Part C: Exploration Of Parenting

I think Mary Shelley's message on parenting is quite self explanatory in the novel. Without proper nurturing and motherly love, nature automatically takes control and a being who grows up in the turmoil of mother nature will naturally do what it has to do to survive. The murders committed by the creature are defined as pure evil by society. In nature there is no such thing as evil, only need.

Victor Frankenstein grew up for the majority of his childhood without a mother. He was left alone to his studies and research and denied the proper nurturing even a seventeen year old needs. His desire for knowledge eventually pulled him away from his father and family so he continued to grow among a thirsty greed rather than the things that matter most when growing up. I believe without any guidance and hardly any friendship, Victor was blind to the dangers of what he was meddling in. Only when he succeeded in his mission did he realize the significance of what he had done and this leads us to our second parenting relationship in the novel.

"His 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 downstairs." This quote was by Victor in the first moments of the creatures life. He describes its actions as an attempt to harm him when, is it so absurd to suggest the creature was simply reaching out to its creator? Its mother? Victor left his creation to fend for itself as he traveled back to Geneva only to return to the scene of a murder. He describes the murder as vile, evil and monstrous...but not natural. For the tiger to kill another in the forest is what is required to survive and the creature did just that. Its actions would have been different and more peaceful if it had been educated and properly raised but it hadn't been and that was the consequence that Victor was faced with.

Everything in modern day society resolves around education. Without an education, you are useless in life. Too much of an education leads us back to the idea of dangerous knowledge, which was acquired by Victor. If he had more of a caring and thoughtful parentage, he probably would never have resolved to locking himself away in books and laboratories. The creature however grew up with no education and guidance so it had no way to distinguish between what was right and wrong in society. When he was able to educate himself from the help of the De Lacey's, the creature was knowledgeable enough to fit into society if it were not for the repulsiveness of his appearance.