The Pains of Parenthood in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein

Olivia Thorne

Now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart.

The origin behind Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel Frankenstein is alluded to in Percy Shelley’s ‘Preface’ to the novel. He states that it came from a ‘playful desire of imitation’ of ‘German stories of ghosts’ while in Geneva. It is unsurprising that Shelley was so inspired by the horror genre, since a year prior to composing Frankenstein she was in a dark period in her life after losing her first child within a month of being born. The psychological trauma that this inflicted on her is evident in her journals from this time in which she writes:

S & I go upstairs & talk a Clary's going — the prospect appears to me more dismall than ever — not the least hope - this is indeed hard to bear —

Modern critics have deciphered that the novel is haunted by a backdrop of postpartum distress from the loss of her child, as well as the death of her mother Mary Wollstonecraft from ‘puerperal fever’ in 1797. The revised 1831 edition of Frankenstein features a frontispiece by Theodore Von Holst illustrating Victor’s immediate reaction after the creation. The scene shows the Creature collapsed on the floor, seemingly as immobile as an infant, with a wide-eyed expression at the shock of birth. Victor is pictured behind, about to flee through the door with his head turned back to his Creature. He displays a look of fear and panic at what he has given life to. From a psychoanalytical standpoint, Victor Frankenstein’s strained relationship with his Creature, as well as the personal effects this has on his mental state, can be read as an early representation of postpartum depression. This essay intends to explore the ways in which Victor’s post-creation detachment from the Creature can be seen as a 19th century representation of postpartum depression, and how the novel is ultimately haunted by the ‘infinite pains’ of parenthood.

Postpartum depression has only been recognised as an official illness from as recently as 1994, yet mental illness following childbirth has been recognised for centuries. In 460 B.C, Hippocrates recorded instances of mental illness in women following childbirth, describing it as a ‘puerperal mania’ which produced ‘agitation, delirium and attacks of mania’. Postpartum psychiatric illness was an interest of doctors in the 19th century, and the early 1800s saw the construction of large new mental institutions which offered a range of treatments. According to the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine:

Puerperal insanity was one of the few clearly recognised entities in 19th century psychiatry...the interpretation of the terms ‘puerperal insanity’, ‘puerperal mania’ and ‘puerperal melancholia’ can be confusing...puerperal melancholia was known, and the connection between mania and melancholia was clearly recognised.

According to the NHS, postpartum depression exhibits symptoms such as:

Loss of interest in the wider world, difficulty bonding with your baby, thoughts about hurting your baby and withdrawing from contact with other people.

The notion of depression following childbirth was well-known, and by the end of the century Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s short story, described by Ellen Moers as a ‘macabre postpartum fantasy’, The Yellow Wallpaper (1892) was published. It is likely, therefore, that many cases of ‘puerperal insanity’ in the 19th century could now be referred to as postpartum depression.

In order to read postpartum depression into the novel, Victor would therefore be cast as not just the creator of his Creature, but the parent or mother-figure. Ellen Moers describes Frankenstein as a ‘birth myth’, and argues that Victor’s abandonment of his Creature:

Is where Mary Shelley’s book is most powerful, and most feminine: in the motif of revulsion against new-born life, and the drama of guilt, dread, and flight surrounding birth and its consequences...Frankenstein seems to be distinctly a woman’s mythmaking on the subject of birth precisely because its emphasis is not upon what preceded birth, not upon birth itself, but upon what follows birth: the trauma of the afterbirth.

Moers suggests that Victor’s scientific creation is not simply a laboratorial success, but it is a birth, and that the drama of the novel derives from the postpartum trauma from this birth. The National Theatre Live performance of Frankenstein emphasises the birth aspect of the creation scene. The play opens with a circular structure on stage with pieces of flesh coloured fabric stretched across it, behind which is the shadow of the Creature similar to a silhouette of a pregnant womb. The Creature twitches behind the fabric, begins to struggle his way through the material and eventually forces his head through, imitating the movements of a baby squirming through to birth. It is clear that modern stage interpretations of Shelley’s novel are particularly concerned with presenting the creation as more of a birth than a science experiment, and therefore positioning Victor as a pseudo mother figure.

It is worth exploring Moers’s notion of the ‘trauma of the afterbirth’ as being the most feminine aspect of the novel. If one were to read Victor as the mother-figure, it is reasonable to suggest that Shelley is re-imagining the female plight in a male character. As specified in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine:

The specificity of puerperal insanity...rested on aetiology rather than symptomatology; and the specific cause of puerperal insanity was supposed to be the close connection between the sexual organs and the mental state of women.

In the medical world of the early 19th century ‘puerperal insanity’ was seen as a disorder caused by the anatomy of the female rather than the traumatic circumstance which, particularly at this time, can occur during childbirth. By depicting a male character with these traits, Shelley presents ‘puerperal insanity’ or (in the 21st century) postpartum depression as something caused by, to echo the words of Moers, the ‘trauma of the afterbirth’. Shelley therefore rejects the notion that mental illness caused by childbirth is confined to a female due to the anatomy and therefore biological ‘weakness’ and asserts that, should a male be in a position of creating life, he too is susceptible to it.

The Monster’s ‘birth’ is preceded by an almost gestation-like description. Victor is presented as almost experiencing the physical pains of late pregnancy, and he recounts that:

Every night I was oppressed by a slow fever, and I became nervous to a most painful degree...but I believed that exercise and amusement would soon drive away such symptoms; and I promised myself both of these, when my creation should be complete.

