Family In Frankenstein Essay
What’s a man without his family? The most influential factor in anyone’s young life is their family, but all families are not created equal. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley provides an interesting commentary on how families should raise their children. This text compares two families with drastically different parenting styles. Throughout the text Mary Shelly suggests that a structured “formal” education is corruptive, while a more natural education is favorable. 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 …show more content…
Since the monster looked up towards both Victor and the De Laceys, they can both assume a parental role. The monster describes the De Lacey family as “‘perfect forms’” and is entranced by “‘their grace, beauty, and delicate complexions!” (Shelley 121). The monster becomes more civil and empathetic by studying the De Laceys. He reflects on the kindness that the family members show to one-another and applies that to his own actions. During his time studying the family, the monster becomes more “open to love and compassion, valuing education, language, and communication as he develops the ability to comprehend and share with others,” (Brackett). At first, the monster routinely stole food from the cottagers, however, when he discovered that this action brought hardship upon them he satisfied himself “‘with berries, nuts, and roots...gathered from a neighboring wood,” (Shelley 118). This improvement in character strengthens the idea that a natural education is superior. Conversely, when the monster imagines his creator, Victor, he curses “‘his crimes & malice”’ thoughts of hatred and revenge consume him (Shelley 96). This dichotomy highlights the incompetence of Victor as a parent. This helps to reassert that the monster’s “wickedness originates not with his soul but his treatment,” (Ferguson). Victor’s negligence as a parent, a trait caused by his poor upbringing, caused the corruption of his
Family Relationship In Frankenstein
386 Words | 2 PagesThe family relationship is the most vital kind of relationship across all of humanity. In the novel Frankenstein, Mary Shelley shows the importance of family bonds through the tragic events that occur through Frankenstein and his loved ones. Victor was brought up in a wealthy family surrounded by happiness and warmth. Victor however fails to share the same warmth towards his creation.
Opposition And Degradation In Frankenstein Essay
1042 Words | 5 PagesKevin J. Rodriguez English 10 Due Feb. 9, 2015 Frankenstein: Opposition and Degradation Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is the quintessential portrayal of how humans tend to forge their own demise. The protagonist of the story, Victor Frankenstein, is a very clear manifestation of that very message.
Mary Shelley Research Paper
722 Words | 3 PagesIn “Frankenstein”, Victor, a mad scientist, becomes obsessed with the idea of creating life. After making the monster, he falls into a depression because he feels bad that he created something so “hideous and gigantic creature” he felt bad for himself and the monster. Victor spends most of the story trying to deal with the consequences of his actions as well as the monster’s. By the end of the story, the monster has been taunted, rejected, and afraid of his creator and society. It pushes the monster to commit the murder against his creator’s family (66).
Influence Of Parental Figure In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein
938 Words | 4 PagesParents are everyone 's first role models. Regardless of biological relation, those who raise us have a profound influence on the way we perceive and interpret life. Parents lay the foundation of our first sense of morality and empathy, and usher us to the path of our development of social skills. No matter how consciously one may attempt to have no resemblance to their parents, it is an inevitability of life that we will harness aspects of their influence and carry them through our lifetime. In Mary Shelley’s, “Frankenstein”, the influence of parental figures is displayed by the morals and values instilled in the monster.
Frankenstein Victor's Relationship Analysis
879 Words | 4 PagesMary 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.
Social Belonging In Frankenstein
987 Words | 4 PagesBy 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
The Importance Of Family In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein
395 Words | 2 PagesInterestingly 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.
The Role Of The Real Monster In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein
576 Words | 3 PagesHe deals with criticism, fear, and loss in the first 20 years of his life. As a child, Victor is chastised by his father for his study of old, outdated philosophers. Frankenstein’s father doesn’t take the time to explain to him why these thinkers are outdated, his father simply shuts him down. This dismissive attitude only encourages Victor’s want to study.
Archetypal Symbolism In Frankenstein
1380 Words | 6 PagesA writer named Nikita Gill once said “When you see a monster next, always remember this. Do not fear the thing before you. Fear the thing that created it instead.” This quote can be related to the novel Frankenstein where instead of the actual creature being perceived as the monster, the person who created it deserves to be called one. Using the archetypal lens, Victor can be seen as the real monster in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein from his cruel characteristics, continuous patterns of monstrosity, as well as symbols and themes involving nature.
Victor Frankenstein Character Analysis Essay
1220 Words | 5 PagesIn 1818 Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein, a novel that follows Victor Frankenstein, an ambitious man on his journey to defy the natural sciences. In Volume I of the novel, Victor discusses his childhood, mentioning how wonderful and amazing it was because of how his family sheltered him from the bad in the world. “The innocent and helpless creature bestowed on them by heaven, whom to bring up to good, and whose future lot it was in their hands to direct to happiness or misery, according as they fulfilled their duties towards me” (35). When Victor brings up his childhood, he suggests that parents play a strong in how their kids turn out, either "to happiness or misery" (35). In particular the main character was sheltered as a child to achieve this “happiness” leading to Victor never developing a coping mechanism to the evil in the world.
Role Of Family In Frankenstein
924 Words | 4 PagesAs 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.
Outline For Frankenstein Research Paper
516 Words | 3 PagesVictor’s Nurture and Responsibility Towards the Monster A. Sympathy for the Monster may come from the understanding on how Victor treated a. Left Monster to care for himself after “birth” when Victor discovered how grotesque and deformed he looked b. Felt limited responsibility towards the Monster c. Killed his companion B. Reader may feel that the Monster’s actions were justified by his
Dad Quotes In Frankenstein
420 Words | 2 PagesVictor’s creation, whether intentional or not, took the lives of his friends and family in thanks to his negligence and lack of thought when creating Dad. His initial response of horror and fear to the creature’s appearance began the unnecessary tension between creator and being that developed into Dad’s revenge through murder. To Victor, these unexplained actions made his creation appear inherently evil. Dad is clearly frustrated by Victor’s opinion of him, as it is only motivated by Dad’s unique physical appearance, rather than his morality. However, Dad unknowingly, or unconcernedly, allows Victor’s perspective to gain support as he is responsible for the murder of William, Justine Moritz, Henry Clerval, and Elizabeth.
The Monster In Shelley's Frankenstein
803 Words | 4 PagesIt is most commonly accepted as a universal truth that the way a child is raised plays a major role in their development from infancy to adolescence. The monster in Shelley’s Frankenstein is no exception. Although born into an adult body, the monster’s development adheres along many stages in the science of childhood development. Despite his grotesque appearance, the monster in Frankenstein has a human persona- a fact that Victor failed to realize upon the monster’s creation. If Dr. Frankenstein had understood the human component of the monster’s personality, the story of Frankenstein would be drastically altered as lives would not have been lost and the monster would not have lived the majority of his life in vengeful isolation.
What Is The Pursuit Of Knowledge In Frankenstein
729 Words | 3 PagesThe character of Frankenstein is introduced as a man with an almost perfect family. However, as he grows older and begins to pursue and acquire progressively greater knowledge, his life takes a turn for the worse. This pursuit of knowledge poses no problem to Victor at first; it is only when he allows the concepts of natural philosophy to “[become] nearly [his] sole occupation” (Shelley, 29). He begins to care less and less about his family and relationships as he devotes each and every moment of his life towards his research.
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