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Caitlyn Sehl
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Frankenstein’s Daddy Issues
“It was on a dreary night of November, that I beheld the accomplishment of my
toils.” In the original version of Frankenstein, these were the opening words. There is no
better way to start a story. It sets the dark and eerie mood that helps to keep the reader
interested. The way the book is constructed reflects the genius of Mary Shelley. The
added background before the original beginning adds complexity to the novel. The extra
chapters give the reader a better sense of the characters, especially Victor. With them and
their motivations the reader can sense the troubles that occur between him and his father,
Alphonse. Throughout the book Victor and Alphonse go through challenging times and
find it difficult to see eye to eye on certain things. When Victor creates his monster, we
see another father/son relationship go through similar problems. Shelley makes the
father/son dynamic in this novel difficult and realistic that reflect the encounters with
father’s, including the dynamic with Mr. Delancey.
The reader first sees the dynamic between Alphonse and Victor when the former
heads off to fetch Elizabeth from her own father. At this point, Victor is an only child,
doted upon by his parents. When another child is added to the family it is not easy for
anyone; but in this instance she all too suddenly appeared in Victor’s life; he wasn’t
given warning, as he would have received with a baby. Moreover, he and Elizabeth never
knew each other, but she now takes his place as the center of his parents’ universe.
Victor’s parents never took into account how having a new ‘sister’ would make Victor
react:
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My father did not hesitate, and immediately went to Italy that he might
accompany the little Elizabeth to her future home. I have often heard my
mother say, that she was at that time the most beautiful child she had ever
seen, and shewed signs even then of a gentle and affectionate disposition.
These indications, and a desire to bind as closely as possible the ties of
domestic love, determined my mother to consider Elizabeth as my future
wife; a design which she never found reason to repent. (pg 19)
The added pressure of possible betrothal must have overwhelmed young Victor. At this
point he doesn’t know her and is probably quite resentful towards her. He feels as if he
has been replaced by her, and no one cares. There is even more confusion and room for
jealousy and resentment when he sees that everyone loves her so much. He presumes as if
he should as well, which on some level he does, but only because affection towards
Elizabeth was expected. Both of his parents talk about how she would make a wonderful
bride and he is supposed to accept that as reason enough for a future marriage. Due to his
feelings of displacement and resentment in the family, Victor took up other interests and
began his studies, some of which his father did not agree with.
Alphonse calls the works of Cornelius Agrippa “sad trash,” which just fueled
Victor’s interest in the field. If his father had sat him down and explained to him flaws in
alchemy and the strength in modern science, Victor said he would have been no longer
interested in alchemy’s errors (pg 21). The interest in alchemy was only the beginning of
the decline in the relationship between the two.
Once Victor’s mother dies the father and son dynamic becomes worse. His
mother was what kept the family together; without her Victor faded into the background.
He was choosing a different path than his father had wanted for him. He was not
interested in taking the classes his father wanted him to take at university. His father had
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a certain idea as to what he wanted his son to be, but Victor wanted to do something
fantastic. He wanted to do something that would set him apart from everyone else. He
wanted to leave a mark on the world and help people realize that some things are
possible, even if they are improbable.
The fact that everyone in Victor’s household goes on with their everyday lives
after the passing of his mother is just shocking. One cannot expect the world to stop
whilst they grieve, but just dusting themselves off and saying ‘oh, we must get on with
our lives’ does not cut it. If they did not live in such a hide-bound society, the display of
grief would have been acceptable. Victor should have taken time off and grieved
properly. He would not have suffered the repressed desire of wanting to bring the dead,
maybe his “mummy,” back to life.
