a maternal symbol.Victors mother wit of his mother is directly related to his parents relationship with one another and not Victors relationship to them individually. Viewed through his fathers eyes, Victors mother is a wight of adoration. As Victor explains his parents relationship, on that point was a show of gratitude and worship in his attachment to my mother, differing wholly from the doating kernel of age, for it was inspired by reverence for her virtues (Shelley, Chapt. 1) . Critics have questioned the role that being an only child played in Victors reception and perception of his parents affections.Feeling left out of their honey for one another, Victor childhood consists of a love/hate relationship with his parents because he senses that they share an affection that in some way excludes him (Claridge 15). Victors over the crimp representation the goodness of his childhood, compared to the man he becomes, ring false, while during all(prenominal) hour of my infant life I received a lesson of patience, of charity, and of self control, I was so guided by a silken cord that all seemed by one train of enjoyment to me (Shelley, Chapt.1). Viewing this in hindsight of Victors adult persona and rejection of parenting, it is difficult to accept this argumentation at face value. Where, after all, were these lessons in helping to guide Victor apart from his creation of the monster and in maintaining intemperate bonds with his remaining family? His mother s death from scarlet fever rather than halting his idyllic fantasies of perfection, only deepen them into a form of denial and repression that pr eveningt period and emotionally stunt him as a father to the wolf. pull down in death, his mother retains her saintliness, accepting and resigning herself cheerfully to death (Shelley, Chapt. 3). This must have do death all the more unreal for young Victor. As Will Adams explains in his psychological evaluation of the tale, Victor is a man who sacknot bear the reality of death and suffers greatly because of this defensive denial (65). For Victor the death of his mother is not merely tragic, but evil and it is this view, which propels him forward in his endeavor to recreate life. As Adams explains, he daemonizes death, daemonizes a reality that is solely natural and unavoidable (65).Death becomes a foe to be overcome if life can be ended so easily, than death should be no harder to reverse, is Victors basic reasoning. As a upshot of h is experiment in turning death to life, Victor ignores the living family he still has in his father, brother and Elizabeth. Victors deficiencies in coping and accepting his creation are seen by come critics to stem from his own childhood. Victor appears to be incapable of loving his family, despite his many assertions to the contrary. He obviously feels that family relationships should be shaped around mutual love and discourse but his own attempts are stinted and selfish.After his mother dies, he leaves as scheduled and does not return for 6 years until tragedy requires he fulfill his family obligation. When his brother William is murdered by Victors creation, his guilt overcomes his grief making the tragedy more Victors than anyone elses. non only has he lost his little brother, but it was his creation which had upturned yet another connection between Victor and his family. Propelled by ego, he placed himself into the role of manufacturer and mother, without fully comprehendi ng the responsibility.Uncertain in his feelings of acceptation from his mother, Victor has little on which to base the parent-child bond and his feelings toward his father cause an even greater friction in the role he should have rightly played in the creation of the monster. Given revisions performed by Shelley to the authentic text, in which Victors adolescent relationship to his father is do to become even more remote. In the first version of the novel, Alphonse Frankenstein shares his sons fascination with science but in the later 1831 magnetic declination Victors inte nap is singular only to him.This estrangement in affection between father and son becomes no less devoid with the death of Victors mother. Instead he pulls himself farther away from his father, who seems to be pushing Victor away as well. Without a strong paternal or maternal bond, it is no surprise that Victor does not make this connection between himself and the monster. As Will Adams notes, if Victor had t he courage, or we could say the ego strength, to consciously accept responsibility for his grand venture, everything may have turned out differently (79).The two years, which culminate with the creation of the monster, are defined by a single-minded energy that though engineered through scientific brilliance lack ethics. His purpose for these two years is creation something of which he expects will be of benefit to mankind. Victors reaction to the monster at his birth throw light onto the lack of actual forethought and responsibility inherent in its creation, Victors reactions suggest that eqoic, self-serving, death-denying motivations outweigh his honorable wish to serve kind-heartedkind (Adams 77).It is hence not surprising that in the end, deluded throughout his endeavor that Victor would shun the reality of his efforts. Pieced together from dead bodies parts, Victor is never able to harmonize these various parts into a semblance of humanity. In fact, by the end, he is unabl e to fully comprehend the steps, which had led to his ability to conceptualize his creation, this denudation was so great and overwhelming that all the steps which I had been progressively led to it were obliterated, and I beheld only the result (Shelley, Chapt. 