Victor Frankenstein, a Bad Parent

Victor Frankenstein, a Bad Parent

When reading “Frankenstein” by Mary Shelley, the reader can assume at first glance that the novel is the story of a creature that was portrayed as a monster not only because of his hideous appearance but also because of all the atrocities that he perpetrated during his existence. As the story progresses, one can determine the reasons why the creature responded to his creator with revenge and hatred. He was abandon like children are abandoned when they are not wanted by their parents. They grow up without guidance and without the feeling of knowing that there’s someone who loves them unconditionally and accepts them for who they are. This is the way the creature felt, abandoned, as an orphan because Victor and everyone that cross him rejected him simply because of his physical appearance.

Would the story have had the same tragedy behind it if Victor had been a responsible and a nurturing parent as his parents were to him? Would the creature had murder all the people he murdered if he had been taught the difference between right and wrong and if his heart wasn’t filled with hatred towards his creator and all of those who rejected him? When the creature encounters Frankenstein after his brother’s death and after Justine’s wrongful execution for William’s murder, he assures Victor that he was a good person and his “soul was full of love and humanity…I ought to be Adam; but I am the fallen angel, whom thou drivest from joy for no misdeed” (Shelley 66) and explains that he changed only after being rejected and hated by everyone he’d encounter. He was supposed to be his most precious creation, like Adam was to God when he created him, instead Victor treated him like The Fallen Angel, referring to the Devil. The creature reminded Victor that if his own “father” couldn’t love him and accept him, what else could he had expect from the rest of the world; “what hope can I gather from your fellow-creatures, who owe me nothing?”(Shelley 66) Many children who are abandoned by their parents feel the same way. If the person that brought them to this world, their parents; the ones that were chosen by God to care for them, protect them and love them do anything but any of these things, any child could take the path that the creature took after experiencing this rejection. After all he was only a man physically, his brain and innocence was one of a child in the beginning.

When the creature begins to tell his story to Frankenstein, he confabulates about his first experiences on his own. The reader can conclude that at many points of his story he describes events that are childlike, for instance, “I tried to imitate the pleasant songs of the birds, but was unable” (Shelley 68). One can see the innocence in him, he was experiencing the world in a way a child would; the only difference was that he looked like a grown man. It is hard not to sympathize with the creature since all the atrocities he committed were the results of his experiences with other human beings. As he recalled some of his experiences with the world on his own, he tells the story of the family he watched for a long period of time while he was living in a cottage in the forest. This anecdote was particularly sad because he talks about a family who he later discovers that the only thing that makes them unhappy is the extreme poverty that they live in. They are generally happy, but there are days when they don’t have enough food for everyone.

He is amazed by the unselfishness of Agatha and Felix because when there’s not enough food for everyone, they don’t hesitate to give the only food left to their blind father. He is so touched by their kindness that he decides to help in any way that he can. He begins to bring wood to their cottage without their knowledge and wishes he could do more, as it turns out, he begins to feel as part of the family and he is deeply affected by their problems. He often imagines and practices how he would present himself to them. He figures that at first they would be frighten by his appearance but they’ll soon see his goodness and eventually learn to love him. He begins to teach himself to talk, read, and learns about how a family works. He learns about how a mother cares for her children, brothers, sisters and the bonds that bind one human being to another (Shelley 81). He is saddened by the thought of the family he’s never had, but what truly hurts him is the rejection of this family, that he considered his own. When he finally works up the courage to present himself to the family he had considered his own for so long, their rejection literally breaks his heart. He is devastated and frustrated after this and begins to feel hatred towards them, but primarily towards his creator, Victor.

It was only after this horrible experience with humans that the creature set out to find Frankenstein, he was filled with hatred and wanted to find him and confront him because he blamed Victor for everything he was going through. When he encountered William, his intention was not to hurt him, but to make him his companion. He figured that because he was a young and innocent child, he would pass his physical appearance. It was only when William claimed to be related to Frankenstein that he wanted to hurt the child; he exclaimed “I, too, can create desolation; my enemy is not impregnable; this death will carry despair to him, and a thousand other miseries shall torment and destroy him” (Shelley 97).

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