Babi and
Pat, it does seem that Victor was trying to avoid his own emotional horror at any cost. He kept his friends and family in the dark about what he had done and didn't seem to think that the creature he created had feelings or intelligence, even though his goal seemed to be to create a fully functioning man. The exterior of the creature was all that Victor could see.
Victor was raised to be thoughtful of others. It seems out of character of his upbringing for Victor to actively avoid his creation completely. Of course, we wouldn't have the story unless Victor responds in this way.
I found the following on a site about music in the romantic period but the site says that it applies to all of the arts. This was the atmosphere in which Mary Shelley was writing:
"Romanticism's response to Classicism was a more radical kind of expression, seeking out the new, the curious, and the adventurous. Romanticism is characterized by restless seeking and impulsive reaction. Romantic art differs from classic art by its greater emphasis on the qualities of remoteness and strangeness. A fundamental trait of Romanticism is boundlessness. Throughout the Romantic period, the human mind was peculiarly attracted by disproportionate and excessive features."
http://www.aug.edu/~cshotwel/4350.Romantictraits.htmlThere is more about the romantic period at
http://www.historyguide.org/intellect/lecture16a.html written by Professor Steven Kreis.
He describes the following traits of the romantics that would have influenced Mary Shelley in her writing:
" Intuition was equated with that which men feel strongly. Men could learn by experiment or by logical process—but men could learn more in intuitive flashes and feelings, by learning to trust their instincts. The Romantics distrusted calculation and stressed the limitations of scientific knowledge. The rationality of science fails to apprehend the variety and fullness of reality. Rational analysis destroys the naïve experience of the stream of sensations and in this violation, leads men into error."
"The Romantics did not merely say that there were irrational ways of intuiting reality. They rejected materialism and utilitarianism as types of personal behavior and as philosophies. They sought regeneration -- a regeneration we can liken to that of the medieval heretic or saint. They favored selfless enthusiasm, an enthusiasm which was an expression of faith and not as the product of utilitarian calculation. Emotion -- unbridled emotion -- was celebrated irrespective of its consequences. "
It seems, according to the above writer, that analytical, "calculating" thinking was perceived to be inferiority likely to produce negative results-- as opposed to what they thought was the more "natural" state of individuals intuiting the world with all of their emotions. It may be a reaction to mechanical view of the world epitomized by Isaac Newton in the previous century. Both Walton and Frankenstein are described as loving the wondrous aspects of scientific exploration. It sounds like some aspects of science were actively deplored. Maybe some of you who have the background in science--or history of science-- that I don't have, would have some comments about what Mary Shelley might have been trying to portray in relation to science.
JoanK, I didn't pick up on the significance of the idea that Walton was looking for a "Northeast Passage" as opposed to the Northwest passage. Thanks for pointing that out.
