The “Birth“ (about Frankenstein)

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The “Birth”
In researching the life of Mary Shelley, I found that pregnancy and childbirth, as well as death, were a big part of her life. She had four children and a miscarriage that almost killed her. This was all before the age of twenty-five. Only one of her children survived to adulthood and outlived her. Her first child was born prematurely in February of 1815 and died in March. As any mother would be, she was devastated by this and took a long time to recover. Mary Shelley’s second child, William, was born January 24, 1816. That is when she thought of the story. Her first child had died and her second was only 6 months old. About six months later she was pregnant again. Pregnancy was at the front of Shelley's mind at that point in her life. This information gave me a new outlook on the story of Frankenstein.
This may be a stretch, but I think that Frankenstein is partially about the fears of a pregnant woman. The story expresses many of the fears of a mother-to-be; What if my baby is deformed? Will I still love it like a normal child? Am I capable of being a good mother? Will I be okay through childbirth? I believe that Mary Shelley was expressing her fears related to the death of her first child, her ability to nurture, and the fact that her mother died having her. This is reflected in Victor’s failure as a parent.
Victor Frankenstein labored on his creation for approximately nine months. Finally, he describes the “birth”: "I saw the dull yellow eye of the creature open; it breathed hard, and a convulsive motion agitated its limbs." (Pg. 51) Instead of reaching out to his child, Victor runs out of the room disgusted by the creature’s ugliness. When the creature follows after him, Victor continues to run away, completely abandoning his creation.
While creating his “child”, Victor never considered whether it would even want to exist. He also did not think about the creature's appearance...