British Literature Assignment 1 Samaher Baidis PDF

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VICTORIAN ERA STORY FRANKENSTEIN BY MARY SHELLEY Fall 2016 Assignment #1 The Need for Parental Involvement During the Victorian boom, urbanization and the advancement in technologies created massive opportunities for female employment. Therefore, many women shifted roles from being stay-at-home moms to participating in the work force. An increase in working mothers possibly meant an increase in demand for daycares or nannies. Even though it was easier to hire additional help to supervise their children while being at work, it might have been harder for mothers to miss out on the early stages of their children's lives and not fulfill their responsibility of mothering to the fullest ability. In the novel, Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, Victor finds himself unable to provide the parenting needed to the being he created. A child's suffering and bad behavior is due to lack of parenting because a child needs nurturing in order to feel fulfilled and live a happy life. Victor fails to take responsibility of parenting his own creation in various ways. First, he finds the creature to be ugly and terrifying as he said, " breathless horror and disgust filled my heart. Unable to endure the aspect of the being I had created" (Frankenstein, p. 59). He could not stand the sight of the monster which is cowardly of Victor because he was the one who created him. In addition, Victor causes the being to suffer by abandoning him just because he is seen as hideous. However, Victor did not take the time

and effort to make the being better developed because he used bigger pieces since smaller pieces of equipment were simply easier. In addition, he feels less responsible by convincing himself the monster is evil rather than admitting he cheated and abandoned it. Therefore, he imposes the blame on the creation rather than taking responsibility of his own faults. The creation murders several characters in the novel with a goal of hurting those close to Victor, so that Victor could also suffer like he does. However, the creation's true morality is positive and all evil is caused because of his inner suffering. This is shown when he said, "No one can conceive the anguish I suffered... my own spirit let loose from the grave, and forced to destroy all that was dear to me" (Frankenstein, p.84) This demonstrates that the monster is damaged and was pushed to do all the bad things he had done because he was not taught any better by a parent he wish he had. Although he may be mistaken with evil, his bad behaviors are reflected on lack of parenting and abandonment. The creation is compared to a "demon" by Victor which is not a motherly thing to do. If Victor responsibly took care of the creation, he could have taught him right from wrong, and the creation would have not been so full of anger, revenge and shame. A parent would nurture their child, teach them to love themselves, and make them feel beautiful and happy no matter what. These are important duties a parent has but sometimes fails to give a child which causes suffering to that child.

Acceptance is essential for a child in order to feel wanted and not suffer continuously. For the child, society is seen as evil because they isolate and fear him. Although the creation tries to fit in and even saves a girl's life, the town still tends to judge him just because he is ugly or different. Society is the problem and unfortunately, the supposed-to- be parent, Victor, is part of that society which causes the child to endure more agony and distress. This is described when the creature says, " I am rather the fallen angel, whom thou drivest from joy for no misdeed....I alone am irrevocably excluded. I was benevolent and good; misery made me a fiend. Make me happy, and I shall again be virtuous" (Frankenstein, p. 114). This shows that as a child, the being is suffering alone and is isolated from everyone, and if others were good to him, then he would be to them as well. However, misery and suffering has caused him to be someone he does not want to be, and if only he was accepted by society, he would be happier. Therefore, the monster develops himself in response to his experiences, whereas a "parent" such as Victor does not even respond to the deaths of his family members. Victor hinders the truth with excuses for his wrongdoings which eventually causes pain and hardship to his surroundings. Shelley's didactic text teaches about the moralities of different characters and how that plays importance in their role. The core morality of Victor is selfish because he doesn't take responsibility for anything and makes excuses for his behavior and mistreatment of others. This causes people who play a "child" role to suffer. For instance, Victor does not admit that Justine was innocent and

