If one needs a guide on how to be the most oblivious of deadbeat parents, they need only to look to the actions of Victor Frankenstein of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. There’s nothing that says “World’s Worst Dad” like running out of the house, screaming after finding your eight-foot-something child looming over your sleeping form. Shelley’s entire novel, in essence, is about parenting and the relationships between fathers and their children - with the added element of being the first work of science fiction.
Before getting into the analysis of the various facts, which point this towards being a parental “how-to”, it’s important to briefly mention Shelley’s own upbringing and how it relates to said analysis. Shelly was born to William Godwin, a philosopher, and novelist, and Mary Wollstonecraft, a well-known English suffragette who penned “A Vindication of the Rights of Woman”, in 1797. Two weeks after Shelley’s birth, Wollstonecraft died due to postpartum infections. Shelley’s rigorous education reflected Godwin’s belief in her intelligence, but he withdrew his support as she romantically pursued Percy Shelley. Many think that the man-made monster of Frankenstein is Shelley reflecting on her own motherless childhood. Whether this is the case or not, the work is rife with the nature of developmental psychology and I found it fascinating.
The monster is an example of the ever-present nature v. nurture debate. Was it how the monster was made that made him this way, or was it how the outside world conditioned him? When first gaining consciousness the monster finds wonder in everything he experiences, especially nature in the spring (a romantic as Frankenstein and Shelley herself was). Throughout the novel he shows deep concern for human well-being, limiting his own food supply so that his poor neighbors wouldn’t suffer their own food shortage during the winter, and going further by collecting firewood for them. His nature is kind from conception to where his abusive upbringing is too much to ignore. Frankenstein rejects the monster after painstakingly creating him. Those he considers “friends” turn their back on him. Each physical interaction he has with humans, his intentions good or not, ends in shunning or abuse. He has been taught regularly that interaction with humans will lead to punishment in some way, but if he doesn’t interact with them, who will cure his loneliness? The monster goes to extreme measures (through nurture, the only way he knows how) in order to cure his extreme isolation.
One of the details that Shelley emphasizes repeatedly is the Judeo-Christian allegories between Frankenstein and the monster. The monster elevates Frankenstein to God-like status when they first meet—Frankenstein created him; gave him life. The monster compares himself to both Adam and Satan, as he is the first creation, but humankind spurns him. Another interesting note is that God created Adam in his own image, a possible foreshadowing that Frankenstein himself would become a monster in his own right. It is very possible Shelley is making a statement on religion with these allusions, but I think that’s slightly off track from the point I’ll be making in this post. The reason I bring up these allusions to biblical figures is many Christians (as the monster is loosely implied to be, as he considers Paradise Lost a historical piece at some point) call and consider their God a father. This is just another reason that Frankenstein is a horrible creator - if you can’t be a dad, how in the world would you fare as a god?
Finally, the most concrete evidence in my case before I get into personal thoughts: All the actual parents depicted in the novel. Other than Frankenstein, three main parental figures influence the story. There’s Alphonse Frankenstein, Frankenstein’s father who is shown as a gracious protector to his wife and devoted to his children to his dying days. Caroline Beaufort, Frankenstein’s mother, is shown to have a too-big heart through her dedication to Elizabeth, whom she adopts to save from poverty and dies for after nursing her scarlet fever. The last is De Lacey, who is the kind, blind father of Felix and Agatha in the monster’s tale and is the only possible sympathizer of the monster. Their respective narrators show these three in a soft, rose-tinted light and essentially, are the exact opposite of Frankenstein. Alphonse and De Lacey are old and sympathetic, while Frankenstein is too young and glory-seeking. Caroline is self-sacrificing to a fault and Frankenstein is more selfish than the day is long. Shelley makes these characters the perfect parenting foils to Frankenstein, and I do not doubt that it was unintentional.
Victor Frankenstein knew what he was doing when he found the secret to giving life, he knew what he was doing when he began putting together his monster, and he definitely knew by the time he was done. While I was reading Frankenstein, I realized that the way Frankenstein treated his monster was very similar to parents who believe they are ready to be parents but certainly are not. They want the ideal child; they want the result with none of the effort put in. They don’t want a child who is disabled, or LGBT+, or has mental health issues, and if their child shows any signs of being any of these they react with disgust. I believe that if the novel took place now, Victor would be an anti-vaxx mom who would rather a child die of a preventable disease than be at a (non-existent) risk of autism. Willing parents should love their children because they made their decision to bring life to this earth and they have a duty to see it through regardless of circumstances.
