Map of Minor Characters
TechnoRomanticism (Engl. 149)
Web Version: http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dcj7wc8j_25dhvpsfg9
Click on a character's name to read the Character Analysis
| Character | Analysis |
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To the Creature, Agatha embodies beauty. Indeed, even the name “Agatha” means beautiful. She enters the Creature’s life as a plain, fair-haired, gentle milkmaid. The Creature notes that Agatha’s hair is “plaited, but not adorned,” and that she seems “incommoded by the burden” of her milk pail (FR 79). This simple yet strong image of domestic beauty captures the Creature’s heart: “the gentle manners of the girl enticed [his] love” (80). Although Felix is referred to as “son,” Agatha is not called “daughter” (83). While there may be several reasons for this asymmetry, (among them are Mary Shelley’s own rejection from her father, and the potential complexities of Agatha’s birth, i.e. illegitimate, adopted, step-daughter, etc.) she simply does not fit the role of “daughter.” Agatha is much more than that to the De Lacey family; she is more like a mother. As she spends most of her time either “arranging the cottage” or preparing meals, Agatha fills the mommy role in the De Lacey family. She is their Hestia, goddess of the hearth. Agatha seeks to uphold those traits so honored by her father, “brotherly love and charity” (102). Indeed, “the poor that stopped at their door were never driven away” (100). In an act of selfless restraint, Agatha hides her sadness in order to cheer her father, even when Felix continues to stew in his melancholy (84). She treats her father as her child, choosing to go hungry while offering their meager meal to her father (82). This is a pivotal moment for the Creature: he begins to gain empathy and stops stealing food from the family. Since the Creature is on a quest for consolation, it is surprising that he does not choose mother Agatha for his reveal, as she is the most charitable of the De Laceys. When the mysterious Arabian arrives unexpectedly, the “ever-gentle” Agatha plays the hostess, by “asking a question” (87). She continues her efforts to make the newcomer feel welcome by gently kissing Safie’s hands and trying to translate for her, communicating with signs (87). Agatha the plays teacher: she takes an active part in assisting and educating Safie, and unbeknownst to her, the Creature. In effect, much of the Creature’s concept of language, or “godlike science” (83), is due to Agatha’s teachings. Further, Agatha, who once “ranked with the ladies of highest distinction” (92), is hardworking, devoted, and solitary. Even after Safie’s arrival, Agatha does not request or require assistance. It is only “after the usual occupations of Agatha were finished” that the two women sit down to play the guitar (88). Agatha’s song is a “simple air” with “sweet accents” (88). For a rich Parisian in exile, it would be reasonable to lament her situation, but Agatha does not. Yet, with all this strength and service, Agatha is just along for the ride in the De Lacey drama. The plot to rescue Safie’s father was concocted by Felix and aided by their father (93). Agatha’s role in the whole debacle is purely innocent and passive. Like the Creature, she is unjustly punished for her father’s transgression. Agatha never speaks for herself; All of the information about Agatha is obtained through the Creature’s reminiscing. Agatha faints upon seeing the Creature (103). Later, the Creature overhears Felix stating, “My wife and my sister will never recover their horror” (105). Agatha’s true reaction to the Creature will never be known. Had Felix not interjected, Agatha may have offered a different opinion. -KSR |
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The university education of Victor Frankenstein, though introduced early and never revisited in a substantial fashion, shadows the subsequent decisions he makes throughout the novel. In particular, Professor Waldman of the University of Ingolstadt aids and abets Victor’s fatal attitude towards natural philosophies through a combination of his much too nonjudgmental character and the unfortunate coincidence of timing, thus paving for his pupil an unvirtuous path that only leads to destruction at the end. The professor comes into Victor’s life at a pivotal point (Frankenstein Chapters II and III), when the young man has devoured much unfiltered, unguided knowledge and is still enthusiastic enough to venture into dangerous waters; such zeal makes young Victor vulnerable and impressionable. Whether M. Waldman realizes it or not, he actually possesses the father-like power to guide Victor away from the abuse of knowledge at that precious moment. But he is too gentle of a person to see the dark recess of his pupil’s mind; most unfortunately, he ends up helping Victor change the courses of many people’s lives. The role of M. Waldman is set up to have two natural advantages in influencing Victor’s early interest and outlook toward natural philosophy: one is personality compatibility and the other is timing. M. Waldman first enters the scene as the contrast to M. Krempe, who flatly rebuffs Victor’s fascination with occult sciences. Much less intimidating to Victor, M. Waldman is middle-aged, mild-mannered, and has a “voice the sweetest that [Victor] has ever heard;” he also possesses “an aspect expressive of the greatest benevolence.” (29). These outward descriptions produce a father-like figure that is non-judgmental, encouraging, tolerant, non-threatening – a perfect mentor for Victor in every way, especially given Victor’s proud, romantic, rashly hypercritical and anti-authoritarian disposition shown in his initial hostile interaction with M. Krempe. Much like Victor’s own non-threatening father, M. Waldman gently guides Victor towards the study of chemistry which ultimately enables the creation of the Creature: “It was, perhaps, the amiable character of this man [Waldman] that inclined me more to that branch of natural philosophy which he professed, than an intrinsic love for the science itself.” (31). The timing of