When Victor creates his monster he realizes what he has actually done. But it was
almost as if he was in a trance while creating the monster. He was obsessed with trying to
prove his father wrong, and with wanting to recreate dead human matter. When he finally
did, he realized he had created a monster and that is not what he has intended. He wanted
to create someone that he could love and that would love him; only half of that dream
came true:
His [the creature’s] jaws opened, and he muttered some inarticulate
sounds, while a grin wrinkled his cheeks. He might have spoken, but I did
not hear; one hand was stretched out, seemingly to detain me, but I
escaped, and rushed down stairs. I took refuge in the court-yard belonging
to the house which I inhabited; where I remained during the rest of the
night… (pg 35)
This scene brings up several different problems. The fact that the monster seems to be
reaching out to his creator, his father, in a childlike manner seems to scare Victor almost
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as much as the monster’s actual appearance. He knows the monster is ugly but it is the
fact that he created it that scares him the most. Since he can create that, what else is he
capable of? Victor flees because he cannot face what he has done and what it implies.
When the reader hears the story from the monster, it is quite different from
Victor’s. We hear how the monster does not understand why his creator left. He feels
abandoned by his ‘father,’ just as Victor felt his father abandoned him when he was
replaced by Elizabeth. The reader also gets a minor father/son encounter when the
monster tells of William’s murder. The reader is also introduced to a family that the
monster views from afar as he hides in the mountains. They add a bit more to the story
than one could guess at a glance. The monster takes a liking to them because of the way
they interact with each other and the names they are called. He seems most attached to
the father in the family and it’s not hard to see why:
I learned also the names of the cottagers themselves. The youth and his
companion had each of them several names, but the old man had only one,
which was father. (pg 75)
The monster had been watching this family for some time and felt as if he was a
part of it. If he talked to the father first he thought he could convince the father that he
wasn’t all bad. Since the father was blind, it was easy enough to get into the house. If the
children hadn’t come back and seen what the father could not, the monster could have
been successful in becoming the father’s friend (pp 90-1). This is what ultimately lead to
the death of little William. The monster could not accept another person rejecting him
because of his appearance. William was all alone and had told the monster that he would
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not be leaving with him. The monster snapped and attacked. Little William never stood a
chance.
When Victor finally tracks down the monster to talk to him, he gets more than he
bargained for. He wanted to know why the monster killed his younger brother but he was
not prepared for everything. Once the monster got to this point in his story, Victor
realized that nothing could have changed what had happened. The monster wanted
William to be his child. He wanted someone to care for and someone to care for him. He
needed someone to love him unconditionally and he thought a child would be perfect.;
because most children have not completely formed biases, so the monster might have still
had a chance to find a companion if he brought that child up to love him.
‘Suddenly, as I gazed on him, an idea seized me, that this little creature
was unprejudiced, and had lived too short a time to have imbibed a horror
of deformity. If, therefore, I could seize him, and educate him as my
companion and friend, I should not be so desolate in this peopled earth.
Urged by this impulse, I seized on the boy as he passed, and drew before
him towards me. As soon as he beheld my form, he placed his hands
before his eyes, and uttered a shrill scream:’ (pg 96)
When William screamed the monster panicked. He knew after that the boy would not
leave with him but he still tried reasoning with the child. The monster wanted to love
someone and he thought William could be that person. When he heard the boy say he was
a Frankenstein he knew he could not let him go-he saw red and attacked. He felt as if he
had had his one chance at happiness and company with this little boy but it was taken
from the mosnster because of his ‘father.’ If William had not been a Frankenstein things
might have been different. He might have been willing to go with the monster or the
monster might have let him leave. Either way it was Victor’s fault for creating the
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monster then abandoning him after his ‘birth.’ He set up the events that were to follow.
By abandoning his creation, his son, he programmed that monster to hate and fear; to hate
those who reject him and to fear their reactions to his appearance. This proved to be the
downfall for the entire Frankenstein family.
Having a father figure is an important part in growing up. If anything alters the
relationship between child and father things could turn out quite differently than
imagined. Especially between a father and a son because they are meant to live up to the
standards set by the father. The first born son is always the most stressful position to be
in, especially set in this time period. They were meant to take over the family business no
matter what their dreams were.
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Caitlyn Sehl
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Work Cited
Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. New York: Norton, 1996.
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