Describe Victor’s relationship with his father in the novel Frankenstein. Do they have a healthy relationship? Why or why not?

The character of Victor Frankenstein is deeply flawed. He tends to blur lines in every aspect of his life, including his desires, wishes, and even his relationships, based on his affection towards people. 

Throughout most of the novel, Victor's only consistent emotion is pain and guilt. However, the spectrum of all of his other emotions range from wild obsession, to ranging anger, to madness, and even to regret.

All of this leads to the conclusion that any positive aspects of any of Victor's relationships were not caused by Victor. He was often the recipient in his relationships:

• Elizabeth gave Victor comfort, succor, love, and security


• Clerval was loyal, charming, joyful, and gave Victor altruistic support and strength.

Similarly, Alphonse Frankenstein, Victor's father, not only gave Victor a good family name, a fantastic upbringing, wealth, and great education. He also gave him the love and support that he (Alphonse) equally gave to the rest of his family. 

However, a closer look into the reading shows that, within the happy walls of the Frankenstein estate, a lot of dysfunction seems to take place

1. The Agrippa issue

During a family vacation, Victor comes upon the writings of Cornelius Agrippa. Fascinated by them, Victor shares his findings with his father, who categorizes the books as "trash" reading.

This incident remained very fresh in Victor's mind, who even hinted at his father's lack of scientific understanding for Victor's eventual obsession with what these writings taught.  

2. Reactions

Alphonse Frankenstein may have been a loving father, but he was not the nurturer that his wife, Caroline, used to be. In fact, upon the death of Caroline, Alphonse seems lost in his role as a widowed man in a patriarchal society: Is he supposed to be a provider, a leader, or a nurturer? Obviously, in his society, this would have been a real issue, as women were almost entirely connected to the nurturing crux of the home life. However, Alphonse did what he could to keep things together. 

The problem is that, as we will notice, Alphonse reacts drastically to situations. It is no surprise that he does, but in being so affected by the tragedies of his family, he is unable to see, hear, feel, or say the things that a true patriarch should. 

A good example comes when Victor, in the middle of his mental crisis, tells his father that he is responsible for what is going on. In more than one occasion, Alphonse simply dismisses his son's words without even considering where they could be coming from. This shows a tendency of Alphonse to "brush off" the things that he cannot deal with, much Victor's disappointment. 

3. Subtle connections

All through the novel Shelley throws more hints of the fatal fatherly ties among Alphonse-Victor and the Creature. When Victor is in prison, his ward announces the visit of a "friend". For some odd reason that Victor himself could not explain, Victor thought that this friend was the monster himself. The visitor, however, was his father. This odd connection happens twice more in the novel.

In this fashion, Shelley wants to unveil to the reader that there is dysfunction among the Frankensteins, even when the home life seems perfect and idyllic. Perhaps she is trying to give the connotation that the bad parent trait, and the inability to communicate effectively with their kin is evident between Victor and Alphonse, and between Victor and the creature. 

Therefore, while the relationship between Alphonse and Victor seems normal from the outside,many issues lurked deep within.