Fear of Childbirth in Frankenstein

In Frankenstein, the stated purpose of Victor Frankenstein is to end death by reanimating living flesh in a way that would mean that no one ever have to die again, or at very least stay that way. Yet, throughout the book, the fear of childbirth becomes a major undercurrent in the book. In this book, I will explore the ways that Frankenstein uses childbirth as the underlying horror of the characters.

The Birth of the Creature

Victor Frankenstein could possibly be one of the most nervous characters in fiction. Even in horror fiction, which is full of characters who are running away from ghosts and trying not to get eaten by vampires, Victor is particularly nervous well before he sees his creation coming alive for the first time.

Yet, in the creation of the creature, Victor is perfectly calm up until the moment of birth. He is stealing body parts and putting them together. Yet once the monster is alive, Victor is horrified. “His yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath; his hair was lustrous black, and flowing; his teeth of a pearly whiteness; but these luxuriances only formed a more horrid contrast with his watery eyes, that seemed almost of the same colour as the dun-white sockets in which they were set, his shriveled complexion and straight black lips” (53).

One has to ask why Victor is suddenly afraid of the sewed up corpse just because it opens its eyes. Victor had months to become accustomed to the monster. Yet somehow the act of giving it life has unsettled him. This is similar to the post-partum depression experienced by mothers who cannot deal with the time after birth and resent their children. It is also underscores the fact that newborn babies at least are ugly. After a few months, they get personalities and they look cute, but right out of the womb they are screaming poop monsters.

Victor Frankenstein is so frightened of his creation that he runs away and then spends the next two years in a nervous fever. There is considerable chaos surrounding Mary Shelly at the inception of the book – somewhat romanticized in her essay to the 1834 – which included several individuals who were suffering from the same anxiety. For example, Byron’s “wife, Annabella, had fled with her newborn child from the marital home and returned to her parents in order to begin separation proceedings from Byron, whom she thought mad” (Wilson 41). Mary Shelly was also fleeing with Percy Shelly from her angry father. “It was on her mother’s grave that Shelley seduced her when she was 16” (Britton 3).

Social Implications of Childbirth

Until the late 19th century, childbirth was a death sentence for many women. Infant mortality was high and women could die of everything from bleeding to sepsis to infection from doctors who did not wash their hands in between handling dead bodies and attending to the birth. It was only with improved hygiene and medical knowledge that childbirth stopped being something that was likely to kill women and children.

Mary Shelley’s mother died 11 days after her birth and she was traveling with Lord Byron’s mistress who was pregnant with his child. Mary Shelley would give birth to an infant shortly after the writing of the book, who would also die shortly thereafter. Furthermore, Lord Byron’s bitter ex-wife was running away with his child in order to keep her away from his influence.

Another aspect of childbirth that comes through in society and life is the masculine view of childbirth. As mentioned above, Lord Byron’s wife made sure to keep her daughter away from him. While women can die and are expected to fall instantly in love with their children, men are encouraged to make children without taking care of them. A man can run away from his family and even in a social order where men are expected to stay, there is a patriarchal tradition where the father figure is a distant individual who spends all of his time working.

Thus Victor Frankenstein as a man who give birth to a fully grown individual can suffer from both an anxiety that mirrors post-partum depression and a feeling of being trapped within his own actions. “Victor Frankenstein doesn’t value life in the absolute. Instead, he places a higher worth on his reputation. He wants to join the new class of learned men that has replaced the landed gentry as the upper society in Europe.” (Lunsford 174). The class ambitions of Victor belie his nervous disposition, but it is quite telling that after the death of his brother and his servant he goes mountain climbing with his friend Henry. Victor is so individualistic that he cannot conceive of a family and his son’s move to confront him on the mountain is an appeal to meet Victor where he is at instead of expecting Victor to come to him. Infertility

The concluding chapters of Frankenstein are characterized by the end of the Frankenstein line in two very dramatic ways. In the first way, Victor is induced to create a mate for his creation, a woman this time. This is the one that would keep the creature company and make his loneliness in the world less lonely. Victor is ready to do it until he sees the creature and has a nervous breakdown. Victor destroys the monster’s intended bride under the belief that the bride could have children and he could be creating an army of monsters like his creature.

At this point, the motivation for Victor’s destruction seems cruel. A less sympathetic writer could have pushed the narrative into a consideration of the creature’s actions. The creature did murder several people by this point. Yet, his story indicts Victor and Victor’s lack of maternal and paternal feeling. Even though Victor’s fear of his creation is somewhat justified at this point, his action comes down to destroying his creature’s future and thus hope for grandchildren in this line.

In turn, the creature kills Victor’s wife on her wedding night. Victor’s response to the creature’s threat that he will see him on his wedding night is to run away from Elizabeth. A Freudian interpretation could suggest that Victor knew what the creature was talking about and left Elizabeth defenseless in order to allow his creature to kill her.

Thus, the novel ends with two men chasing each other through the arctic weather with Victor taken to pursuing his creation to end him. At this point there is enough revenge to go around, but more importantly Victor has placed a value on destroying the abandoned child that he has neglected throughout the book. In this way, the entire Frankenstein family can be destroyed with the last two members of Victor and his creation dead in the barren wasteland.

Conclusion

The topic of childbirth is a frightening topic for many people and for a 19th century daughter of a feminist who died shortly after she was born, it would have been an even more terrible possibility. In the novel Frankenstein, Mary Shelley depicts a man who managed to give birth to a creature without labor pains or fear of infection (which is rather ironic considering that the morgue was the source of many of the post-partum killer infections). Yet, Victor Frankenstein suffers the same fears that a new mother would experience and he responds by abandoning his son. The narrative of neglect and revenge creates a space where neither creator or creation will ever have children.

Works Cited

Britton, Ronald. “Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein: What Made the Monster Monstrous?” Journal of Analytical Psychology. 60(1). 2015.

Lunsford, Lars. “The Devaluing of Life in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.” The Explicator. 68(3). 2010.

Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein: Complete and Unabridged Classic Edition. Mnemosyne Books. (March 11, 2016).

Wilson, Frances. “How Frankenstein Became a Monster: Two Hundred Years of a Prolific and Horrible Creation.” New Statesman. (September 9-15, 2016)