4).This can be take on as Victors inability to discover and explore the finalise of his fascination with death and further avoiding the resolution of feelings which would have either halt him in continuing or better prepared him to father his creation. To surmise the birth from the faunas perspective is particular saddening. Though considered an abomination by established science and religion, the creature is unaware of his distinction from the rest of mankind. On opening his eyes the first time, he sought to glance upon his creator and to be nurtured.Instead, Victor turns away in fright and abandons the creature to his own devices. Like a newborn, the creature is helpless in grounds the mechanics of the world and i s even further handicapped by associations judgment of his appearance. His physical deformity did not directly broaden to his monstrous and violent behavior but rather the worlds rejection of him, starting with the rejection of his parent. Before the creature has committed his first crime, he is deemed by Victor to be a daemon. Will Adams notes that Shelleys use of the run into of daemon is intentional, For the past few hundred years, some writers have by choice chosen the forms daemon, in part to emphasize the psychological and spiritual oddball of these being who are midway between humans and gods (Adams 60). Defying the logics of life and death, the creature is caught between humanity and a solitary existence. Intentionally large, further highlight his abnormalities of the creature, he has the stature of a god but the emotional luggage of a human.In his observance of the De Lacey family, the creature is able to learn the constructs of a familys day-to-day lives. During his time in their woodshed, the creature learns not only language and history but also comes to understand the nature of love and family. He knows that his appearance causes fright in the average person and and so keeps himself hidden from the De Laceys wishing to learn more from them before show himself. Through his daily watchfulness, the creature comes to love and feel kinship for the family even as they remain unaware of his presence.He finds himself caught up in their stories and sympathizing with their plight. regular the creatures own basic desires for food for thought draw into a more universal focus as he realizes that each pussy of food he takes unaware from the family, is one less bit of food they themselves will have to eat. If not for the creatures very human inclination toward companionship, he may have succeeded in living peacefully aside the family for many years. However, as each day passes and he finds their lives entangling his own, the creature wishes for a huma n connection.Though monstrous in appearance, each part of him was once human and in the De Laceys he sees the full potential of this humanity. Even though he is rejected when the De Laceys become terrified by his horrible appearance, he accomplishes (for a while) what Victor is never really able to do. That is, the creature transcends his own egocentric perspective, sees through the eyes of another, feels love, and acts kindly (Adams 81). Victor, on the other hand, reacts to emotional closeness by pushing his family away.In fact, it is not surprising given Victors relationships with his family, and the distance he cultivates, that he would completely abandon a creature, which did not live up to his aspiration of reality. Victors obsession with natural science is a representation by which to divert all of his attention away from these relationships and to realize something within himself. With the creation of the monster, Victor realizes his folly in believing he can reverse death but never addresses the root cause. Instead, he focuses his negative energy toward recognizing and rejecting the humanity of the creature.It has been supposed that this rejection is in effect a rejection not only of the monster but of the deep seated issues which Victor refuses to address, Even though the creature appears strangely alien a singular, isolated, non-human being with no kin nor friend he is also strangely familiar, universally perceivable and intimately connected to Victor (Adams 64). In the role of parent, Victor Frankenstein, is an spill the beans failure. Poorly prepared by his own childhood to provide genuine affection and understanding to the creature, Victor actions perpetuate an endless cycle.The creatures rejection by his parent and the people from which he has learned affection and companionship, lean his unraveling into the very daemon his appearance implies him to be. His one request from Victor for a companion is denied to him on these grounds. While h e briefly receives understanding from his creator through the narration of his tale of the De Laceys, the issues, which have plagued Victors familial relationships, create a strong barrier and lead to Victor destroying his companion.Victor is unable to relate to the creature, as it is the living proof of his own parents failings in raising him and his subsequent failures at love. In the end, Victor dies as merely as the creature their only communion to another being is through each other. Starting as creator and creation, they each die nurturing their own unhappiness and solitude through a fruitless hunt that leaves them both monstrous.Works CitedAdams, Will W. Making Daemons of Death and Love Frankenstein, Existentialism, Psychoanalysis. Journal of humanitarian Psychology. 41. 2001 57-89. 31 March 2009 Claridge, Laura P. Parent-Child Tensions in Frankenstein The Search of Communion. Studies in the Novel 17. 1 Spring 1985 14. MasterFILE Premier. EBSCO. 31 Mar. 2009 . Shelley, M ary. Frankenstein. Literature. org. http//www. literature. org/authors/shelley-mary/frankenstein/.