M. Waldman’s appearance in the novel also bears much significance in Victor’s development. After a series of well intentioned but provincial education at home and in Geneva, Victor makes his first trip to University of Ingolstadt, physically and symbolically away from home. Expectedly he dives headlong into the pursuit of the new study; for the first time in his life, lofty goals are attainable through diligent acquisition of knowledge. Even if he never intentionally leads Victor astray, M. Waldman’s influence at such an inflammable yet vulnerable moment of Victor’s development engenders more consequence than both men can predict at the time. This is the ideal point to instill moral considerations into Victor’s study of natural philosophy; but M. Waldman fails to do so. The content of M. Waldman’s teaching is compressed into several vignettes in Chapter II, the first of which serves to elevate modern scientists to the equivalent of miracle workers, thus laying the foundation for Victor’s future aspiration. “They [modern scientists] penetrate into the recesses of nature…They ascend into the heavens…They have acquired new and almost unlimited powers…and even mock the invisible world with its own shadows.” (29). Victor is “highly pleased with the professor and his lecture” (30). In the 1831 version, Mary Shelley elaborates on Victor’s own reflection on this moment, providing further proof that M. Waldman is conducive to the creation of the Creature: “Such were the professor’s words – rather let me say such the words of the fate, enounced to destroy me…I will pioneer a new way…and unfold to the world the deepest mysteries of creation.” (202). Moreover, M. Waldman unwittingly inflames Victor’s budding grandiosity by sanctioning the misguided efforts of ancient scientists: “The labours of men of genius, however erroneously directed, scarcely ever fail in ultimately turning to the solid advantage of mankind.” (30). Victor’s impressionable mind hears this message and translates it into a get-out-of-jail-free card for any unchecked, unethical experiment he undertakes from this point on. Although M. Waldman’s time on the stage of Frankenstein is short, he plays an integral role in shaping Victor’s thinking and attitude. In place of Victor’s benign father, M. Waldman initiates Victor into the study of natural philosophies; he guides Victor in acquiring and interpreting the knowledge; he helps form Victor’s concept of ethics or lack thereof. The benevolence of M. Waldman attracts Victor to his teaching in the first place, but the same benevolence renders him unable to discipline Victor’s wild imagination. He is in the perfect position to steer Victor onto the right course, but his inaction does passive injustice to his pupil’s moral development, allowing evil acts to flourish under the misguided banner of science. As Victor himself portends after M. Waldman shows him the laboratory: “Thus ended a day memorable to me; it decided my future destiny” (30), M. Waldman casts the die for the unspeakable tragedy that is the story of Frankenstein. - DC |
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Safie
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Safie is an emotionally happy character but one whose deep emotions and empathy affect the Creature strongly. Her emotions and beauty are what captivate him and stir his first thoughts of a female counterpart to share his life. Although the creature characterizes her as “always gay and happy;” he sheds tears of “sorrow and delight” when she sings, as her voice “flowed in a rich cadence…like a nightingale of the woods” (88). Her song is filled with emotion which resonates to the Creature. Safie’s empathy is displayed as she weeps over the “hapless fate” of the American Indian, (89) and her ability to draw strong emotions from the Creature with her musical voice helps to drive him back to Victor, thus advancing the story.
Safie’s intellect is in question when first she arrives. It is apparent that she does not possess the language of French, as signs are used to communicate with the cottagers. But is this due to lack of intellect or simply the fact that she is from very far away and has never had the need to learn French? It is not until chapter VI that we find out how intelligent and clever she really is. Chapter VI also explains Safie’s mysterious background. We learn that she is the daughter of a Turkish merchant and a Christian Arab, which is the reason she possesses such exotic beauty. We also learn of the incarceration of her father for his faith and his plan to escape by using his daughter as bait. Safie will have nothing to do with this. She wants to stay in the new world, following her mother’s Christian background. Once Safie discovers that her father has promised Felix her hand, Safie sees this as a way to stay in the freedom of Europe and avoid the bondage of her father’s land. Despite the deceit of her father’s plan, Safie takes it upon herself to take jewels and money and return to her amour Felix. This boldness shows a strength of character that was unapparent until this fact was revealed.
Safie is a pivotal character in the novel Frankenstein. Her character is the one that causes the creature to reexamine his life. She causes him to dream of becoming educated and of finding a caring mate, when before he felt alone. Her presence is strong throughout the short time she appears and she sets up the second half of the story by instilling hope. In order to do this, Shelley realized she needed a character that was much different than those the creature had come upon before; a caring person who shows love and compassion. All these things she wrote into Safie. Her power to incite an urge to learn becomes the turning point in the novel, for as the creature discovers knowledge, he becomes stronger and more powerful in his mind. He discovers this knowledge because of Safie’s desire to learn French. Once he observes her learning, he begins to learn too along with her, and this leads to a brutal discovery for him, reasoning. He then recognizes how utterly alone he is, and begins to desire a companion much like Safie.
