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Frankenstein: Frankenstein's Role Of Being A Father

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Victor Frankenstein is an intelligent Genevese (Shelley 18) and as a student of the university of Ingolstadt (25) discovers how to give life to substances. With this knowledge, and full of enthusiasm, Frankenstein proceeds to create a new being. Shortly after finishing his venture, ''breathless horror and disgust'' fill his heart (36), and Frankenstein regrets his undertaking. But what he does not understand is that he created a new living entity. A living individual, created in a laboratory, that is the only one of its kind in the whole world. Not having any biological parents, it lacks a parental figure. This essay argues in which way Frankenstein fails in his role of being a father. Frankenstein is so much distracted by the anxiety of his …show more content…

However, Frankenstein quickly reveals that he is unwilling to proficiently fulfill his role as a parental figure for his creation. At the beginning, Frankenstein is highly excited and looking forward to finishing his creation, but, when the monster is finally complete, he does not want it anymore. Instead, he jumps over the chairs, claps his hands, and laughs aloud when the monster is gone (Shelley 39). Next, Jean Campion points out that ''[t]he young of all species need adult figures to care for them, protect them and introduce them into the rules of the group or society in which they live'' (21). Indeed, Frankenstein is the creator of the monster, and therefore, is responsible for it and should care for it like a father. But on the contrary, he abandons his creation, and even spurns it. For this reason, this newly created living being has to nurture and educate itself. For example, it does not know which species it belongs to, therefore it tries to ''imitate the pleasant songs of the birds'' to no avail (Shelley 71). As a newly formed being, the creature greatly needs the help and support of a parental figure, but there is none and as a consequence, for instance, it learns how to speak by observing a family (77). To sum up, Frankenstein should rightfully be responsible for caring for his creation, but instead, he is more than happy to be rid of it. He neglects to teach the creature how to get along in the world, …show more content…

First of all, the monster feels solitary and ''people experience loneliness as a sort of vertigo or a lack of color to life'' (Hancock 5). The monster is utterly isolated from the rest of the world. Every human being is afraid of it or tries to attack it (Shelley 73). It is ''not even of the same nature as man'' (83) and feels ''wretched, helpless, and alone'' (90). Even its creator turns away from it (91). The creature has no home, longs for love (103), and wants his creator to construct a second one of its species (101). Frankenstein agrees and the creature trusts him. But then, right before the finalization of the second creation, Frankenstein hesitates and ultimately refuses to complete the venture. The monster is desperate and cries: ''Shall each man […] find a wife for his bosom and each beast have his mate, and I be alone?'' (120). It not only threatens, but also promises revenge, and as a result, it seems, that of a sudden, all good attributes of the creature disappear (120). In brief, the loneliness, betrayal, and disappointment of the monster frustrate its last best hope for a pleasant life. Now, the only thing the monster can think of is

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