Brea Ashe

Mrs. Jurczyk

ECE English 1011

8 May 2017

Frankenstein Essay

Daddy's Little Monster: The Effects of Parental Abandonment in Frankenstein

In Mary Shelleys Frankenstein Victor Frankenstein attempts to play God and create his

own being. Frankenstein spends two years attempting to bring his creature to life but when he

succeeds he is terrified and abandons his creation. As Victors abandoned creature learns and

develops he sees the reality of his situation and becomes bitter; this anger is responsible for many

events in the story. These events caused by the Creature include great suffering and death around

him and his creator as well as the ruination Victor's life. However, Victor is so blinded by his

own fear and self pity that he is ignorant to how his treatment of his creation affects who the

being becomes. In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein Victor's rejection of his parental responsibilities

greatly affects who the creature is yet Victor is oblivious to the part he plays in his own demise.

Before understanding how Victor Frankenstein's abandonment of his creation affects the

creature, who he actually is must first be explored. Frankenstein's monster is a new being made

up of pieces gathered from human corpses and is brought to life using unknown scientific

methods; but emotionally the creature in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is so much more. Victor's

creation enters this world in the same mental state as a newborn child and throughout

Frankenstein the creature continues to develop mentally in ways such as learning language and

understanding more about himself. Similar to a newborn infant when he enters the world the

creature had to learn how to understand and use his own body; in his own words it was, indeed,
a long time before I learned to distinguish between the operations of my various senses (Shelley

70). The creature knew nothing about anything and even birds, which he called the little winged

animals who had often intercepted the light from my eyes (71), were an amazement to him. The

creature eventually comes across a cottage where when the inhabitant noticed the creature he

shrieked loudly, and, quitting the hut, ran across the field (72). Following this event the

creature comes across a village where the whole village was roused (73) and grievously

bruised by stones and many other kinds of missile weapons (73) the creature barely escapes; this

is when the creature begins to realize he is different from the humans he comes across and he

must be careful to avoid contact. The creature struggles through his infancy stage and must

learn about himself and the world on his own through trial and error.

When the creature escapes the villagers he happens across a hovel connected to a cottage

and in this unusual place he transcends his infancy stage. The creature learns language, the

way of the world, and so much more by watching the inhabitants of the cottage but as his

knowledge grows so does his understanding of his situation. First the creature realizes how

significantly different his appearance is from his beloved cottage dwellers and he is filled with

the bitterest sensations of despondence and mortification (Shelley 79). When the creature

learned to read he applied the text to his own feelings and condition (89) and begins to self

reflect causing him to realize he is similar, yet at the same time strangely unlike the beings

concerning whom I [the creature] read (89). This new gift of reading also allowed the creature

to view Victor's notebook which was found in his pocket, this unlocked all the secrets of his

accursed origin (91) which horrified and disgusted him. At the end of his time in the hovel the

creature attempts to make a connection with the cottagers who unknowingly taught him all he

knows, gives him shelter, and gives him hope. Unfortunately the family within the cottage has a
similar reaction to the villagers upon seeing him and he is beaten and chased away; this is the last

straw. Following this heartbreaking event the creature becomes bitter, depressed, and feelings of

revenge and hatred overcome him. This is when the creature decides to dedicate himself to

torturing his creator Victor Frankenstein; this becomes his sole purpose. The creature is an

abnormal being who craves human connections, acceptance, and normalcy but when he is

rejected over and over again he gradually becomes the monster everyone thinks he is.

Victor Frankenstein's rejection of his creation causes the innocent, clueless creature to

become the violent, bitter being he is at the end of the story. Now that the character

Frankenstein's monster has been explored, specifically how Victor shaped who his creature is in

Mary Shelleys Frankenstein can be understood. After Victor creates his new being he is

awakened in the night by the creature standing over his bed and Victor claims one hand was

stretched out, seemingly to detain me (Shelley 36). In looking close at this scene the creature

whose grin wrinkled his cheeks (36) does not seem to be threatening but instead seems like a

young child searching for the comfort of a parent. What did Victor do when his own creation

reached out for him? He ran and took refuge in the court-yard (36). After his creator rejected

him the creature ran away and was left to his own devices, had to learn through trial and error

instead of being taught by a parental figure, and was both abused and rejected along the way. If

Victor Frankenstein accepted his creation the being most likely never would have entered the

village where he was beaten and chased away or he would not have been rejected by the

cottagers; perhaps he would never have developed a hatred for his creator. If Victor himself was

a human connection for his creation then perhaps the creature would not have requested a

companion. The death of innocent characters such as Justine and William could have very well

been avoided. After times passes Victor continues to reject his creature; he makes no attempts to
make up for his negligence. Upon seeing his own creation once again Victor calls him Devil

(67) and vile insect (67), this only makes his situation worse. If Victor Frankenstein simply

accepted his responsibilities his creation could possibly have avoided all of the situations that

made him into the monster he was by the end of Mary Shelleys Frankenstein.

