Neglect In Frankenstein Essay

This novel reflects Shelley’s own childhood, which consisted of her feeling obligated to rebel against her own father’s wishes and his choice for her marriage. Frankenstein is a way for Shelley to tell her own experiences with parental conflict and how she feels she was affected by her demanding father and the environment she grew up in, by comparing herself to Victor’s monster. Shelley analyzed her own characteristics, and the characteristics of her father, and placed them within Victor and the

He tells of the void he feels in his soul. He tells of the bitter grief one experiences after the death of loved one and what it feels like to no longer see them and hear their voice. Mary Shelley illustrates that this life is not the end, but there is another life where loved ones will be seen. Victor’s mother is demonstrating how special Elizabeth is to her and that she wants her to take care of the family and to someday marry Victor. Later in the novel, Victor leaves for school. Victor’s father tells him, “I know that while you are pleased with yourself, you will think of us with affection, and we shall hear regularly from you. You must pardon me if I regard any interruption in your correspondence as a proof that your other duties are equally neglected”(33). After, Victor leaves for school to begin his studies he becomes self-absorbed in his work. Family is very important to Victor’s father. Victor realizes that he has become too involved in his studies and knows that it is unhealthy to behave in such a way. However, he does not want to quit and begins to justify his actions. He suggests that if others had given up, then history could have been altered. Victor feels isolated and lonely. He thinks of his family and how disappointed they are that they have not heard from him. Shelly uses this quote to emphasize the importance of human relationships and how important they are to a person’s well-being. The theme of human

The lack of motherly-love, neglect and abandonment by his creator causes the creation much distress, which is expressed in the following passage when he narrates his experiences to Victor:

This is suggested again, when Victor confides, "till death she was to be mine only” (Shelley 36). This exemplifies how Alphonse showed Victor, at an early age, how women were to be treated in society. Victor was displaced twice during his adolescence when his father allowed two nonmembers of the family into the house—first Elizabeth, then Justine. Although Victor was not outwardly agitated, these two displacements instilled within him a feeling of loneliness. In short, Alphonse’s dominating role as father led Victor to feel isolated. Alphonse did not think deeply about the impact that adding more members to the family would have on his son. This dominating role can be seen again when Victor is sent off to Ingolstadt, right after his mother, Caroline, died. Victor idolized his mother and was very attached to her. Instead of letting Victor grieve with the family, Alphonse sends him away, leaving Victor to feel more secluded than ever. Victor is isolated from his family and best friend Clerval, which fuels his obsession with creating the monster.

The monster was always judged on the way he looked which made him the outcast because he was not normal in the human’s eyes. By using this in depth character interplay, Shelley further expands upon the monster archetype and allows the reader to question who truly is the monster inside of Frankenstein.

When most people think of Frankenstein people usually think of a monster. However when reading the story by Mary Shelley you see that he is not as horrific as he is presented. The monster notices the care and concern the family has for each other, and he senses that there is a mood of despair among the younger family members. The family suffers from poverty and a lack of food. Desiring to keep his cottagers happy, the monster becomes an aid to the family by secretly hauling wood to the cottage and performing repairs, all under the cover of darkness.

"Loneliness and the feeling of being unwanted is the most terrible poverty”- Mother Teresa. In Mary Shelley’s gothic novel Frankenstein, the creature created by Victor Frankenstein was abandoned, rejected, and was desperate to be loved. This correlates with much of Shelley's life and the losses she endured. The creature, much like Shelley was alone for most of its life and had lost all that he knew but unlike Shelley, the creature was angered by society and his creator.

Frankenstein by Mary Shelly and Ordinary People by Judith Guest’s both display the consistent theme of abandonment by parent guardians. Both protagonists, the Creature and Conrad, experience rejection from their parents and constantly try to search for love and attention in different aspects of society because they unfortunately can not receive it from their parents. Because no individual wants to associate with the Creature he becomes imorally and seeks revenge on the entire human race for not accepting him. Contrastly Conrad fortunately has the support of several individuals who are constantly trying to make him happy even though he is only trying to seek the acceptance of his mother. Although both the Creature in Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein and Conrad in Judith Guest 's Ordinary People are both abandoned by parental figures, the creature is unable to gain support from anyone making him completely isolated, while Conrad is able to gain support from Berger his therapist and his father Cal, ultimately allowing him to heal from the rejection of his mom.

