What Crucial Role in the Creature Development Is Played by the De Lacey Family

The DeLacey Family unit can be constitute in Volume two of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Though the family and the monster have minimum interaction, they play a major role in the monster's development as a character. Every bit the monster wanders the countryside to escape the wrath of the first boondocks he discovers, he builds a minor dwelling to view the exterior world from a distance. He comes to study a poor, peasant family unit. The first member of the family the monster observes is a immature woman named Agatha. The monster notes her plain way of dressing and her "patient, yet sad" countenance as she does her chores (Shelley, 79). The monster later sees a young man named Felix and recalls his countenance as one of "a deeper despondence" (Shelley, 79). During his observation, the monster realizes that role of the "abode" he created allows him to meet into the house of the brother and sister he had been watching. As he peers through the cottage, he observes "an old human, leaning with his head on his hands in a disconsolate attitude" (Shelley, 80). The monster learns that this is the leader of the family unit, a bullheaded homo named DeLacey. The monster begins to admire the family's nights of music-playing and story-telling. Despite the family unit's dearest for one another, the monster observes the continuation of their collective sadness until the inflow of an Arabian adult female. The monster shares that the new addition to the family unit is Felix'southward love, Safie. He learns that Safie and Felix were separated after Safie's father "became obnoxious to the government", which led to the family'southward sadness (Shelley, 92). Afterwards witnessing their joyful reunion, the monster begins his self-instruction through ascertainment of Felix's education lessons for Safie and books he finds in the woods. Ane night, when DeLacey is abode alone, the monster finds the courage to finally meet him. Their seemingly successful chat comes to a screeching halt when DeLacey'due south family unit enters the cottage and attacks the monster out of fear. This encounter fuels the monster's anger for his creator, Frankenstein.

The monster observing the DeLaceys through the hole in his dwelling. (Veronica Eitherangel, Nov xx, 2012).

Contents

• 1 Major Themes
  • ane.1 Sympathy
  • 1.two Family unit
• 2 Affect in Frankenstein
• iii References and Suggestions for Further Reading

Major Themes

Sympathy

The monster's observation of the DeLacey family unit teaches him the concept of sympathy. He becomes aware of the family's financial situation through shut observation of their behavior. The monster recalls, "A considerable period elapsed before I discovered one of the causes of the uneasiness of this amiable family; it was poverty: and they suffered that evil in a very distressing degree"(Shelley, 82). Not long into the monster's evolution, he begins to understand the concept of class. This understanding allows him to encounter the battle the family is facing with their power to produce their own means of survival.

Initially, the monster steals the family unit's food and firewood equally a way to ensure his own survival. The monster shares, "I had been accepted, during the night, to steal a part of their store for my own consumption; merely when I plant that in doing this I inflicted pain on the cottagers, I abstained, and satisfied myself with berries, nuts, and roots, which I gathered from a neighboring woods" (Shelley, 82). After shut ascertainment, the monster comes to the realization that the family he is stealing from is i of meager means. Seeing how this affects the family, which he refers to as the infliction of pain, shows the monster'south comprehension of the emotions of others.

The family's suffering causes the monster to change his behavior from a thief to a giver equally he becomes the family unit's secret supplier of firewood. The monster shares, "I found that the youth spent a slap-up part of each day in collecting wood for the family burn down; and, during the night, I oft took his tools, the employ of which I quickly discovered, and brought dwelling house firing sufficient for the consumption of several days" (Shelley, 82). The monster's sympathy and adoration for the DeLaceys is captured with this gesture. Sympathizing with their condition of poverty and realizing his contribution to their limited resources, results in his help with gathering forest to help the DeLaceys survive the cold weather.

Family

Through his observation of the DeLaceys, the monster learns that DeLacey is a blind man. The monster becomes fascinated past the relationship between the father and his two children. He observes, "Nix could exceed the love and respect which the younger cottagers exhibited towards their venerable companion. They performed towards him every petty office of affection and duty with gentleness; and he rewarded them with his benevolent smiles" (Shelley, 82). The monster'due south understanding of family begins with his assay of the relationship betwixt the three family unit members. He sees the kind treatment that is reciprocated from parent to child. Felix and Agatha serve their father through their work around the house, and they are rewarded past the affection and appreciation of their father, which is shown through his "benevolent smiles".

