Family Dynamic

"I had thitherto supposed him to be the murderer of my brother, and I eagerly sought a confirmation or denial of this option. For the fist time, also, I felt what the duties of a creator towards his creature were, and that I ought to render him happy before I complained of his wickedness." Pg. 70

     One topic of discussion mentioned in my small group, discussing the latest four chapters, brought up the relationship between Frankenstein and the creature. Although the reader only gets two chapters to experience the thoughts and feeling of the creature during his first two years of life, I feel as though I received an adequate glimpse into the dynamic between Frankenstein and the creature. The two possibilities of the relationship being a creator-servant or a father-son dynamic caused me to question Victor's response to finally talking to the creature and his explanation of his feelings, which he briefly describes in the quote above. I undoubtedly believe the relationship is one of a father and a son. The creature is obviously advanced for his age, and has come to know human emotion through suffering and by experiencing it between other individuals. A servant blindly obeys his commander and suppresses his/her emotions until he/she is alone or away from the master. Frankenstein's monster freely expresses his emotion and the harships he has endured. Like a father, Frankenstein says he feels some fatherly obligation to listen to his creation rather than purely control him. I also believe that the seeming tendency for the relationship to be one of a father and son stems from Victor's own relationship with his father. His father has been very good to him over the years, so he knows what true compassion and patronly duty feels like, and notices the duty he has to this creature. These feelings spurn compassion and a bit of guilt within Frankenstein, which are definitely marks of a father rather than a master.