Parental Abandonment In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley is about a man, who through his love of science and alchemy, gives birth to a monstrous and forever unnamed creature. During the span of the novel, the monster goes either unnoticed by society or shunned, while Frankenstein lives his life in fear of coming upon the Creature or he is hunting him down. All the creature wants is what he notices the rest of society having; friends, family, community. At the very least, the Creature wanted a companion like himself, who could understand him and what he does through.The Creature’s abandonment by Frankenstein leads to his inability to enter society as a productive member and ultimately to the dissolution of Frankenstein’s friends and family and ultimately himself, as shown …show more content…
There is an overall theme of parental abandonment that the novel touches on. Elizabeth, the cousin of Frankenstein, is the first character who really gets abandoned by their parents. Frankenstein’s father’s sister had married an Italian man and had Elizabeth, but dies, abandoning Elizabeth, but not purposely. Soon after, Elizabeth’s father wants Alphones Frankenstein to “take charge of the infant Elizabeth” and “consider her [his] …show more content…
First off, Frankenstein never names the Creature, but because he feels such malice towards the Creature, he gets called other derogatory names like the “wretch” (Shelley 84), “devil” (Shelley 118), “fiend” (Shelley 156), and “monster” (Shelley 118) and anything along those lines. Even when the Creature is created and comes alive, Frankenstein’s first thoughts are not to care for him but to run. Horrified by the creation of the creature, he is “unable to endure the aspect of the being [he] had created, [he] rush out of the room” (Shelley 84). Again when the Creature comes to life and stand by Frankenstein’s bed side “[he] took refuge in the court-yard” (Shelley 84). After the creation, Frankenstein does not hear or see from the creature for another two or so years and does not inquire about the creature or his health or anything that a parent would worry about. The Creature catches up to Frankenstein, and demands to be made a companion so that “neither you nor any other human being shall see us again; I shall go to the vast wilds of South America” (Shelley157). Frankenstein only agrees to this because the Creature has promised to never interrupt him or the rest of society. Again, Frankenstein abandons the Creature as he thinks about what he is doing while he creates the Creature’s companion. He thinks about the “race of devils [that] would be propagate upon the earth” (Shelley 174) and he ultimately “tore to pieces the