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Father-child relation in Frankenstein

Introduction

Frankenstein is a classic novel penned by Mary Shelley. The story is based on the parenting techniques that were characteristic of the nineteenth century. The novel takes its roots in the Faustian motives of Victor Frankenstein, as he fiddles with nature and stretches its boundaries in order to feed his obsession to create this mysterious and elusive offspring (Sherman, 2000, p. 38). The fact that Victor is portrayed as the creator of the creature asserts the belief that he is its father, even when it is not born naturally. As a result, the reader would is naturally perceive Victor to be the father of the creature - and there is no doubt that he sets a very bad example of being one. The central purpose of this paper is to identify the poor “parenting” of Victor and review its adverse effects on his progeny. By doing this, the paper establishes the concept that it was the poor parenting of Victor that eventually motivated the creature to turn into a monster.

Thesis Statement

By failing to provide his progeny with the proper love, care, affection and nurturance that a father should devote to a child, Victor played a pivotal role in evoking hatred and vengeance in the creature and kindled his transformation into a monster.

Discussion

Even from the onset, it is pretty evident that the relation between Victor and his creature is a failed father-child relationship. For example, Mary Shelley highlights the basic necessities that a child requires from a father for proper nurturance and development. The most basic of these are what can be termed material provisions like food and shelter. Yet, Victor fails to meet these minimal requirements and deprives the creature of these basic provisions. Soon after the creature comes to life, he is abandoned by Victor and is not provided housing and food by his father. This iterates that Victor had little or no interest in the life of the creature (Sherman, 2000, p. 38).

This indifferent attitude of Victor towards the creature is due to his motivation to create him - a misguided ambition to acquire glory and unravel the secret of life (Shelley, 2000, p. 55). However, Victor is a little too late in realizing the error of his way since he has already created the creature. As a result, in a desperate attempt to make amends, he disowns the creature and casts him out to the mercy of the cruel world.

The extent to which Victor is disappointed in the creature and the level of his disinterest that he shows towards him can be inferred from the fact that Victor does not even give him a name. This asserts the belief of the creature that he does not have any identity. Instead, throughout the length of the book, the creature is referred to as a monster, wretch, fiend, demon and devil (Parkhouse, 2000, p. 30). Even when he finally establishes a conversation with the creature in the 10th chapter, Frankenstein refers ...