Frankenstein by Mary Shelley - Essay Example

World Literature 29 September Frankenstein by Mary Shelley Frankenstein is a literary masterpiece written by Mary Shellyand released in 1818 (Cobley and Shelley 6). In the novel, a youthful scientist known as Victor Frankenstein creates a monster from assembled body parts of dead bodies. The monster grows to despise itself and generates a lot of hatred toward its creator. In order to hurt him, the monster kills several people close to his creator, Victor, including his wife Elizabeth. The story is horrific in every sense of the word, and to have had such imaginations, Mary Shelley must have had various psychological issues. Mary Shelley herself went through many tragic moments from the time of her birth; her mother lost her life while she was still an infant, her father who was left with the responsibility of raising her single-handedly turned his back on her, she lost three of her children during their infancy, and her husband Percy died in very mysterious and tragic circumstances. All these personal worries and fears are what are really portrayed in the novel (Mullen “Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley,” ocw.nd.edu). Certainly, Mary Shelly suffered from identity issues, which are clearly reflected in her famous novel, Frankenstein. Among the major psychological issues that Mary was battling with and that unfolded in her literary work was the death of her mother. According to Almond, “the loss of her mother is her deepest psychological issue, certainly her earliest” (61). Difficulties understanding why her mother left must have bombarded Mary’s mind from a very tender age. She must have wondered what wrong she did for her mother to leave her. Questions like: did I indirectly have a hand in my mother’s death? Are some children so monstrous that even their begetters reject them? (this issue must have been compounded by the fact that even after being aware of his sole responsibility to take care of her, her father turned his back on her ), how can a mother abandon her child, could she have been such a monster? (The same case applies to a father and in Mary’s case, her father, Mr. William Godwin). These thoughts must have been followed by wishes to bring her mother back to life, if given the chance. In fact, “Mary wrote in her journal about a dream of rubbing the life back into her dead baby; her fantasy of restoring life to her mother became Victor Frankenstein’s passion” (Ellis 11). Pereira points out that the way that her father treated her and his self centered characteristic represents some of the horrors that take place between single parents, especially fathers, and their children (“Frankenstein as Mary Shelley’s Autobiography” stjohns-chs.org). This is the other psychological issue in Mary’s life that led to the creation of her novel. Such horrors of relationships are all reflected in her work. Almond highlights some thoughts from a number of critics that might explain Mary’s motivation in writing such a ghastly story; for example, “a feminist critic , Anne Mellor, contends that Frankenstein is a book about what happens when a man tries to have a baby without a woman ; that is, what happens when maternal presence is missing” (61). In Mary’s case, despite siring her, he was unable to absolutely give her life; he was unable to be both a mother and father to her and ended up contributing in destroying her life. To her father, Mary was a guilty secret that he had no empathy for or for its needs. This scenario matches that of Victor and the monster he created in the story; he felt guilty for creating such a monster and about the deaths it caused, since he felt that he had a stake in it. Another fact is that despite being the one who created the monster and gave it life, he did not care for it. Other critics speculate the possibility of incest that might have caused Mary’s identity problems. Katherine Hill-Miller, another feminist critic “sees the novel as a disguised story of father-daughter incest and makes a persuasive case, based on close reading of the text, for the presence of such a guilty secret” (Almond 61). It is quite true that the novel portrays some themes of incest. For example, Victor has feelings of passion towards his mother. Despite the fact that Mary Shelley never confessed any kind of harassment or sexual involvement with her father, there is quite a high possibility that he abused her. This kind of abuse and the many other things that Mary had gone through as a child and teenager must have generated an identity crisis in her life. She must have viewed her father as such a cruel monster. In many senses, the character of Victor in the story seems to reflect Godwin and Percy. Just like the two of them, Victor pursues interests of the intellect and neglects the other aspects and important people in his life. He is also very much like her mother, who abandoned her young child. The main motivation behind the grotesque acts committed by the monster is the feeling that its creator does not care. Mary’s miscarriages also had a psychological toll on her. She wished things happened differently and for a chance to possibly bring her children, and especially her first child back to life. According to Ginn, Mary reported dreaming of bringing back the life of the daughter she lost through premature birth in 1815 (“Mary Shelley's Frankenstein,” clas.ufl.edu). The disasters that happen in her novel are as a result of neglect. For example, the monster decides to revenge Victor’s neglect towards it despite being its creator, by killing those close to him. At some point in her life, Mary blamed her husband for the death of their son. Mary’s first pregnancy occurred when she was sixteen and Percy, the man responsible, was a married man. She however suffered a miscarriage later getting pregnant again at the age of eighteen and fortunately giving birth to the baby this time. Roszak mentions that “that summer, Percy hounded by creditors and an estranged wife, decided to flee into self-imposed exile. He took Mary and his new born son with him” (25). It was during this time that Mary’s son died and she ended up blaming it all on her husband. Throughout the time that Mary lived as a widow, she regretted causing the death of her husband. Ginn mentions that Mary suffered extreme feelings of guilt after the death of Percy, her husband (“Mary Shelley's Frankenstein,” clas.ufl.edu). She believed that he drowned himself following Mary’s constant blames upon him for the death of their son. Mary’s treatment towards her husband after the death of their son was very hostile. Mary suffered extreme guilt that she is believed not to have recovered from, for the many years she lived as a widow. Just like the case of her mother and children, Mary wished to bring her husband back to life. These scenarios best reflect in her novel where Victor is said to have created a living creature from body parts of dead people. Most of the people Mary wished to be with were dead, and all she could do was to create imaginations of bringing them back to life, despite having died in reality. In the novel, despite being a fictitious character, Victor suffers from a serious psychological illness that characterizes Mary’s life in many ways. His problem was never solved and over the years, his mental condition deteriorated. In Mary’s case, losing her mother at such a tender age required extra caution from her father, in order to mold a good future for her. He however never paid attention to the situation and ended up neglecting her and her sister after marrying another woman. Victor’s parents are partly to blame for ignoring some facts, such as objectifying a human being and showing their son that another human being could easily belong to him. This can be seen at the moment Victor’s mother introduced her to him telling him that she was his pretty present (Thibeault “The Psyche of Victor Frankenstein,” voices.yahoo.com). The fact that Victor married Elizabeth, his cousin must have generated a crisis within his mind as he fought about with how to treat Elizabeth and how to see her; in this case, as a cousin or a wife. If it is true that Mary was sexually exploited by her biological father as it is speculated, she must have gotten lost in her own world wondering how a father would engage in sex with her daughter and how to view him. Being intellectual heroes, Mary’s parents can be viewed as having created an intellectual monster by the name Mary (Hayes “Similarities between Author and Creation,” voices.yahoo.com). She was their own creation that they later abandoned just like Victor creates his monster and abandons it. The monster in the story must have represented the isolation that Mary suffered, especially as a result of her father marrying a second wife. Another aspect that portrays the novel as a reflection of Mary’s life is the existence of an affectionate family in the story, who took the creature in and for the first time, the creature felt loved (Hayes “Similarities between Author and Creation,” voices.yahoo.com). In the story, the creature mentions of having been struck by the humane manners of the De Lacey family, and for the short while it lived with them, it was very happy. When her father sent her to Scotland to prevent further wrangles with her step-mother, Mary had to learn to live with people that she did not know. This however turned to be the happiest and best moments of her life. This is because unlike her broken family, this family was united and treated her with so much affection. The Baxter family was the complete opposite of the Godwin family. In this kind of portrayal, Mary portrays the unhappiness that arises from a divided home and the happiness that arises from a united home, something that she experienced firsthand. The dates mentioned in the novel further reinforce the idea that it was a reflection of Mary’s life. For example, the periods during which she wrote her novel and got her third pregnancy match the dates of the letters in the novel. The year of the creation of the monster mentioned in the novel is the same year Mary was born and concludes in early September 1851, which was two days before Mary died (Pereira “Frankenstein as Mary Shelley’s Autobiography.” stjohns-chs.org). In conclusion, the novel Frankenstein is a reflection of Mary’s life and a twist of what she went through since childhood. Her tragic life revolved around the themes of life and death, which are still the major themes in her novel. It is clear that birth and death are astoundingly tangled in Frankenstein the novel and the life of Mary Shelley (Levine and Knoepflmacher 84). Works Cited Almond, Barbara. The Monster Within: The Hidden Side of Motherhood. California: University of California Press, 2010. Print. Cobley, Jason and Mary Shelley. Frankenstein. Towcester: Classical Comics Ltd., 2008. Print. Ellis, G. H. Re-Membering Frankenstein: Healing the Monster in Every Man. Bloomington: AuthorHouse, 2011. Print. Ginn, Sherry. “Mary Shelley's Frankenstein: Science, Science Fiction, or Autobiography?” clas.ufl.edu. n.d. Web. 29 September 2013. Hayes, Kas. “Similarities between Author and Creation,” voices.yahoo.com. 3 October 2008. Web. 29 September 2013. Levine, George L. and U. C. Knoepflmacher. The Endurance of Frankenstein: Essays on Mary Shelley’s Novel. California: University of California Press, 1982. Print. Mullen, Scott. “Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley.” ocw.nd.edu. 2012. Web. 29 September 2013. Pereira, Karen. “Frankenstein as Mary Shelley’s Autobiography.” stjohns-chs.org. n.d. Web. 29 September 2013. Roszak, Theodore. The Gendered Atom: Reflections on the Sexual Psychology of Science. California: Conari Press, 1999. Print. Thibeault, Heather. “The Psyche of Victor Frankenstein,” voices.yahoo.com. 11 December 2009. Web. 29 September 2013.   Read More