The death of Victor’s mother was due to self-sacrifice whilst nursing Elizabeth with scarlet fever. This left Victor in a single- parented family; something that many families today are facing. Victor develops an un-natural obsession with his mother, often referred to as the ‘Oedipus Complex’, and he continues this worship even after she has died. This is perhaps when Victor’s obsessive behaviour, something we all fear today, starts, as he becomes entangled in a web of his possessive love for Elizabeth and his personal drive in his work.
Victor is perhaps so possessive over Elizabeth because he sees her as his own belonging after she is presented to him by his mother, shown here; “… Interpreted her words literally and looked upon Elizabeth as mine- mine to protect, love and cherish. ” (Ch1, pg36, line2) We can relate to this through the role that the possession and belonging of items, or loved ones plays in our lives; we become jealous at the very thought of losing them. Tragic irony plays a poignant but major role in the novel.
Victor Frankenstein grows up surrounded by the death of his own family and those around him affected by the cholera epidemic. He feels the remorse and suffering caused by this natural event and consequently doesn’t want the ones he loves to feel the same pain that he has gone through. From this, he develops an obsession with creating an immortal being; a person composed of the finest ligaments, so that no one would ever have to suffer the pain of losing someone so dear again.
Through doing this, he is believed to have cheated death and nature and subsequently results in killing the ones he was initially trying to save. We can relate to this today as we are enduring death everyday and can identify with the loss that Frankenstein feels. An obvious notable factor in the book is the lack of family religion. Many people, not only at the time of publication, but also today think that if a family do not believe or have God in their lives then they will be punished, and they are seen as lesser people if they have no spirituality.
In the book, it is as if we are playing God; like Him, we have the ability to decide the fate of the people, like the courts of justice. If someone today commits a horrendous crime then we have the power to lock them, just like in the novel, where society and the monster are able to decide the fate of the characters, for example, when Justine is hung unfairly without trial after she is accused of murdering Willy, as she pleads guilty although innocent; “I did confess; but I confessed a lie. ” (Ch8, pg87, line7)
We are also like God today, and can relate to Victor Frankenstein in that he tries to create a faultless being. The modern audience are acquainted with genetic engineering and as we are always making scientific advances, like at the time of publication, the fear of the unknown is still very relevant today. Just like Frankenstein, who attempts to eliminate something that isn’t perfect, we today have the power to do this through abortion and also are able to ‘perfect’ a child before it is born, dismissing blemishes by choosing the colour of their eyes or skin.
We are currently making mistakes in this area and will result in paying for this blasphemy and already are. The moral of the story is to accept life for what it is, if not we will create the ultimate evil, embodied by the monster. Mary Shelley’s ‘Frankenstein’ can therefore relate as much to a modern audience as a contempary audience at the time of publication, due to specific devices and themes that are used by the author to prevent it becoming stagnated and topics that hold an area of interest for the viewers.