Shelley’s mission was to introduce a female character who was not like anyone else and to inspire the creature to act. Although Safie never speaks, and communicates only through signs and emotions, these are the things the creature can understand. Without her character, or one like hers, the reader would have been hard pressed to find the creature’s inspiration.
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It can be said that Frankenstein is a story about man’s struggle to overcome and harness nature. It is a story of nature vs. nurture, and of science’s ability to both facilitate and limit man. Frankenstein strives to create life without a woman and then leaves it to its own means of survival and education. Though left to his own devices, the creature discovers a family (the DeLaceys) from whom he learns to articulate his inner-most needs and desires. Though his observations of the family did much to fill him in on his lack of communication as well as a support system, it was the arrival of Felix’s fiancée that opened his eyes to his innate desire for companionship, his ability to learn a means of communication, and his ultimate understanding of the possessions which manifest in a man, without which he might have never understood his own feelings or the way to Victor’s. At the arrival of Safie to the DeLacey home, she is completely illiterate in French and cannot communicate with her peers in the same way that the creature had observed them communicate with each other. “I soon perceived, that although the stranger uttered articulate sounds, and appeared to have a language of her own, she was neither understood by, or herself understood (Shelley 87.) It is here in the story that the creature realizes his potential to learn, as Safie would have to, in order to communicate finally with the family he wanted so to be a part of. The DeLaceys proceed to teach her the language and it is through the observations of these teachings that the creature is able to acquire a basic understanding of the language. Furthermore, it is by reading the books assigned to Safie that the creature is introduced to many connotations of words (daemon from “Paradise Lost”) as well as philosophical narrations of mankind’s struggles. “These wonderful narrations inspired me with strange feelings. Was man indeed, at once so powerful, so virtuous, and magnificent, yet so vicious and base” (Shelley 89.) Language is a powerful tool, and while all that the creature sought was an ability to join the picturesque family he so longingly watched everyday, he was plunged into a cruel understanding of himself. “These words induced me turn towards myself” (90.) It is interesting how once identified, a feeling is given reign to fully bloom. The creature realizes his own feelings and questions his place not only in society, but in mankind. The question of man vs. monster permeates his thoughts and he begins to understand what differentiates the two. He learns of men overcoming and being overcome by evil, and above all, by love. Love is a constant underscore in this story of Frankenstein and his mysterious creature. At sight of the happiness Safie’s arrival brings to Felix, the creature realizes his own longing for a companionship that can give to him that nature of happiness. He learns to recognize beauty not on a page, but first-hand. Not as a description, but as an experience. It is as if Safie (the creature’s observations of her) brings to life for the creature the feelings of longing, desire, and loneliness that were once merely an array of words with no power behind them. This experience brings about a shift in the novel, where the creature decides he must use his mastery of language to read Victor’s journal and find him in order to demand that a companion be created for him. Furthermore, it is arguable that without his newfound knowledge of love and loss, the creature would not have known how to leverage Victor’s involuntary feelings in order to become his master. It would be naïve to say that the creature did not know exactly what he was doing when chose to leave Elizabeth strangled on their wedding bed. It seems that Mary Shelley created Safie’s character as a means to teach the creature of everything nature could not. The name Safie is actually a Greek word for learning, which is exactly what the creature inherits just by observing her, and it is through this knowledge of the limitations of man (love) that he brings about Victor’s very demise. -JS-
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Safie Safie, a minor character who appears in only three short chapters of Frankenstein, is nevertheless an essential character. She is a flat, static character whose function in the story is twofold: education of the Creature, and observing her relationship with Felix, caused the Creature to desire a mate. While both function to teach the Creature, it is important to separate the two. The first one is book knowledge; the other is more a personal awareness that he, the Creature, is alone. Moreover, A footnote in the text says that Safie is meant to be a play on “’Sophie,’ the simple, obedient wife idealized in Rousseau’s Émile” and “acidly critiqued by Wollstonecraft in Rights of Women” (Shelley, 88). The same footnote also says the name Safie “derives from the Greek word for ‘learning’” (Shelley, 88). According to The Oxford English Dictionary Online (OED), the word safie orignated in North Africa and it means “a charm,” (Oxford University Press). Charm in the plural form typically refers to” female beauty” and means “quality, attribute, trait, feature, etc., which exerts a fascinating or attractive influence, exciting love or admiration” (OED). The character Safie in Frankenstein fits this definition. From moment the Creature saw her, he was fascinated with her beauty; he was drawn to her. The Creature in relating the first time he saw he describes her as having “angelic beauty and expression,” “shining raven black” hair, “dark,” yet “gentle,” “animated eyes,” “features of a regular proportion,” and “a wondrously” fair complexion, complete with pink tinged checks (Shelley, 87). There is a certain irony in an uneducated, social outcast like the Creature being able to recognize her particular physical traits, including fair skin, as ideal beauty. She is referred to as the Arabian, whereas her father is referred to as a Turk negative racial characterization. Further, the Creature was educated as Felix taught Safie. Prior