Essay 3 rough draft

Motherless

Mary Shelley’s 1818 version of “Frankenstein” was a thought provoking read for me. I continually had to focus on the time in which it was written and the scientific progress of that era. With that consideration I was able to see why this book was so controversial, popular and pivotal. I still do not have a clear understanding as to horror novels at the time. It is said that “Frankenstein” was a very scary book in its time, at least that was Shelley’s intent, but I did not find it to be so. It is a gothic, romantic novel about the scientific creation and abandonment of life. A theme that I continually noticed being represented in Shelley’s novel is of the motherless.
Many of the key characters in this novel are or appear to be motherless. Elizabeth’s mother died while Elizabeth was just an infant. Victor’s father, out of a gracious heart, took in a girl named Justine to live with them as a servant. Through cruelty and neglect she was dis-owned by her mother. One by one all of Justine’s siblings had died. Out of guilt and remorse Justine was called home to care for her ailing mother who would eventually die, leaving Justine motherless. Another important character in Shelley’s novel is Henry Clerval. There is no mention of Clerval not having a mother, so it would be unwise to assume that he did not. However, Henry’s father is mentioned as being “ well pleased that he should find associates at our house” ( Shelley, pg. 21). In this we see that Clerval spends a great deal of his time with the Frankenstein family, as if it is a better environment for him than his own home. The DeLacey family in Germany also appear to be without a motherly figure. They are a family outcaste from their native lands to live in exile in an unfamiliar country. This is where Victors created monster finds hidden refuge and learns the way and customs of human nature including speech. Even though the beast is a hidden guest to the DeLaceys, he develops a yearning for their affection. Through the story involved around the DeLacey’s we see that there is two very young adults, brother and sister to each other, and an old blind man. There is no mention of the mother figure in this family but it seems clear that she is not a part of their lives. That last motherless figure I feel important to note is that of Victor’s creation. This hideous creation comes to life and is instantly abandoned by its creator. Much like Mary Shelley herself, who’s mother died while giving her life, this beast is completely devoid of any motherly love, affection, and tenderness important to newly acquired life. It is this connection to her own life that Shelley is trying to capture. 
Mary Shelley began writing Frankenstein at the age of 18. She was also pregnant at this time with her first child, that would die soon after birth. Coincidentally, she spent the next five years of her life pregnant, nursing and rearing. All the while she continued to read and write. It was at this influential time in her life that she began creation in life, as well as in fiction. This would cause her to come to terms and analyze her own feelings of abandonment through the death of her mother. Ellen Moers writes 
… nothing so sets her apart [Mary Shelley] from the generality of writers of her own time, and before, and for long afterward, than her early and chaotic experience, at the very time she became an author, with motherhood. Pregnant at sixteen, and almost constantly pregnant throughout the following five years; yet not a secure mother, for she lost most of her babies soon after they were born; and not a lawful mother, for she was not married- not at least when, at the age of eighteen, Mary Godwin [Shelley] began to write Frankenstein. So are monsters born. (Moers pg. 216- 217).  
These thoughts of motherhood and abandonment would lead to Mary creating Victor Frankenstein, who in popular, public and literary thoughts would be known as a mad scientist. This mad scientist, whose early self education would lead him to what is considered occult type beliefs and unproven scientific theories, would then create a ghastly beast and abandon his demon child upon. In Frankenstein Victor says “ Unable to endure the aspect of the being I had created, I rushed out of the room”. (Shelley, pg. 34). I feel that this is one of the most powerful passages in the book. Unable to deal with the consequences of his ghastly creation, repulsed by life he has given and dreadful of the dramatic situation he has created Victor flees, leaving his child forever nameless, shamed, grotesque and abandoned. Possibly a direct correlation how Shelly felt at first feeling abandoned by her own mother, even though she died at birth, it may cause one to have feeling of shame and remorse, in that though life was given, it was also taken. Secondly it is an indication of Shelley giving life to a baby that would be born ill and only live a short time. 
Mary Shelley herself would read her famous mothers literature while growing up. This used as an opportunity to get to know her birth mother. This is similar to Victors beast first seeking the love and affection of the De Lacey’s, in an attempt to feel wanted and accepted in this world. The beast, upon rejection of the De Lacey family, seeks his birth creator for validation in this cruel world. The beast studies Victor and compiles evidence indicating that Victor was repulsed at the site of his life given and ran to avoid the necessities of accepting his mistaken scientific ideals and inability to cope with the accident he created. Victor says in his narration that “ The different accidents in life are not so changeable as the feelings of human nature” ( Shelley pg. 34). Essentially he is saying that life’s accidents cannot be changed as easily as our feelings can. Though he knew he could change his feelings toward the beast, he knew that he could not change the accidents of his inappropriate studies and his complete embrace towards the decrepit and unproven sciences that led to the creation of a hideous demon. Written in “ Mary Shelley’s Monstrous Eve” is that “ Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin read her mother’s writing over and over again as she was growing up” ( Gilbert/Gubar pg. 227). This in an attempt to know Shelley’s creator, much like the beast did an attempt to know Victor. Gilbert and Gubar would also write that Mary would read the reviews of the posthumous works of her mother. These reviews would be negative and state that Mary’s mother was “a philosophical wanton and a monster, while her ‘Vindication of the Rights of women’ (Wardle 1792) was called “A scripture, archly fram’d for propagating w[hore]s”. ( Gilbert/ Gubar pg. 227). This had to be very troubling for Mary to read knowing that her mother, who was a feminist writer, as well as an advocate for women’s rights, died upon giving her birth. Mary would often go to her mothers grave to read, study and for pleasurable, sexual affairs with Percey Shelley. This is an indicator of a lost child trying to know, feel and love a mother who gave her own life to give life.
Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein as a source of amusement between friends and fellow authors, it was proposed that each write a ghost story, coincidentally Mary was the only one to complete this challenge. Ironically it became one of the most prolific and popular novels of all time. As the evidence presented suggests Mary had tied the mutant character in her story to herself as a way of telling her own personal story.  Mary was born to two authors who’s works were widely popular and were considered two of the finest authors of the times. One could only assume that their children would also be very involved in literature and would one day become as widely popular as the parents. The death of Mary’s mother at her birth would again shape the child’s destiny. This would cause Mary to spend her upbringing studying her mothers works and create a very unified, loving father, daughter bond. It is no wonder that Mary’s first literature work would become wildly successful for generations to come and that Mary would use the opportunity to tell her own story of longing to be accepted by her mother.


Works Cited
Shelley, Mary “Frankenstein” A Norton Critical Edition. Copyright 1996 W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.
Moers, Ellen “Female Gothic: The Monster’s Mother”, in “Frankenstein” A Norton Critical Edition. Copyright 1996 W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.
Shelley, Mary. Page 34 “Frankenstein” A Norton Critical Edition. Copyright 1996 W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. 
Shelley, Mary. Page 34 “Frankenstein” A Norton Critical Edition. Copyright 1996 W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. 
Gilbert, Sandra M. / Gubar, Susan Page 227 “Mary Shelley’s Monstrous Eve” in “Frankenstein” A Norton Critical Edition. Copyright 1996 W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. 
Wardle, Ralph. Mary Wollstonecraft ( Lincoln Neb.: University of Nebraska Press, 1951) p. 322 in “Frankenstein” A Norton Critical Edition. Copyright 1996 W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. p. 227