| Summary: | 碩士 === 國立中正大學 === 外國語文研究所 === 92 === Abstract
Mary Shelley’s troubled girlhood had left her with a strong desire for having a stable family. Her personal experiences inspired her with a set of family values, which inform all her literary works. She considered an idealized image of the bourgeois family was based on the loving and egalitarian relationships. Thus, in Frankenstein she analyzed the disastrous consequences of the absence of a nurturing parent and an egalitarian family.
This thesis is divided into three chapters. Chapter One examines the relevance of Mary Shelley’s life and work. Because of the troubled experiences in her childhood, she deeply realized that family was important to one’s development. She had a deep desire to build an ideal family in both her realistic world and fictional world. In this novel, Mary Shelley displayed her family values and revealed the consequences of the inadequate parenting.
Chapter Two examines the nurture of Victor Frankenstein and the creature. In the novel, the inadequate modes of parenting caused the ill development of children. First of all, I attempt to explore Frankenstein’s childhood in order to find out what kind of parenting he has received that causes the flaw of his characteristics. Secondly, I try to research on the creature’s development. The lack of a nurturing parent and a companionship from society, led him to reject morality.
Chapter Three examines the domesticity in the Frankenstein family and the De Lacey family. First of all, I will discuss the male and female characters in the Frankenstein family in order to explore the influences of the gender division. The male characters─Frankenstein and Walton represent the masculine sphere in the novel. Since Frankenstein insists on his own experiment, he ignores his family for two years. Walton is better than Frankenstein, because he knows to stop his exploration in the right time. Secondly, the female character─Caroline and Elizabeth represent the feminine sphere in the novel. Both of them are passive and powerless women who finally make sacrifices for their family. Thirdly, I will discuss the family relationships in the De Lacey family. This nuclear family structure is based on sexual equality and mutual affection.
In conclusion, through the depiction of Mary Shelley, we could understand whatever nurture and domesticity are both significant to a healthy child. She tried to tell the readers that family was important in the world, because it could destroy a man, but also could model an ideal man.
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