DEADBEAT DAD Shellys Frankenstein as a Father Figure

DEADBEAT DAD: SHELLEY’S FRANKENSTEIN AS A FATHER FIGURE In the world we live in, it is nothing new to hear of young men fathering children and then disappearing, leaving the child to be raised without a father. A term for these filial flunkies has even become a part of our vernacular; the “deadbeat dad.” Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is a novel concerning the creation of life by a man, and his refusal to take …

…offspring,” he treated it with disgust and contempt. The passage Shelley uses to illustrate this is the creation of the monster episode. Through Frankenstein’s actions and language we see that he is indeed remiss in his duties as a father. The consequences of this abdication of duties are the deaths of Frankenstein’s friends and family members, and ultimately his own personal ruin. Mary Shelley graphically demonstrates the price of being a “deadbeat dad.”