to her arrival, the Creature was able to acquire some language skills by observing and listening to the De Laceys. After her arrival, the Creature is educated along with Safie. Upon her arrival, Safie did not speak French, the language of the De Lacey family, so Felix undertook to teach her. Along with language, the Creature learned “the science of letters, as it was taught” to Safie (Shelley, 89). He was able to learn faster and more than Safie did, much the way a child is able to learn a language faster than an adult is. The important thing to note is Safie was pivotal in his education. Without her, the Creature would not have learned so much of “science of letters,” so fast (Ibid.). An education he continued by reading books he later finds in the woods. Her importance goes beyond book education for the Creature; it brings him to an existential crisis of sorts as well. Observing the relationship between Felix, Safie and the rest of the De Lacey family caused him realize he was alone. His education allows him to realize he does not know his creator, or his father, or family, or friends, or anyone like himself, but he recognizes he is different from men (Shelley, 91). This grieves him and hi is brought to an existential crisis. He knows he is alone, hideous, and despised by all who see him, even his creator abandoned him. Additionally, the education also allows him to read the papers he took from Victor’s lab coat. These described “disgusting circumstances” of the Creature’s “accursed origin” (Shelley, 98-99). The details of which “sickened” the Creature as he read them (Ibid.). These things combined, are behind the Creature’s demand that Victor create a female creature for him. Another important detail is Safie’s letters. While away from Felix, Safie wrote to him by having someone transcribe her words into French. The Creature finds copies of these letters and carries them until he offers them to Victor as proof of his story about the De Laceys (Shelley, 93). Victor also carries them until he offers them to Walden as proof of his tale. In essence, her letters are the only proof Victor has, that he is willing to provide, that any part of his tale is true. Walden then offers them to his sister to prove his story to her, making Safie’s letters important to the tale. RC
Works Cited:Oxford University Press. “The Oxford English Dictionary Online (OED).” 14 March 2008 http://www.oed.com/libaccess.sjlibrary.org/.
Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft. Frankenstein; or The Modern Prometheus. Ed. Susan J. Wolfson. Second. New York: Pearson Longman, 2007. Online 1818 edition text from http://www.english.upenn.edu/Projects/knarf/1818v1/ftitle.html
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DeLacey -father
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Among the themes of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, is the author’s early belief that loving family of patriarchal type could be sufficient to support and protect its members in times of hardships and injustice. This is the implied message in the portrayal of the De Lacey family unit. Its detailed daily functions bring understanding to the first several months of the life of the abandoned by its creator (unknown to him at this time), Creature. Especially significant and powerful in ensuing new emotions to the Creature is the old De Lacey. Father DeLacey interactions with the rest of the family- his daughter, son and daughter in law turn into a source of routine observations for the Creature. The old man is blind. This makes him more approachable. The unschooled, basic instincts of the gigantic, physically deformed Creature tell him that he may be his only hope for unprejudiced, fair acceptance. He understands the importance of the dad for his children. The respect, love and care they place on him inspire the Creature to do good in hope of becoming part of their life at some point. “The silver hair and benevolent countenance of the aged cottager” (p. 80), the kindness and affection he has for those around, become the first positive models of social behavior for the Creature and a shelter from the hostile, cold and incomprehensible reaction of the humans he encounters previously (the shepherd and villagers) on his way. He is gentle mannered, pensive, encouraging, and always supportive of his children with gestures and smiles. This is felt instinctively by the Creature, watching their life through the small hole in the window of his hovel adjacent to the poor cottage they live in. Father DeLacey possesses also the gift of playing a musical instrument. Through the universal language of music the Creature starts feeling “sensations of peculiar and overpowering nature”, “a mixture of pain and pleasure” never experienced before. The old DeLacey becomes the nearest to a father figure for the Creature, the source of trust, inspiration for his self improvement and hope for finding his own identity and acceptance. The father inspires goodness, love and respect through his stories and musical performances. Described and perceived as the center of “the superior beings, who would be the arbiters of my destiny” (p. 86) the old cottager is the only human in Mary Shelley’s book, who does not instantly reject the Creature. Frenchman by nationality once respected and living a life of “refinement of intellect, or taste, accompanied by a moderate fortune” (p. 92), the De Lacey and his children become victims of political persecutions. The young De Lacey’s involvement in a defense and aided escape of injustice, served to the father of the girl he falls in love with- a story relating to the uncertainties of the times, becomes a new source for the Creature to study the many aspects of human nature. The concern of the father for his children’s wellbeing is reciprocated. Despite of his desire to support and aid the Creature in his attempt to be accepted, Father De Lacey is too dependent himself on his children. His age and disability preclude him to be effective, but his willingness and understanding give the Creature a short lived hope for his future. The idea of that society and all its members are responsible for those who become violent because they are excluded due to physical differences, and labeled monstrous, is reinforced once more through the De Lacey's family. It also suggests that blindness is not just the inability to see with the eyes but the unwillingness to accept and understand with the heart. Julia J.