It is clear that Victors rejection of his creature creates a monster, but why is this so? A

situation such as the one described by Mary Shelley is her book Frankenstein, although very

fictional, still has roots in science and psychology. Victors rejection of his creature can be

compared to both child abandonment and divorce, Victor creates the creature like a father creates

a child and then leaves it behind like a deadbeat dad1. It is commonly known and accepted that

children with no parents or who have recently lost a parent act out for various reasons and this

logic can be easily found within Frankenstein. According to Donald Dutton and Stephen Hart

men who had been abused as children were three times more likely than nonabused men to

engage in violent acts as adults (Dutton). This logic makes perfect sense for the creature who

was mentally abused by his creator and physically abused by other humans he came in contact

with. This abuse did indeed lead to violent behavior, the creature killed multiple innocent

characters including a child. Judith Wallerstein Ph.D performed a comprehensive study on the

long term effects divorce has on children and according to her findings significant numbers of

children suffer for many years from psychological and social difficulties (Wallerstein). This

statement is clearly true in not just the real world, but within Frankenstein as well. Bitterness,

anger, and revenge consumes the creature causing violent and homicidal behavior; these are the

psychological difficulties mentioned above. Socially it is difficult to determine if and how the

creature struggles due to the fact that his appearance scares off many humans before his words

1
(orig. and chiefly U.S.) a father who lives apart from his children and does not support them financially; (more generally) any
neglectful father.
can. It is clear not only within Mary Shelleys Frankenstein but also in the real world that

Victors rejection of his creation has an enormous psychological effect on who the creature

becomes.

When Victor Frankenstein abandons the creature he unknowingly shapes him into the

evil being he becomes thus shaping the events that follow in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.

Frankensteins monster is a driving force in Mary Shelleys book from Victors actions to the

loss of characters. The creature dedicated himself to the destruction of his creator and eternal

revenge (Shelley 100). Victors youngest brother is the first to die at the hands of his creation,

he happened across the young boy while in search of Victor himself and in the creatures own

words I grasped his throat to silence him, and in a moment he lay dead at my feet (100). A

family friend named Justine was unjustly accused of the murder of the youngest Frankenstein

and was executed for a crime the creature committed. Following the death of his brother and

Justine, Victor decided to travel away from home once again to create another being to be the

creatures companion. The creature fueled Victors decision to leave again and attempt to make

another being. However when Victor decided against creating another being it lead to the death

of his best friend Henry, once again at the hands of his own creation. Finally the creature kept his

promise to Victor, I will be with you on your wedding-night (136). Right after they are married

Victor finds Elizabeths lifeless and inanimate (140) body. After losing so many people he

loved dearly Victors Father could stand it no longer and died in his sons arms. Once everyone

Victor loved was taken from him by the hands of his own creation he vowed to kill the creature

and began hunting him down. Because of the creature Victors life was ruined and in the end he

could not even accomplish his one goal, killing the being responsible for his suffering. Victors
rejection of his creation turned him into a monster, thus ruining the life of the creature and his

own.

Throughout Mary Shelleys Frankenstein the creature causes tragedy in Victors life, but

Victor cannot see that he is responsible for the monster he created and so he is responsible for his

own tragedies. Victors first mistake is playing God; meddling with science can often have

disastrous outcomes. Victors next mistake was of course rejecting his creation. This rejection, as

previously discussed, causes the creature to become a monster and ruin Victors life.

Unfortunately, Victor is too caught up in these tragedies to see that he is actually responsible for

them. Victor never sees his creation as an innocent being that needed to be cared for like a child,

instead he saw him as nothing but a wretch(Shelley 35) and a curse. Victor Frankenstein is

responsible for the disaster that is his creature and his life but he is too blinded by his loss that he

does not see it and instead blames just the creature.

In Mary Shelleys Frankenstein Victor creates a new being who he rejects causing the

creature to become violent and tragedy ensued but unfortunately Victor is oblivious to his

responsibility. The creature comes into this world innocent and with the same mental capacity as

a newborn child but as he grows mentally he learns more about his life and his creator, is

rejected over and over again, and eventually becomes bitter and violent. Frankenstein

demonstrates cause and effect as Victor causes his own problems and deals with them while still

remaining consumed with his issues and oblivious to how he caused them. Victor Frankenstein's

rejection of his creation shapes the creature, the story, and Victors future all while Victor

remains clueless to the part he played in his own demise.

Works Cited

Dutton, Donald G. Evidence for Long-Term, Specific Effects of Childhood Abuse and Neglect
 on Criminal Behavior in Men. Hart, Stephen D.

http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0306624X9203600205, Sage Journals, June

1, 1992.

Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. Hunter, J. Paul. Second Norton Critical Edition, W.W. Norton &

Company, Inc, 2012, New York.

Wallerstein, Judith S. The Long-Term Effects of Divorce on Children: A Review. Journal of

the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, Volume 30, Issue 3, May

1991.