Discuss the Significance of Father Figures in Frankenstein
Discuss the significance of father-figures in Frankenstein
Frankenstein is a story of science gone dreadfully amiss. Shelley offers depth and meaning to Frankenstein by presenting (sometimes covertly so) insinuations of failed father and son relationships littered throughout the story. The most obvious relationship in this story is that between Victor Frankenstein and his monster, however, there are other characters in the story that present themselves as father-figures. In this essay, I will endeavour to discuss not only the significance of the familial relationship between Victor Frankenstein and his creature, but that of Victor and Alphonso Frankenstein, Henry Clerval and his father amongst others.
As Allen notes, the most obvious parallel between creator and creature in Shelley's Frankenstein is that of God and Adam in the opening chapters of Genesis in the Bible (Reading Frankenstein, 2006, p.71). The creature himself actually compares himself more to Satan however saying, "I ought to be thy Adam; but I am rather the fallen angel"(p.77). However as Thompson points out, there are veiled references to the Biblical Adam's eldest son Cain (Thompson, Shelleys Frankenstein, 2006) who was seen as a misfit, rebelliously so and more importantly the first murderer, sentenced to wander the earth, without his father or family and outcast until the end of days (in the same manner as the monster, it wasn't until he had taken the life of William Frankenstein, that his fate was sealed).
As Victor was in the laboratory in process of creating this monster, he envisioned himself to be the creator and source of a new species. Enthusing in his role of creature-creator, a fertile parent (Bentley, Family, Humanity, Polity: Theorizing the Basis and Boundaries of Political Community in Frankenstein, 2005 p.338) to innumerable progeny (not shying away from the benefits of parental responsibility) he meaningfully says, "No father could claim the gratitude of his child so completely
Frankenstein is a story of science gone dreadfully amiss. Shelley offers depth and meaning to Frankenstein by presenting (sometimes covertly so) insinuations of failed father and son relationships littered throughout the story. The most obvious relationship in this story is that between Victor Frankenstein and his monster, however, there are other characters in the story that present themselves as father-figures. In this essay, I will endeavour to discuss not only the significance of the familial relationship between Victor Frankenstein and his creature, but that of Victor and Alphonso Frankenstein, Henry Clerval and his father amongst others.
As Allen notes, the most obvious parallel between creator and creature in Shelley's Frankenstein is that of God and Adam in the opening chapters of Genesis in the Bible (Reading Frankenstein, 2006, p.71). The creature himself actually compares himself more to Satan however saying, "I ought to be thy Adam; but I am rather the fallen angel"(p.77). However as Thompson points out, there are veiled references to the Biblical Adam's eldest son Cain (Thompson, Shelleys Frankenstein, 2006) who was seen as a misfit, rebelliously so and more importantly the first murderer, sentenced to wander the earth, without his father or family and outcast until the end of days (in the same manner as the monster, it wasn't until he had taken the life of William Frankenstein, that his fate was sealed).
As Victor was in the laboratory in process of creating this monster, he envisioned himself to be the creator and source of a new species. Enthusing in his role of creature-creator, a fertile parent (Bentley, Family, Humanity, Polity: Theorizing the Basis and Boundaries of Political Community in Frankenstein, 2005 p.338) to innumerable progeny (not shying away from the benefits of parental responsibility) he meaningfully says, "No father could claim the gratitude of his child so completely
Bibliography: Bentley, C. (2005) "Family, Humanity, Polity: Theorizing the Basis and Boundaries of Political Community in Frankenstein", Criticism Volume 47, Number 3, Summer, pp.325-351 Claridge, LP. (1985) "Parent-Child Tensions in Frankenstein: The Search for Communion", Studies in the Novel 17 (1985): pp.14-26 Ellis, K. ‘Monsters in the Garden: Mary Shelley and the Bourgeois Family ', in GL Levine and UC Knoepflmacher (1982), The Endurance of Frankenstein Essays on Mary Shelley 's Novel, University of California Press, pp.123-142. Knoepflmacher, UC. ‘Thoughts on the Aggression of Daughters ' in GL Levine and UC Knoepflmacher (1982), The Endurance of Frankenstein Essays on Mary Shelley 's Novel, University of California Press, pp.88-119. Shelley, M (1993) Frankenstein: 1818 Text, ed. By M Butler, Oxford, Oxford University Press. Thompson, TW. (2006) "Shelley 's Frankenstein" Explicator, Winter pp.81-84. Walder, D (ed) (1995) The Realist Novel, London, Routledge