In Frankenstein, Mary Shelley uses the element of nature to portray the role of a motherly figure to Victor and his monster. Victor and his monster were deprived of parental love that a child requires. Instead, the necessary love is provided to both Victor and his monster via nature. Nature was also a source of motivation in their lives and played a major role in each of their actions. Whenever they were confronted with a challenge, both characters sought help from the nature. The nature helped the characters confront their ordinary problems as well as act as a guidance for their actions. Shelley uses metaphors to describe the emotions of Victor and the monster. Throughout the novel, both characters pursue solutions to the questions such as, why were they abandoned and forced to live on their own. Neither Alphonse (father of Victor) nor Victor (so called father of the monster) obliged to the duties of fatherhood. Victor was abandoned after the death of his mother and the loneliness triggered him to form an obsession with knowledge. In simple terms, being nurtured by nature had an effect on him becoming a bizarre scientist in his lifetime that performs unorthodox experiments to continually increase the body of his knowledge. Furthermore, Victor, creator or “father” of the Monster, abandoned his own “child” in a hypocritical society. The monster was merely lift alone in a massive world where there was no other like him. Throughout the

Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein, is a novel based on secrecy, on neglect, and on revenge. In Shelley’s work, a monster relentlessly seeks revenge on his ‘parent,’ Dr. Frankenstein, as a result of being abandoned and rejected by the one who created him. Throughout the novel Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, there are two main themes which are projected into the storyline; two themes in which Edward Mendelson explains in his critical essay on Frankenstein from his work, The Things That Matter: What Seven Classics Novels Have to Say About the Stages of Life. These two themes are power verses love and child neglect and abandonment. In his critical essay, Mendelson thoroughly explains the themes that are both prominent and a representation of childbirth in Shelley’s novel.

Mary Shelley’s book, Frankenstein, parallels her own experiences. Shelley’s mother died in childbirth, and she was left “dependent on none and related to none.” Her father, William Godwin, abandoned his daughter emotionally when he remarried a woman who treated Mary poorly. Shelley often searched for an understanding of who she was. She did not have a mother to give her an education, so Mary taught herself by seeking

Throughout the novel Marry Shelley goes into topics such as ability to have free will, family, compassion, science etc. Each topic provokes the reader to rethink their ideals on such topics. The creation of a “monster” allows the author to relate topics in a fictional manner. Since Frankenstein’s creation isn’t technically a human the reader is forced to think about the novel in a way that traditionally wouldn’t. The gothic genre of the novel thrives on questioning the reader’s traditional beliefs.

Mary Shelley’s book, Frankenstein, parallels her own experiences. Shelley’s mother died in childbirth, and she was left “dependent on none and related to none.” Her father, William Godwin, abandoned his daughter emotionally when he remarried a woman who treated Mary poorly. Shelley often searched for an understanding of who she was. She did not have a mother to give her an education, so Mary taught herself by seeking answers to self searching questions. Shelley dealt with other deaths and losses of significant others in her life which left her feeling isolated, and, at times rejected.

It is human nature to crave guidance and acceptance; this is especially evident in children as they are prone to seek comfort and affection from their parents. Their personalities and views on society are often affected by their parents and any other parental types in their lives. Those who lack a parental figure naturally seek acceptance from someone they respect. How one is treated by those they see as role models affects their relationships with others. In Mary Shelley's gothic novel Frankenstein, the lack of a nurturing parental figure is a recurrent thematic subject that pushes several characters to seek acceptance and love from unrealistic desires. The poor parenting throughout the novel creates characters who use their upbringing as an excuse to defend their actions and bad behavior.

Following her mother’s death, Shelley bonds well with her father. However, things change suddenly when her father remarries a step-mother. Mary Jane Clairmont, who is said to have changed her names four times in five years, gets into her life. Shelley had to compete for fathers love at a tender age, with frequent brushes and controlled contact with her father by the step mother. A close follow up of the date and events during the time of writing the novel, Shelley is said to have painted her own life as Frankenstein. Her inability to give life is well articulating with the scientist’s desire to fulfill personal wishes, only to farter while distorting virtually everything in place. I tend to strongly believe that Shelley did what her mother would have been proud of