The minor character of De Lacey enters the Frankenstein narrative in Volume II. He is the elderly and blind father of the Creature’s “beloved cottagers.” Almost immediately, De Lacey enchants the creature with the beauty of his music. His kind and gentle presence seems to be a balm for his children and he is described as a source of happiness for his family. He is the figure they all rally around in the dead of winter and in their struggles to survive. De Lacey and his children, become a surrogate family to the creature, teaching him empathy, virtue and character. De Lacey is especially significant to the narrative, because it is to him that the creature eventually reveals himself, risking exposure and his heart for the chance of love. De Lacey is born into an aristocratic family who has fallen on hard times. It is revealed that besides his blindness and infirmity, he has also had the recent experience of imprisonment and been robbed of his estate and banished from his country. Though the family is in financial straits and the children are working hard to survive, neither De Lacey nor his children are described as greedy, angry or cold-hearted. The De Lacey family helps any stranger that stops by the cabin as well as helping each other another. De Lacey especially is a source of good will and devotion in the family. For example, though not an active worker in the family, De Lacey still holds a place of honor among his children, as both Agatha and Felix are exceeding in “love and affection” towards their father, performing their duty to him gently, and on several occasions going so far as to give up their own meals to provide for his. (82) Reciprocally, both children are described as finding great comfort and joy in their father’s presence. For example, conversations with his father seem the only time that Felix is happy before the arrival of Safie (84) and De Lacey is described as being able to make his children smile by his “gentle nature.” The values of kindness and altruism that the family displays originate in De Lacey, as it is with his values that the children were raised and who are, by virtue, an extension of himself. De Lacey’s other most noteworthy qualities are his gentility, his ability to play beautiful music, and most importantly his blindness. The gentility is marked in his manner, which even to the unschooled Creature seems elevated in comparison to other people living in the area. His refinement includes the ability to play beautiful music that serves as a balm for his own pain, the pain of his children and the pain of the Creature. On his first morning near the cottage, the Creature is immediately struck by De Lacey’s ability “to produce sounds, sweeter than the thrush and the nightingale.” (80) On this first view of the family, the music so moves Agatha that she kneels at her father’s feet and cries. That image and her reaction so moves the Creature that it causes “sensations of a peculiar and overpowering nature […] a mixture of pain and pleasure.” (81) But more than any of these qualities, it is De Lacey’s blindness that makes him an instrumental minor character in the story. In trying to overcome the obstacle of his hideous appearance, the Creature seeks the approval of De Lacey and sees him as his greatest chance for an unprejudiced and compassionate response. Were they to have more time for their audience, perhaps his De Lacey may also have been the Creature’s salvation. Finally, De Lacey serves one last purpose, and that is to present a figure that is the best of all of those reading the story of Frankenstein. He affords a view of how the wisest, the kindest, and the most compassionate of any of Mary Shelley’s readers may have viewed the Creature and reacted to him. M. O.
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Henry Clerval |
“Can any man be to me as Clerval was…?” –Victor Frankenstein
Henry Clerval is the closest friend of Victor Frankenstein and his double. Clerval’s presence in Frankenstein’s life as well as his character traits render him more lofty, idealized, effeminate and, as such, complementary to Frankenstein’s emotionally tumultuous, grim personage.
Throughout the course of the narrative, Frankenstein spends the greatest amount of time alone with Henry Clerval than any of the other characters. Clerval is with Frankenstein “constantly” throughout his childhood, both at school and during the afternoon, and though he cannot go with Frankenstein to Ingolstadt immediately, it is Clerval who visits Frankenstein while he is there, and then is confined with him, nursing him to health for “several months” (23, 45). They later tour England together, until Victor decides to isolate himself again in Scotland (133). Clerval has the ability to restore Frankenstein, for it is Clerval who “calls forth the better feelings” of Victor’s heart (52).
Frankenstein describes Clerval in a very exalted manner, often describing Henry’s personality in contrast to his own, reinforcing Clerval’s role as Victor’s double. From the beginning, Clerval is elevated. Victor describes his friend as possessing “singular talent and fancy,” having a knack for the literary arts, as he from a very young age remembers acting plays “composed by him” (Shelley 22-3). Clerval is a patron of the works of the “aerial poets,” a fanciful, youthful man with a “refined mind” who is Frankenstein’s “benefactor” or even his “beloved” (29, 144, 151). The doubling effect between the two friends is created by Victor’s mention of Clerval as “the image of” his “former self” (129). Yet the sameness is apparent in the expressions of difference between the two, also: “Alas, how great was the contrast between us! He was alive to every new scene; joyful” (125). Clerval is everything Victor praises and, thus, desires to be; Clerval, Frankenstein remarks, is apt at “expressing the sensations that filled [his] soul” (52). His friend expresses what he would feel more purely were he not hampered by gloomy circumstance.