“Oh, Frankenstein, be not equitable to every other and trample upon me alone, to whom thy justice, and even thy clemency and affection, is most due.” -The monster, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein
Before getting into the analysis of the various facts, which point this towards being a parental “how-to”, it’s important to briefly mention Shelley’s own upbringing and how it relates to said analysis. Shelly was born to William Godwin, a philosopher, and novelist, and Mary Wollstonecraft, a well-known English suffragette who penned “A Vindication of the Rights of Woman”, in 1797. Two weeks after Shelley’s birth, Wollstonecraft died due to postpartum infections. Shelley’s rigorous education reflected Godwin’s belief in her intelligence, but he withdrew his support as she romantically pursued Percy Shelley. Many think that the man-made monster of Frankenstein is Shelley reflecting on her own motherless childhood. Whether this is the case or not, the work is rife with the nature of developmental psychology and I found it fascinating.
The monster is an example of the ever-present nature v. nurture debate. Was it how the monster was made that made him this way, or was it how the outside world conditioned him? When first gaining consciousness the monster finds wonder in everything he experiences, especially nature in the spring (a romantic as Frankenstein and Shelley herself was). Throughout the novel he shows deep concern for human well-being, limiting his own food supply so that his poor neighbors wouldn’t suffer their own food shortage during the winter, and going further by collecting firewood for them. His nature is kind from conception to where his abusive upbringing is too much to ignore. Frankenstein rejects the monster after painstakingly creating him. Those he considers “friends” turn their back on him. Each physical interaction he has with humans, his intentions good or not, ends in shunning or abuse. He has been taught regularly that interaction with humans will lead to punishment in some way, but if he doesn’t interact with them, who will cure his loneliness? The monster goes to extreme measures (through nurture, the only way he knows how) in order to cure his extreme isolation.
One of the details that Shelley emphasizes repeatedly is the Judeo-Christian allegories between Frankenstein and the monster. The monster elevates Frankenstein to God-like status when they first meet—Frankenstein created him; gave him life. The monster compares himself to both Adam and Satan, as he is the first creation, but humankind spurns him. Another interesting note is that God created Adam in his own image, a possible foreshadowing that Frankenstein himself would become a monster in his own right. It is very possible Shelley is making a statement on religion with these allusions, but I think that’s slightly off track from the point I’ll be making in this post. The reason I bring up these allusions to biblical figures is many Christians (as the monster is loosely implied to be, as he considers Paradise Lost a historical piece at some point) call and consider their God a father. This is just another reason that Frankenstein is a horrible creator - if you can’t be a dad, how in the world would you fare as a god?
Finally, the most concrete evidence in my case before I get into personal thoughts: All the actual parents depicted in the novel. Other than Frankenstein, three main parental figures influence the story. There’s Alphonse Frankenstein, Frankenstein’s father who is shown as a gracious protector to his wife and devoted to his children to his dying days. Caroline Beaufort, Frankenstein’s mother, is shown to have a too-big heart through her dedication to Elizabeth, whom she adopts to save from poverty and dies for after nursing her scarlet fever. The last is De Lacey, who is the kind, blind father of Felix and Agatha in the monster’s tale and is the only possible sympathizer of the monster. Their respective narrators show these three in a soft, rose-tinted light and essentially, are the exact opposite of Frankenstein. Alphonse and De Lacey are old and sympathetic, while Frankenstein is too young and glory-seeking. Caroline is self-sacrificing to a fault and Frankenstein is more selfish than the day is long. Shelley makes these characters the perfect parenting foils to Frankenstein, and I do not doubt that it was unintentional.
Victor Frankenstein knew what he was doing when he found the secret to giving life, he knew what he was doing when he began putting together his monster, and he definitely knew by the time he was done. While I was reading Frankenstein, I realized that the way Frankenstein treated his monster was very similar to parents who believe they are ready to be parents but certainly are not. They want the ideal child; they want the result with none of the effort put in. They don’t want a child who is disabled, or LGBT+, or has mental health issues, and if their child shows any signs of being any of these they react with disgust. I believe that if the novel took place now, Victor would be an anti-vaxx mom who would rather a child die of a preventable disease than be at a (non-existent) risk of autism. Willing parents should love their children because they made their decision to bring life to this earth and they have a duty to see it through regardless of circumstances.
“Oh, Frankenstein, be not equitable to every other and trample upon me alone, to whom thy justice, and even thy clemency and affection, is most due.” -The monster, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein
This is a fantastic perspective on Frankenstein!!! The idea that Dr. Frankenstein is the "World's Worst Dad" is an ingenious way of viewing the story. I love your comparisons and analysis! Great job!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for the comment!
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