Victor's Metamorphosis In Frankenstein

In the context of her childhood, the monster’s metamorphosis represents the alienation and subsequent disillusionment suffered by Shelley as both a woman and a daughter. Using her own emotions and experiences, Shelley likens the monster to a child; in doing so, she reveals many of her own fears and insecurities while also creating a visceral, tragic, and terrifying experience for the reader.

The vivid, dark imagery of the monster’s creation is used to emphasize Victor’s emotional and intellectual motherhood. This false maternity sets the stage for the future personification of the monster as a child. For instance, while Victor creates his creature, he is utterly consumed. "The summer months passed while I was thus engaged, heart and soul,

However, he still behaves like a child; unmarred and relatively pure, he is eager to explore his new world and seek the companionship of others. When the creature recounts his story, he has difficulty remembering the early days of his life, much like an adult has trouble recalling the distant memories of their childhood. "It is with considerable difficulty that [he remembers] the original era of [his] being; all the events of that period appear confused and indistinct… [He] saw, felt, heard, and smelt at the same time…” Still, he remembers feeling cold, frightened, and desolate after his abandonment. He was a “poor, helpless, miserable wretch; [he] knew, and could distinguish, nothing; but feeling pain invade [him] on all sides, [he] sat down and wept.” It is likely that Shelley poured her own emotions into this vivid scene of loneliness and disdain; her mother died after Shelley was born. "If a child may see a parent's death as a deliberate desertion, then she had been abandoned by her mother at birth just as the monster was abandoned by Frankenstein: thus, Shelley had Frankenstein do to the monster what she, on some unconscious level, may have felt Mary Wollstonecraft had done to her.” Furthermore, her father had estranged her recently at the time of her writing the novel. The fact that the monster’s experience parallels Shelley’s own childhood is evidence that the monster was meant to be personified in this way; as a

He finds pleasure in watching the Delaney’s interact with each other; he "longed to join [them], but dared not.” He also finds great joy in helping the family, at first. For instance, he cuts wood for them so that they don’t have to. "I observed, with pleasure, that he did not go to the forest that day, but spent it in repairing the cottage and cultivating the garden.” However, he is aware of his appearance; he knows that he is hideous, and he began to understand that he was alone. He observed and saw that nobody else was like him. He was a monstrosity and an abomination in this society. Despite this, he had hope. He "imagined that they would be disgusted, until, by [his] gentle demeanour and conciliating words, [he] should first win their favour and afterwards their love.” He is able to get the attention of the blind family member temporarily, but his optimism is crushed when the rest of the family shuns him. This rejection, combined with the abandonment the creature suffered earlier in the story, truly breaks the creature’s