The fears that pervade Frankenstein are more than fears of a monster, fears of “the other.” What str
The fears that pervade Frankensteinare more than fears of a monster, fears of “the other.” What strikes me most powerfully are the fears of abandonment and death–that Shelly shows the emotional horrors of separation while analyzing them in moral terms. Even though it is a man that “gives birth” to this creature, I feel that only a woman– a daughter–could create this story. In The Vindication of the Rights of Women, Mary Shelly’s mother, Mary Wollstoncraft, says: “A great proportion of the misery that wanders, in hideous forms, around the world, is allowed to rise from the negligence of parents.” I’m not sure if Shelly read her mother’s writing, but certainly the connection is striking. How did the myth of Frankenstein get so separated from the emotional content of Shelly’s story?