Family In Frankenstein by Julia Dykstra

Family In Frankenstein by Julia Dykstra

Throughout Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein, the author's want to write about family is present throughout the novel. It is a major theme and was likely influenced heavily by Mary Shelley's family struggles herself. As we learned in class, her mother died giving birth to her, her sister took her own life, lost her husband and suffered a dangerous miscarriage all before she turned 30. These tragic events affected her writing and caused the theme to be not only present but influential to the novel. 

The majority of the characters in the novel are family members. Walton is writing to his sister. Since the book is a frame story, these two are not related to any other characters. However, it is clear Victor Frankenstein values family greatly. He loves his adopted sister, Elizabeth, in a weird way and is basically told he is supposed to marry her one day. Victor's mother dies, which has many parallels to Mary Shelley's life. His brother, William, also gets killed by the monster. 

The topic and theme of family are also present from the monster's perspective. He watches the family in the cottage and observes them carefully. He mimics them carefully, especially their language, but also the way they treat each other and what it means to be a family. He also learns to resent himself more for not having a family or looking the way they do. 

The novel shows the reader the consequences of a dysfunctional family and isolation from them. This occurs in multiple characters, such as Frankenstein and the Monster. This can be tied to Mary Shelly's life directly and it can be argued if characters are meant to represent real people in her life. The idea and theme of family are present throughout and very influential to the storyline of the novel.