Frankenstein - De Lacey Family
AGATHA
FELIX
SAFIE
DE LACEY
Sympathetic
A + F self-sacrifice and oftern give delacey their food to keep him in good health
Always support eachother in difficult circumstances
Creature admires their qualities
Accepting
Loving + supportive
'The girl was young and of gentle demeanour, unlike what I have since found cottagers and farmhouse servants to be. Yet she was meanly dressed...'
Agatha's appearance - Clothes are cheap and simple yet she described as gentle, first impressions from the monster.
Monster doesn't understand what poverty/class is.
Outsider
Due to her language and religion. Unable to communicate with the De Lacet family.
Teach her to speak and read in order to feel comfotorbale and welcome.
Doppleganger to the monster
Monster learns a lot from this character and is thankfull that someone is in the same situation as him.
Provides the creature with hope that he will also be accepted by the family.
'Beheld a countenance of angelic beauty and expression. Her hair of a shinning raven black, and curiously braided; her eyes were dark, but gentle. although animated...'
Presented as physically beautiful - reason she was accepted into the family.
Creature compares her beauty to that of an angel - common theme in description of physical appearance of female characters.
Other characters percieve her difference as beautiful
Her 'curiously braided' hair suggests her difference marks ger out as interesting
Similar on their descriptions (hair/ eyes/ proportion of features) - she is accepted and the monster isn't.
Character is used as a tool and then exiled
'the Arabian was left alone, unacquainted with the language of the country and utterly ignorant of the customs of the world.'
Her interpretor (Felix) dies and Safies "otherness" means she is isolated from society because she does not speak or understand the language. Lacks understanding of the culture.
Doppelganger to monster
Both isolated from the world for the same reasons all over again.
BACKGROUND
"Agatha fainted, and Safie, unable to attend to her friend, rushed out of the cottage. Felix darted forward, and with supernatural force tore me from his father, to whose knees I clung; in a transport of fury, he dashed me to the ground and struck me violently with a stick."
Felix judged the animal based on looks and attacked him.
"had ranked with ladies of the highest distinction"
“What chiefly struck me was the gentle manners of these people; and I longed to join them,** but dared not.”
Perspective of the monster observing the De lacey family. Focusing on the kindness and consideration they show to one another.
'utter the words “good spirit” “wonderful” '
He takes it upon himself to bring them extra firewood and other supplies, and they are very grateful since they live in poverty.
Based on the kindness of these acts, the family assumes that whoever is helping them is good and benevolent.
However, when they actually encounter the monster, they are unable to see past his repulsive appearance. It seems impossible to them that kind actions could be performed by a grotesque being.
The De Lacey family consist of an old blind man, his son and daughter; Felix and Agatha. They are an exiled French family (lived in luxuriously in Paris until they were stripped of their fortune) who the Monster observes whilst he is hiding, learning how to speak and interact by observing them over a period of months.
"For several times they placed food before the old man when they reserved none for themselves"
Shows their caring, selfless nature
Represent an idyllic, kind family, even in the hardships of poverty
Their example of healthy relationships, is the root of the monsters longing for canpaionship
"A miserable asylum in the cottage in Germany"
Safies father is forced into imprisonment when felix appalled by injustice, vowed to do anything for aries father in order to release him
Negatively oriented noun "asylum"
Father is falsely imprisoned by Parisian goverment
Forced to go into exile when Felix appalled by injustice, vowed to do anything for safies father in order to free hiim.
"I was benevolent and good; misery made a fiend"
They were his last hope of happiness
Their rejection scultpts his violent behaviour
Illustrates perspective of being born good, and that evil is taught
"Fiend" has connotations of a diabolically cruel/wicked person
Parataxis sentance structure, emphasises the significance of this sentence
Ideals of women
Positive reflections of women that may have been overlooked in the 1800 society.
Reference to Mary Wolsencraft
Cares for elderly
Self sacraficing - great virtue (moral standard), often not eating to feed her father
Monster is moved by Agathas actions, teaches him about healthy relationships - longs for the same companionship
FOILS his loneliness and highlights his lack of companionship.
Innocent
Faints at the sight of the monster - powerful emotive response
Abrupt. - shock
"The gentle words of Agatha"
Innocence
Adjective "gentle"- positive and pure
Felix and Safie are Doppelgangers of Relationship between Elizabeth and Victor
"his sweet Arabian"
Possessive pronoun, ownership - his property
Romanticised her race - only thing exciting about her - sound exotic and exciting
Attitudes towards Safie is possessive and doting
Reacts with terror and anger
"Felix darted forward, and with supernatural force tore me from his father"
"He exterted himsel to ameliorate condition, and I felt that the cause of his exertions"
Selfless
Protective and terror from the repulusive appearance, material verb "darted forward"
Fulfill the stereotypical masculine role
Depressive state before Safie arrives - loneliness/isolation
Importance of love (ties into romanticism)
He serves many literary purposes:
His warm-hearted goodness to his family attracts the monster
Although his son's actions have brought him into poverty and exile, he doesn't love felix any less
The strong family relationships he has created emphasise the monsters loneliness
He is the only character who shows the monster any kindness
Represents the goodness of human nature, without the means o prejudice
The monsters desperation scares De Lacey
"expression of goodness that bestowed pleasure even upon me"
Emphasises the kindness he displays to the monster
This is why the monster chooses him to try and befriend, to be accepted into the family.
"Bestow" - material verb whixh has implies the conveying of something as gift
"He had lived for many years in affluence"
Emphasing their poverty, and how they still find happiness without money due to their strong relationships with one and another
"Affluence" - (abstract noun) suggests an abundance of health
"the father doted on the smiles of the infant"
These attributes make him an idealised father character, which may be a technique of Shellys to emphasise to monsters lack of an affecctionate father figure
Foils the monster
Outsider, but still accepted which gives the monster a sense of hope that they will also axxept him
Incredible independence
Goes against a women’s stereotypical passive role (Shelley was a feminist)
For a women in the 1800’s, she escaped her father and left Turkey with just her attendant. The attendant fall ill and Safie goes on alone
Her courage to leave her father for love, shows extreme independence (also mirrors Shelley’s experience of disobeying her father for the love of her life)
Motif of Journey