Familial Relationships In Frankenstein

In Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein, familial relationships play a significant role in the development of the characters, and the most important relationship within the novel is the one that forms between the child and the maternal figure. In the absence of a natural mother, the characters rely on the importance of the nurturing their maternal figure provides for them, and this nurturing is what shapes these young children’s outlook on life and sense of self-worth.
As a young child, Elizabeth’s natural mother passed away, thereby passing the responsibility of “educating” Elizabeth on to Victor’s mother and father. From the moment she laid eyes on her, Victor’s mother adored Elizabeth, for “at that time [she was] the most beautiful child she had ever seen (20).” In their relationship, the most crucial point in …show more content…
If the role of a natural mother is considered to be one that gives life to an offspring, then it can be said that Victor was the “natural mother” to the creature. After years of devotion and imagination, the child that Victor brought into the world was not as he envisioned it would be. It was human in just about every way, but the creature’s appearance was far from the most beautiful child Victor had ever seen, his “luxuriances only formed a more horrid contrast with his watery eyes, that seemed almost of the same color as the dun white sockets in which they were set” (page # no idea. Chapter 5). His disgust with the creature’s appearance impeded any potential relationship Victor could have with it, highlighting the novel’s stress on perception based on appearance. When the creature tried to connect with Victor on the same emotional level Elizabeth did with her family, he was sent away by his “mother.” “Begone! I will not hear you. There is no community between you and me; we are enemies