Frankenstein’s relationship with Clerval is much deeper than his relationship with any other character in the novel. When Clerval is first mentioned as a participant in Frankenstein’s childhood, he remarks that he and Elizabeth “were never completely happy when Clerval was absent” (23). When Victor leaves for Ingolstadt, Clerval “bitterly” laments that he cannot accompany him, and up to this point Frankenstein makes little mention of Elizabeth without also mentioning Clerval, who he mentions is “constantly” with the couple (29, 23). Moreover, Frankenstein writes of the “mutual affection” that makes him sensitive to the “slightest desire” of his companions, Clerval included. And though Frankenstein is fixed on marriage to Elizabeth by his mother’s dying wish, the consummation of that wish will kill Elizabeth; and although he claims not to perceive the threat of death toward Elizabeth, he still puts her in the danger of the monster’s wrath by marrying her. He is definitely conscious of the threat when he remarks: “I will consecrate myself, in life or death, to the happiness of my cousin” (156). Elizabeth’s comparative worth to Clerval finally diminishes when Frankenstein remarks to his father, after his friend’s death, that: “some destiny of the most horrible kind hangs over me, and I must live to fulfil it, or surely I should have died on the coffin of Henry” (148). His horrible destiny is not to wed happily his cousin, but to kill the monster. His esteem and love for Henry outweigh that which he feels towards Elizabeth. The homosocial relationship that exists between Victor and Henry belies the narrative providing an alternative to the static, bland, uninspired relationship between Frankenstein and Lavenza. As far as Shelley has provided evidence, no man or woman can be to Victor as Clerval is. mgg |
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Caroline Beaufort-Frankenstein |
Caroline Beaufort-Frankenstein had to die. It is impossible not to believe that Victor Frankenstein’s story would be incredibly different if: 1) Mrs. Frankenstein was a stronger figure in his childhood; and 2) had remained alive. A mother would never have let her son venture off for six odd years without so much as a word, even a mother who is as indulgent and preoccupied as Mrs. Frankenstein seems. Concerns would have arisen when letters went unanswered while Victor slaved away like a mad scientist. From the beginning, Mrs. Frankenstein, the domestic queen so-to-speak in the 18th century home, was responsible for the upbringing and education of her children. Yet, Victor informs Walton that his “studies were never forced..[m]y parents were indulgent” (21), that his “dreams were..undisturbed by reality” (23). On the whole, Victor recollects a home life that is not structured by loving, yet disciplining parents; in fact, the image is of a childhood in which he was allowed to read and believe in books by pseudo-scientists that had been confirmed quacks. Certainly, there was opportunity for remonstrance and guidance by Mrs. Frankenstein.
Mrs. Frankenstein is made to be significant, not because of her presence, but through her absence. William’s death is made possible only because a doting mother was not present; Elizabeth Lavenza, for all her worth, is too young to have suddenly inherited three children to look after. She was simply unable to keep track of everyone and maintain her own individuality. Likewise, the conditions under which Justine was unjustly killed in answer to William’s murder would never have arisen with Mrs. Frankenstein still alive. The little talisman that bore Mrs. Frankenstein's image would never have been thought a motive for theft, because William would not feel compelled to take the reminder of his mother, nor would Elizabeth have felt it so dear to carry with her always if the real Mrs. Frankenstein was in their lives. Even if the creature had still found a way to wreak this havoc and William should still die, Mrs. Frankenstein would never have stood for Justine's trial and execution. Mrs. Frankenstein seems to take on "projects" in the form of young girls, and this appears to be her favorite preoccupation. Perhaps what attention and interest she fails to show in her son's own education and upbringing is stolen by the two known "projects" that she devotes herself to, Justine Moritz and Elizabeth Lavenza. It is a shame that Victor does not get like attention from Mrs. Frankenstein because the two girls are exemplary by all accounts. It is his mother's death which, to some extent, the reader is led to believe created the fervor for building a super-human - to stave off the disease and death which took away his mother. This appears to be the one significant contribution Caroline Frankenstein made in the formation of the man who would unleash horror upon his family. The story of Victor Frankenstein and his creation is laid out beneath the shadow of his mother, a woman who left him two brothers, a devoted fiancee, a indulgent father, and a neurosis which could only be satisfied by conquering the forces of life and death. The story hinges upon these characters as they stand without the influence and presence of Mrs. Frankenstein. Perhaps this is a mirror Mary Shelley's own experience, albeit it may have been only a subconscious projection of what damage the loss of a mother may bring. For Victor, the future happiness upon which he banked is stripped from him, and whether cognizant of it or not, Shelley portrays the absence of a mother as a defining factor in his sad decline.
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Justine Moritz |
Justine Moritz is a minor character who is of major importance in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Justine only appears briefly, but makes a strong impression, not only on the reader, but on the two main characters who are either directly or indirectly responsible for her death. She becomes the victim of the inaction of Victor Frankenstein, the actions of the Creature, and of the inadequacies of the justice system. Justine isn’t a fully realized character; she is the object and the subject of guilt, blame and injustice. A detailed physical description of Justine is never provided, but her personality is captured when Elizabeth writes how she can change Victor’s ill humor into joy from a simple glance. Justine was rejected by her mother and taken into the Frankenstein household by the loving Caroline. Justine is rescued from a bad family environment and brought into the home of people who love her. After five years of happiness living with the Frankensteins, Justine returns to her now repentant mother, which is the first occurrence of her role as the object of undeserved blame. Madame Moritz alternately asks forgiveness and dispenses blame upon Justine, accusing her of being responsible for the deaths of her brothers and sister. We never learn how Justine feels about this accusation, but there is a lingering sense of guilt that makes her vulnerable when William is murdered. She blames herself for not protecting him.