The monster is able to see the beloved behind the actions of each family member that serve the greater proficient of the family. The monster recalls memories of Felix's kindness towards Agatha. He remembers, "In the midst of poverty and desire, Felix carried with pleasure to his sister the first little white flower that peeped out from below the snowy ground" (Shelley, 84). With this gesture, the monster learns that the DeLacey family unit, despite limited means and distress, still place an incredible value on sharing their beloved for one another. The monster as well recalls Felix waking up before his father and sister to clear paths through the snow for Agatha's chores, gathering wood for the family'due south burn down and drawing h2o for the family to drink. Felix'southward actions put him in a fatherly role, as he is the i to take the responsibleness of caring for his family because of his father's inability to do so. His ability to put his family's needs before his own, shows the beloved that has been engrained in the DeLaceys.

The monster's observation of the love the family members accept for one some other is both a benefit to the monster'south understanding of family life, as he comes to crave such a tight-knit relationship, as well every bit a detriment, as he comes to the realization that he will never be a office of such a unit of measurement.

After close observation of the family, the monster is able to become familiar with their linguistic communication, as he is able to empathise a sure corporeality of their words and produce some of his own. When Safie arrives, the monster reports her use of a language unfamiliar to him. To break down this language bulwark, Felix uses his mastery of language to teach Safie. The monster observes these lessons and uses the education for the continuation of his own skills. The monster remembers, "Presently I found, by the frequent recurrence of ane audio which the stranger repeated after them, that she was endeavouring to learn their language; and the thought instantly occurred to me, that I should make use of the same instructions to the same end" (Shelley, 88). The educational activity of Safie runs parallel with the education of the monster. Safie and the monster both learn the science of letters, equally well as their meanings when combined in various ways.

This educational activity is conducted through basic instruction and the use of C.F. Volney'southward Ruins of Empires. Once the monster reaches a high level of literacy, he continues his self-pedagogy through John Milton's Paradise Lost, Plutarch's Lives and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Sorrows of Werter, all of which he finds in a pocketbook in the woods. The books not only assistance the monster in obtaining a greater agreement of language, simply open his eyes to a globe of emotion, feeling and experience. The monster shares, "I tin can hardly describe to you lot the effect of these books. They produced in me and infinity of new images and feelings, that sometimes raised me to ecstasy, but more frequently sunk me into the everyman dejection" (Shelley, 96). The written word causes the monster to question his existence. This questioning breeds more hate for his creator every bit he grows to despise his hated and feared condition.

Bear upon in Frankenstein

The theme of forgiveness encourages the monster'south growth as a grapheme. Forgiveness allows him to understand right from wrong and good from bad. From stalking the family, the monster becomes aware of the DeLacey's poverty and develops feelings of remorse for his actions, and then he becomes the silent supplier of the family unit's firewood. The monster's sympathetic nature contributes to his development as complex graphic symbol with the conscience of a human but the advent of a monster.

The theme of educational activity inspired by the monster'southward ascertainment of the DeLaceys proves to be both a blessing and a detriment to his development as a character. Initially, the monster is satisfied with achieving a bones understanding of the family's communication, but this small taste of knowledge drives the monster to continue the expansion of his teaching. Afterward observing Felix's pedagogy of Safie, the monster desires to become even more aware of the exterior globe. He conducts this cocky-educational activity through Paradise Lost, Plutarch's Lives, and Sorrows of Werter. These books improve his comprehension of written linguistic communication, but bring to his attention the realities of his condition. He begins to question his existence—who he is and what meaning his life has. These questions ultimately crusade his ruin as he comes to the understanding that he is a creature without a distinct place in society. This realization contributes to his swelling anger towards his creator, Frankenstein.

References and Suggestions for Further Reading

Buchen, Irving H. "Frankenstein and the Abracadabra of Creation and Evolution." JSTOR. Marilyn Gaull, Leap 1977. Web. 16 Feb. 2015.

http://knarf.english.upenn.edu/Articles/buchen.html 50

"The Family of De Lacey." The Life and Times of The Creation. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Feb. 2015.

http://redpandasfrankenstein8-3.weebly.com/the-family-of-de-lacey.html

"Romantic Circles." Wollstonecraft Shelley, Mary. Ed. Neil Fraistat. University of Maryland, May 2009. Web. 16 Feb. 2015.

http://www.rc.umd.edu/editions/frankenstein

Shelley, Mary W. Frankenstein. second ed. New York: Pearson Instruction, 2007. Impress.

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Source: https://mary-shelley.fandom.com/wiki/The_DeLacey_Family

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