The Importance Of Togetherness In Family In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

The Importance of Togetherness in Family in Frankenstein

In the Preface, Mary Shelley claims her work, Frankenstein, to portray “domestic affection.” (source) Many wouldn’t think so because of the obvious violent death that occurs. As it does paint a picture of a strong happy family through the DeLaceys, Frankenstein shows that Victor's parents' lack of guidance affected his morals and his actions later in life. The relationship of a family is important in the forming of a person. The lack of morals taught to the offspring leads them to discover on their own. While knowledge is a beautiful thing, knowledge is unbelievably dangerous, especially without proper guidance. Students have teachers for a reason, just as children desperately need parents.

It is obvious that Mary Shelley’s own troubled family relationships are strongly suggested through the relationships in Frankenstein. Mary herself was isolated and left without family. She had no present father figure, and her mother died four weeks after giving birth. This left Mary without healthy morals (as they relate to a relationship with a male), and is an obvious explanation of Mary’s choice of involving herself with “the psychotic, Percy Bysshe Shelley, who deserted his first wife, carried on sexual liaisons with a variety of women while blithering “Platonic” nonsense.” (Cervo 15) She draws attention to the parental responsibility to teach your offspring to correctly participate in society. Mary’s parental figures obviously affected her relationships, and she suffered for it. “Shelley seemed to be all the men in Mary’s mother’s life rolled up into one, the drunkenness of the ne’er-do-well grandfather taking the form of intoxication..” (Cervo 15) She suggests that isolation and...

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...e the same kind of attachment to their father as Felix does to his. The DeLacey’s have to work together and support each other; physically and emotionally. Through their poverty they grow closer, and there is a more apparent appreciation for what they do have. This is the kind of father son relationship that builds morals. Domestic affection is present and Felix can turn to his father for guidance.

The third father son relationship whose failure of a relationship was most detrimental to the story would be Victor and his creation. Finish Paragraph

Ultimately, the characters’ lack of morals led to their downfall. Every person’s individual childhood experience, or lack of one, was the detrimental factor to their mistakes. This all shows the human need of attention and guidance. Human interaction and strong moral based family structure is key to surviving in life.