Thursday, June 23, 2016

In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, why is Dr. Victor Frankenstein unable to "mother" or take care of his creation?

One of the main reasons that Victor is unable to care for the creature he makes is that he lacks forethought, and he only thinks of his creature as an experiment that will be successful or not; he never considers what he will do with the creature once it is alive.  He thinks about the future in hypotheticals only; he says,



"A new species would bless me as its creator and source; many happy and excellent natures would owe their being to me.  No father could claim the gratitude of his child so completely as I should deserve their's."  



He never considers what it would be like to actually raise this creature, to educate him, to mold him into this grateful and thoughtful person.  Victor only considers the value of his experiment and the personal glory that it will bring to him.  After the creature comes to life, he says,



"the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart."  



He had thought of the creature's life only so far as it would honor Victor himself, and so, when the creature actually does come to life, the reality of the situation overwhelms his dream of the experiment's success.

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Thomas Jefferson's election in 1800 is sometimes called the Revolution of 1800. Why could it be described in this way?

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