Individuals carry a great responsibility as they start to expand their families and become parents. Parents are expected to instill morals, guide children through the early stages of life, befriend their children, and support their children through the rollercoaster of life. Unfortunately, some parents neglect these expectations, potentially affecting children by leaving them abandoned and closed-off to the world . In Mary Shelley’s Gothic novel Frankenstein, Shelley examines parent-child conflicts relationships, between both the Frankenstein family and between Victor Frankenstein and the Creature to illustrate the struggles of living with a distant and uninvolved parent can inflict on an individual.
How the Frankensteins raise their children …show more content…
Parents are expected to love their children unconditionally, something Frankenstein fails to do. Upon creating the creature, Frankenstein exclaims “[He] beheld the wretch - the miserable monster,” and calls the Creature a “demoniacal corpse” (Shelley 44). The hate towards the Creature upon his birth is completely obnoxious. Newborns are supposed to receive as much social interaction from their parents as possible. This welcomeness to the world shows the child that they are loved, but rather than giving his newborn the attention the Creature deserves, Frankenstein decides to insult his child and abandon the Creature instead of dealing with his new responsibility properly. Frankenstein’s course of action is arguably due to his parent’s emphasis on beauty early in the book and the detachment he experienced throughout his childhood from his parents.Nonetheless, Frankenstein’s refusal to be the father he has to be is absolutely atrocious. Just because the Creature does not meet Frankenstein’s beauty standards he decides to leave the Creature, his son, as a social outcast, longing for communication and love from others around him. Later the Creature successfully saves a drowning girl out of the goodness of his heart, but because of his appearance, is shot in the shoulder. The Creature understandably has a fit of rage, “This was then the reward of [the Creature’s] benevolence! … [He] vowed
How the Frankensteins raise their children …show more content…
Parents are expected to love their children unconditionally, something Frankenstein fails to do. Upon creating the creature, Frankenstein exclaims “[He] beheld the wretch - the miserable monster,” and calls the Creature a “demoniacal corpse” (Shelley 44). The hate towards the Creature upon his birth is completely obnoxious. Newborns are supposed to receive as much social interaction from their parents as possible. This welcomeness to the world shows the child that they are loved, but rather than giving his newborn the attention the Creature deserves, Frankenstein decides to insult his child and abandon the Creature instead of dealing with his new responsibility properly. Frankenstein’s course of action is arguably due to his parent’s emphasis on beauty early in the book and the detachment he experienced throughout his childhood from his parents.Nonetheless, Frankenstein’s refusal to be the father he has to be is absolutely atrocious. Just because the Creature does not meet Frankenstein’s beauty standards he decides to leave the Creature, his son, as a social outcast, longing for communication and love from others around him. Later the Creature successfully saves a drowning girl out of the goodness of his heart, but because of his appearance, is shot in the shoulder. The Creature understandably has a fit of rage, “This was then the reward of [the Creature’s] benevolence! … [He] vowed