When Justine is arrested for the murder, Victor wallows in guilt because he knows it is the Creature who has killed William and that he is responsible for Justine’s fate. Though overcome with feelings of guilt, Victor recognizes the futility of revealing the truth, and allows Justine to take the blame. Although Elizabeth is unaware of the actual circumstances of William’s murder, she astutely blames the justice system for its misguided reasons for the execution of the innocent Justine. The main source for blame is the guilty Creature who frames Justine, symbolically punishing her as a representative of all of the “guilty” women who will never love him. The Creature explains how and why he framed Justine for the murder:
Even if the Creature had known that Justine was similarly unloved and rejected by her own mother, it is unlikely that he would have granted her mercy. A merciless priest causes Justine to recognize the potential of being manipulated psychologically:
and the Creature is driven to become the homicidal monster people judged him to be because of his physical ugliness. Both the Creature and Justine are victims of an injustice, but Justine remains innocent until death. Justine’s role in Frankenstein is to examine the injustice of the execution of the innocent, and to consider the importance of love and acceptance in the form of nurturing. The Creature is ostracized by society, but Justine is loved by the Frankenstein family. The unloved Creature becomes a monster. Love from the Frankenstein family prevented Justine from becoming the monster her accusers and her mother believed her to be. VM
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Female Creature |
As the creature finishes telling his story to Victor, the creature’s intentions of finding Victor become obvious because he tells Victor:
I am alone, and miserable; man will not associate with me; but one as deformed and horrible as myself would not deny herself to me. My companion must be of the same species, and have the same defects. This being you must create (Shelley 110).
In this instant, the female creature becomes an important character to the novel because much conflict is created through Victor’s promise to the creature, and eventually, both the creature and Victor lose the things they most covet, companionship. Although the female creature never actually comes to life, she gains life through Victor’s tormented musings, and she can be characterized as a monster and a mere possession. At first, Victor feels that by creating a female creature he is helping himself as well as society, but in the process of creating her, he realizes he might be creating another sociopath murderer. In chapter 3, volume 3, Victor comes to the realization:
I was now about to form another being, of whose dispositions I was alike ignorant; she might become ten thousand times more malignant than her mate, and delight for its own sake in murder and wretchedness (Shelley 129).
Most likely, the female creature will be just as displeased as the male creature because she too cannot enjoy the company of humans, “…and she, who all probability was to become a thinking and reasoning animal, might refuse to comply with a compact made before her creation” (Shelley 129). If she is anything like her predecessor, she might channel this hate into more murderous avenues. She also proves to be a monster on Victor’s psyche, as his “…heart often sickened at the work of my hands,” and he “…looked towards its completion with a tremulous and eager hope…intermixed with forebodings of evil” (Shelley 129). The female creature’s terrifying nature is manifested when the male creature says to Victor, “Your hours will pass in dread and misery, and soon the bolt will fall which must ravage from you your happiness for ever” (Shelley 131). Both the creature and Victor treat the female creature as some being that can be possessed by males, and she is never given any choices by either of these male characters. This idea of patriarchal possession seems to be a product of history, and only recently, in the last century, have women had the sort of autonomy that males have always had. The creature’s plea’s with Victor are wrought with notions of male possessiveness, for the creature begs, “You must create a female for me, with whom I can live in the interchange of those sympathies necessary for my being…and I demand it of you as a right which you must not refuse” (Shelley 111). The creature intends for the female counterpart to be his and his only, and neither Victor nor the creature consider the feelings of the yet to be created female creature. They both assume that a female creature must succumb to male dominance and decision making, and Victor, “…trembling with passion, tore to pieces the thing on which [he] was engaged” (Shelley 130). However, this destruction occurs after Victor realizes, “…she, who in all probability was to become a thinking and reasoning animal, might refuse to comply with a compact made before her creation,” which is a bit ironic because he does not give her the chance to live (Shelley 129). The female creature’s character depends entirely on the discourse between Victor and the creature, which creates an extremely biased view of her. Her entire existence rests precariously between Victor and the creature’s conflict, which causes her character to shift from monster to possession. Victor sees the female creature as a potential murderer and monster, whereas the male creature treats the yet living creature as some sort of pet, a being that would remain under his control. However, Victor, in the ultimate act of male authority, destroys the female creature, which demonstrates that Victor treats her as simple possession as well. -M.F.L. |
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Frankenstein's Dead Mother |
The void that Victor's mother creates in her son's psychological development ultimately leads him to create, despite being ill-equipped to create responsibly. Interestingly, the influence that Victor's mother has on his life is highlighted by her total absence, save her single appearance as a decaying corpse in the dream sequence in chapter four. The fact that Victor's latest experience with his mother is a traumatic one that featured death and fright, the reader is left with the notion that she is a figure that must carry a negative sentiment in Victor's subconscious. In fact, if his mother had never appeared at all, the reader would have been free to question whether or not her absence was incidental or was actually significant. Thus, it is perhaps more jarring that she appears as a shocking figure and then never again: her only identity is as a uninvited, interrupting, dead thing.
