Alphonse Frankenstein Flashcards
How is Alphonse a supportive parent?
-He sends Victor to university, facilitating his education.
-He is always there to help Victor and remind him of the importance of family, even when Victor is neglectful.
-He wants Victor to achieve happiness through his marriage to Elizabeth.
-Although Alphonse can seem distant and formal in his letters to Victor, he is a supportive parent.
How is Alphonse a compassionate man?
-The shock and stress of Elizabeth’s murder leads to Alphonse’s death, whereas Victor actively tries to destroy his creation.
-The compassionate behavior of Alphonse as a father to Victor helps to highlight Victor’s own lacking in his role as a parent to the Monster.
‘“My father!” cried I, while every feature and every muscle was relaxed from anguish to pleasure: “is my father indeed come? How kind, how very kind!”
-Alphonse cares so deeply for his son that he travels to Ireland to offer support to Victor whilst he is sick and imprisoned.
-Victor’s enthusiastic response to hearing of his father’s presence demonstrates the positive impact supportive parenting can have.
‘He could not live under the horrors that were accumulated around him; the springs of existence suddenly gave way: he was unable to rise from his bed, and in a few days he died in my arms.’
-Alphonse is presented as being sensitive to the shock of the deaths of his close family members.
-Shelley is careful to make the connection between these deaths and Alphonse’s own demise to suggest that Alphonse’s death is another effect of Victor’s ongoing battle with his creation.
‘I confess, my son, that I have always looked forward to your marriage with our dear Elizabeth as the tie of our domestic comfort, and the stay of my declining years. […] You, perhaps, regard her as your sister, without any wish that she might become your wife.’
-Alphonse is willing to accept that marriage to Elizabeth may not be what Victor wants.
-Alphonse is presented as being thoughtful and emotionally understanding to present the caring parenting from which Victor benefits.
-This contrasts to how Victor treats the Monster.
