Life's a Mother!

         

         After the death of Victor's own mother Caroline, the mourning he feels never really subdues and upon close analysis it can be noticed that he possibly transfers this lost love upon other characters in the Frankenstein.Could it be that Victor's plight and tragic death were ultimately due to his lack of a maternal figure? I think this is exactly what Shelley is trying to stress. Never, throughout the novel is there an emphasis on Victor’s parents in his actions yet this absence pouts emphasis on their role in his actions. It's really weird how each character in Shelley's narrative plays an entirely alternate familiar role to another character in the story. First, let’s explore some background on Frankenstein's mother before death. In Frankenstein, Victor's mother is rarely mentioned;however, she is made a relevant and significant character through her absence in the plot of the story. She could portray the emptiness and hollowness within Victor and could be one of the triggers to fill some void with careless, useless knowledge and a tragic desire to participate in creation. Whoa! I just had an Aha! moment right now!! Okay, so let me gather my thoughts. We see how quickly victor turns on the creature after it is brought to life. he despises the very site of the "fiendish" being he himself instilled life upon. Following, the monster's journey throughout the story, we see the human qualities surface and how despite an unnatural conception, the creature still yearns for the same type of nurture as human children do yet Victor refuses to draw parallels with his creature and act as this father figure. Now, here is where I begin to make my point. Back to the author, Mary Shelley was born to Mary Wollstonecraft, a feminist. As an advocate for women's right, Wollstonecraft wrote her most famous work A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. Now, back to Shelley. The author had to be influenced by her mother’s views on feminism and women’s roles in society. Thus, throughout the story, Mary Shelley could be commenting/stressing the significance of women in society, the nurture process, and in a person’s being. So, this likely explains Victor’s lack of tenderness, empathy, compassion, and common sense really. For Christ’s sake, he creates a creature that eventually metaphorically kills him! Could all this be because Victor was not under the influence of a female, maternal figure? Shelley is saying that women are essential in the healthy being and thoughtful existence of man and even survival. Shelley might be stressing the imbalance of human beings without appropriate maternal interference and also the intrepid nature of male counterparts. Now that I have established my former point, I think Victor displaces/transfers this ill directed love and longing towards Elizabeth, his cousin-sister type person…who he marries…kind of(??). Elizabeth very much takes over the maternal role that Frankenstein lost from his mother’s death. However, later in the development of the novel, Elizabeth’s death can be interpreted as revenge because it was her illness that Caroline was struck by. To be continued…