Issues of Childhood in Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein&quo
Issues of Childhood in Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein"
In Frankenstein, Mary Shelley creates many differences between Victor Frankenstein and his creation, but simultaneously creates many parallels between the two. Victor's siblings and parents are perfect in his eyes and never deny him anything, whereas the creature is rejected by everyone who sees him from the moment he begins breathing. Despite these differences, both characters develop problems as adults based on these childhood experiences, which ultimately cause the death of others as well as their own. Although Victor's seemingly idyllic upbringing sharply contrasts with the creature's neglected "childhood," both of these scenarios lead to their mutual destruction.
While Victor experiences a seemingly ideal, but in truth, overindulgent childhood, the creature is faced with constant rejection from the moment he is given life despite his inherent warmth and compassion. From the beginning of their existence, the two grow up under completely different influences. Victor's parents respond to his birth as a gift from heaven, whereas from the moment the creature draws breath, Victor, his "father," abhors him. Indicating that as a child he never experienced unhappiness to any degree, Victor explains that his earliest memories are his "mother's tender caresses" and his father's "smile of benevolent pleasure while regarding [him]" (21). When the creature is "born," however, the first thing that happens to him is that his creator irrationally abandons the him in his state of innocence because he is "unable to endure the aspect of the being [he] had created" (49). While Victor's parent's view him as "their plaything and their idol...bestowed on them by Heaven" (21), Victor, denying his creature all of the love that he himself was fortunate enough to have, regards the monster as a "wretch" and a "miserable monster" (49). Shelley even uses parallel scenes where both Victor and the creature reach out for a parent's love and reassurance and meet opposite responses to demonstrate their differing childhood experiences. When the creature comes to life and he stretches out his hand in a natural attempt to receive affection, Victor teaches the monster that he cannot be loved by, instead of reciprocating his creation's innocent gesture, feeling the need to "escape" and taking "refuge" (49) from him. Even though the creature does not remember his creator's flight, his first recollections of being a "poor, helpless, miserable wretch" and "feeling pain invade [him] on all sides" (100) result from this traumatic...