Additionally, because her appearance in the novel is as a character that no longer exists physically, her presence is sorely missed and attention is drawn to questions about her life and her relationship with Victor. By demonstrating to the reader that his mother's absence is still an intensely emotional reality to Victor, Shelley establishes that Victor's life is wrought with a tremendous imbalance: he lacks select traditionally maternal qualities, such as empathy, selflessness, foresight. It is unclear that he was ever the benefactor of these valuable traits, and perhaps was unable to develop them as a result. In the remainder of the chapter, and the novel in total, this imbalance corrupts his ability to responsibly conduct major decisions. It is interesting to note that, aside from Frankenstein’s mother appearing in his dream, she appears in place of his lover, cradled in his arms before a kiss. In this instance, his mother becomes sexualized, which is especially interesting because the novel features virtually no sexuality or intimacy whatsoever. Victor’s mother is not a natural object of intimacy, because she is his mother, and she is also not an object for any relationship of any kind, because she is dead. This dream is now fodder for a somewhat different conception of what the mother represents to Victor: she, and all of the maternal characteristics that are connected to her influence, are a sort of forbidden and unreachable pursuit. This parallel is particularly interesting if the creation of the creature is examined. It is arguable that the creature was intended to fill some void in Frankenstein’s life, and if it is the case that Frankenstein is designed to be outfitted with those maternal traits, any attempt to do so would be erroneous or dangerous. Victor Frankenstein's drive to assemble a creature satisfies more than just the next revolution in technology. The degree to which the creature reflects Victor's outstanding strengths and glaring deficiencies is substantial, but the most significant of Victor's showcased traits are psychological ones. More specifically, Victor's thirst for science implies a love for the earth, for rules and systematic thought, and for creative manipulation of these in order to invent: it is the use of knowledge to exercise power. This combination of raw intelligence, drive to achieve and gain fame, and means to follow through with his dangerous plans makes Victor a possible threat to his community, unless he is controlled. However, given Victor's mother's absence, the temperance she would have taught cannot act as interlocutor between the recklessly intelligent scientist and the fate that he seems destined to satisfy. dtc |
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Madame Moritz
(Justine's mother) |
Madame Moritz is the mother of the doomed Justine. Elizabeth provides the details of the story of Justine’s mother through a letter she wrote to Victor. Madame Moritz was a wife, and later a widow, with four children. Justine, her third child, was much loved by her father but “through a strange perversity, her mother could not endure her” (43). This suggests that Madame Moritz had feelings of jealousy, resenting the love her husband gave their daughter, and perhaps did not give to her. This is a parallel to the love the Creature wishes to have, but does not receive from anyone. The Creature’s reaction is to become homicidal, while Madame Moritz reacts with cold detachment towards the child she should love. She becomes a symbolic “absent mother,” whose love is absent when she is living with her daughter, and subsequently absents herself physically from her daughter’s life. Presumably, she initially treated Justine dispassionately or at least didn’t abuse her, but “after the death of M. Moritz, treated her very ill” (43). Somehow the warm hearted, more motherly, Caroline Frankenstein was able to observe the ill treatment of Justine, and convinced Madame Moritz that Justine be allowed to live with the Frankensteins. Madame Moritz isn’t said to have objected or asked for compensation, she seems to have simply given up her child to another family. Subsequently, Madame Moritz’s other children died one by one, which caused her conscience to be troubled. Guilt then overwhelmed her and “she began to think that the deaths of her favourites was a judgment from heaven to chastise her partiality” (44). Madame Moritz consults with a priest who confirms that her harsh treatment of Justine is the cause of her guilt, and the death of her other children is a punishment from God. Madame Moritz clearly believes in a harsh, angry, and unforgiving God. Eager to clear her conscience, Madame Moritz asks that Justine be allowed to return home to her. The “absent mother” is now supposedly transformed into the physically present repentant mother. After her daughter returns to her, Madame Moritz’s erratic temperament causes her to alternately beg “Justine to forgive her unkindness, but much oftener accused her of having caused the deaths of her brothers and sister. Perpetual fretting at length threw Madame Moritz into a decline…but she is now at peace for ever” (45). While Caroline dies in her warm bed with her loving family around her, Madame Moritz dies “on the first approach of cold weather, at the beginning of this last winter” (45). These two dead mothers are provided as examples of the types of mothers who are ultimately ineffectual role models for their children. The cold hearted Madame Moritz produced a loving child capable of acting as a surrogate mother to William. The warm hearted Caroline produced the cold hearted Victor, who was incapable of acting as a nurturing, surrogate parent to his creation. Madame Moritz is used as an example of the importance of the presence or absence of love and nurturing. Madame Moritz should love her sweet, pretty daughter, but does not, because attractive features do not necessarily guarantee someone love. This is a parallel to the Creature who is unloved for his hideous physical features. Justine could have become a “monster” within her society due to her lack of nurturing from the biological mother who is expected to love her. Madame Moritz’s lack of love and abuse towards her daughter is compensated for by the love Justine receives from a surrogate mother. The implication is that had the Creature received a surrogate parent or family, he would have not become murderous. VM |