Victor acknowledges what would alleviate his pain yet understands that he can only do this once his ‘creation is complete’ and therefore physically able to help himself. This is reminiscent of the late-term discomfort of a pregnant woman, and the the reward of the pain and relief following the eventual birth. This is something which Shelley had herself experienced, and Moers states in her work that:

For Frankenstein is a birth myth, and one which was lodged in the novelist’s imagination, I am convinced, by the fact that she was herself a mother. Shelley’s experience of motherhood is one which writers’ rarely brought to their novels during the Romantic period, and it is a significant influence over the themes of parenthood in the novel.

Victor’s pains of creating this being are not, as he anticipated, worthwhile. Shelley writes:

How can I describe my emotions at this catastrophe, or how delineate the wretch of whom with such infinite pains and care I had endeavoured to form?

The term ‘infinite pains and care’ further positions Victor as a parental figure rather than simply a creator. The pain of creating life which Victor refers to aligns his work with childbirth and the infinite duty of care he now has to his Creature. Moreover, Victor’s incapability to articulate his disgust for his Creature is indicative of the ‘aversion to the child’ symptom of postpartum depression. Victor’s description of his newly formed being is also comparable to that of a new born baby, specifically the reference to his ‘shrivelled complexion’. Despite literally piecing him together, Victor is incapable of foreseeing the end result, just as how a mother cannot not know the appearance of her child until it is birthed. Based on its appearance, he ultimately feels that his Creation is unsatisfactory and states that:

I had deprived myself of rest and health...now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart.

Victor implies that he had compromised his body and mind in order to create this being, much like how a mother risks her body and mind to grow and birth a baby. His immediate reaction to his creature echoes contemporary understanding of ‘puerperal insanity’ due to his lack of interest and aversion to his ‘child’.

Following the creation, Victor retires to his bed-chamber and falls into an almost post-natal slumber. As is typical for new parents, Victor is not asleep for long until he is awoken by his new being. He recounts that:

I started from my sleep with horror; a cold dew covered my forehead, my teeth chattered, and every limb became convulsed; when...I beheld the wretch.

The description of Victor’s post-creation physical turmoil is reminiscent of the exhausted post-birth female. Shelley’s father, William Godwin, recorded an account of her mother’s final days. In his diary, he describes the convulsion which Wollstonecraft experienced some days after giving birth, writing that:

Every muscle of the body trembled, the teeth chattered, and the bed shook under her.

It is likely, therefore, that Shelley took some inspiration from her father’s description of her mother and applied it to Victor’s ‘post-birth’ turmoil. Shelley’s traumatic birth, as well as her own tragic experiences of motherhood means her painful and horrifying presentation of this creation scene is unsurprising:

Following the abandonment of his ‘child’, Victor becomes ‘very ill’ in which:
The form of the monster on whom I bestowed existence was for ever before my eyes.
Victor recalls his recovery to Walton, and states:
I remember first time I became capable of observing outside objects with any kind of pleasure [...] it was a divine spring; and the season contributed greatly to my convalescence. I felt also sentiments of joy and affection revive in my bosom; my gloom disappeared, and in a short time I became as cheerful as before I was attacked by the fatal passion.

The etymology of the word ‘passion’ derives from the Latin ‘patoir’ meaning ‘to suffer’. It is significant, therefore, that Victor’s passion should consist of him being disinterested in the wider world. This is indicative of postpartum depression, as well as his lack of ‘joy and affection’ and the ‘gloom’ he describes himself as having. Shelley was herself acquainted with bouts of depression, as is recorded in her 1814 journal:

Why are my spirits so utterly depressed – so overcome even to despair? This greatly arises from my not being independent and alone...the warfare that is made against the sole passion that consoles me will subdue me to death or unworthiness.

It is worth noting also, that the year 1816 saw the suicides of her half-sister Fanny Imlay and Percy Shelley’s wife, Harriet Shelley, which likely influenced Victor and his Monster’s suicidal tendencies. The ‘passion’ which Shelley battled throughout her life is replicated and expressed masterfully, therefore, in Victor’s ‘fatal passion’ or depression following the ‘birth’.

In conclusion, it is clear that Frankenstein is a novel haunted by the postpartum distress of the author. Shelley’s preoccupation with ‘failed’ motherhood while writing is indicative in the ‘postpartum insanity’ or, what we now refer to as, the postpartum depression of Victor Frankenstein. After ‘so much time spent in painful labour’, the outcome did not evoke the joy he expected it to, and he instead falls into a ‘fatal passion’ in which he isolates himself, loses interest in the outside world, rejects and even has thoughts of destroying his ‘child’. By reading postpartum depression in Victor’s response to his Creation, it awards him with a sense of sympathy which is, in the 21st century, most commonly awarded to the Creature. Victor’s final speech to Walton is one of depressed longing for death. He laments:

This hour, when I momentarily expect my release, is the only happy one which I have enjoyed for several years.

In his final lines, Shelley informs the reader of Victor’s ‘passion’ or depression since the ‘birth’ of the Creature. He articulates that he has been in a state of constant unhappiness for years and sees death as an escape from his depression, caused by his Creation. To echo the words of Moers, Frankenstein is a ‘birth myth’ which deals with the mental turmoil and ‘infinite pains’ of parenthood.