Frankenstein Theme of Family

In Frankenstein, family becomes the counterpart to loneliness, which in turn is the primary impetus for evil. Family is seen as a solution to the destruction that the monster imposes on Victor. He wants a companion, a mate, a person to create for him some anchor in the social world. Further complicating the issue of family are the deaths of parents and children that occur so frequently throughout the book. With all these children dying, the symbolic suggestion is that the future is threatened. In the case of Frankenstein, it is threatened by the new world that Shelley envisions. When the text is taken in the context of its history (the rapid scientific changes occurring during the Industrial Revolution), these symbolic deaths of the past and future gain significance.

Questions About Family

1. What is the significance of the peasant family in relation to the rest of the story?
2. Why is it important that Walton is writing letters to his sister? Would the action have held different significance if he were writing to his wife or a friend? (Think about the other sister figures in this text, as well as the other wife or lover figures.)
3. William’s death foreshadows further tragedy in the book. But does it also have meaning in the sense that William is Victor’s brother? Why is it the brother that’s the first to go?
4. This might help with the above question. Then again it might not. Does the monster want to take on a brother role, or a son role, or some other kind of role relative to his creator?

Chew on This

Try on an opinion or two, start a debate, or play the devil’s advocate.

Victor’s mother’s death is the impetus for his creating the monster. Because such an event was beyond his control, Victor is morally exonerated from responsibility for the tragedy that follows.

Walton’s need for a friend mirror’s the need the monster has for a mate. Indeed, the relationships that Shelley portrays are blind to the sex of the characters, dependent on function and not on gender.