therefore, he allowed her to be killed unjustly. Although Victor has a brotherlike duty to Justine because she was adopted by his mother, and afterwards a parent-like duty after his mother dies, he fails to protect her and prove her innocence. Therefore, he hides his guilt with excuses such as being absent when the incident happened, " A thousand times rather would I have confessed myself guilty of the crime ascribed to Justine, but I was absent when it was committed" (Frankenstein, p. 90). In addition, he claims to suffer more than Justine to make the audience sympathize for him when he says, "I could not sustain the horror of my situation...The tortures of the accused did not equal mine; she was sustained by innocence, but the fangs of remorse tore my bosom and would not forgo their hold" (Frankenstein, p.95). Overall, Victor's lack of fulfilling his obligations as a parent causes harm to his offspring. The various parent-child relationships throughout the novel, Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, is key to understanding the important affects parenting has on children. Victor's lack of parenting to his creation may be seen as a result of his own mother's death. Missing a mother in his life may have had an effect on Victor because when being responsible to provide mothering and nurturing to a child, he needed the same sort of care and love from his own mother as well. Like the creation, Elizabeth is also seen as a child of Victor's and the author uses the literary element of a simile to refer to her as a "gift." Victor's mother "presented Elizabeth to me as her promised gift, I, with childish seriousness, interpreted her words literally and looked

upon Elizabeth as mine—mine to protect, love, and cherish" (Frankenstein, p.30). This shows that Victor plays the parent role, even though he fails in the end when he cannot protect her from the monster who kills her on their first married night. This causes suffering to the child, Elizabeth, because he cannot fulfill his duty as a parent to his other child, the monster. This is an example of how the suffering of child can cause the suffering of another child, and how parent-child relationships can intertwine causing suffering for all (including the parent: Victor when he sees his beloved Elizabeth die). Shelley demonstrates the role of women during the Victorian era in many aspects of the novel Frankenstein. In the colonial time, indigenous people were different compared to the colonial people. We can compare this to how the monster is different in relation to the people of society. Not only is his physical appearance completely unique, but he is also isolated and unaccepted by authorities who are displeased with him. Unfortunately, the monster accepts this mistreatment and suffering, and copes with it through anger and revenge against his maker. Similarly, women in the novel like Justine and Elizabeth are the quintessential characters who accept unjust deaths because they are not assertive to themselves. Since society does not allow them to be assertive, they cannot prove their innocence or fight to save their lives. As the monster tried to pursue acceptance of society and still failed to do so, not only does Justine not pursue justice, but also Elizabeth does not pursue lifelong happiness with Victor. The suffering of Justine and Elizabeth shows an importance in the role of women in the

Victorian era; they did not have as much power as the men did. Everyone knew their class level just as Elizabeth knew she was first a sister, then a cousin, afterwards a lover, and Justine was a servant doing housework for the family. Along with the theme of parenthood, gender and sexuality is also significant because it shows how it may cause suffering to a child trying to fit in with society. The monster is violating society in a way because of his differences; therefore, they do not accept him for what he is. He lives in the woods which is symbolic for living against society and not with them. The monster is not comfortable in his own skin and sexuality because he cannot seem to be appreciated by others. Therefore, when he asks his maker to create a girl version monster, Victor rejects his request claiming he is afraid a " race of devils would be propagated upon the earth" (Frankenstein, p. 203). Victor not fulfilling the monster's request for a lover, causes the monster to suffer alone even more. Victor not only lacks providing love and mothering, but also basic sexual needs of the monster. As a result, the monster angrily pursues to kill Elizabeth. This shows the big risk and danger Victor puts Elizabeth in, failing to parent or protect her, which causes her suffering in the end. In summation, disclaiming parental responsibility affects children psychologically because they feel unwanted. Metaphorically, Victor has an unplanned pregnancy because he never imagined the actual existence of the monster. Therefore, he did not take care of the child as a rational being or

mother. The child or creation causes suffering to the other children of Victor as a result of abandonment. In other words, the "parent" is to blame for the child's bad behavior because his actions reflect on his experiences as he develops. In Frankenstein, author Mary Shelley lucidly emphasizes the significance of parent-child relationships and how a positive relationship corresponds to a happier life for the child.

Work Cited:

Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft. Frankenstein; or The Modern Prometheus. London: Oxford, 1818. Print....