Frankenstein - Parallelism

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Along with foreshadowing, parallelism is a key element in the story of Frankenstein. One specific example of a parallelism is between the relationships of Ernest and William to Victor and the Creation. Although the relationship between Ernest and William was a short passage, the similarities match closely to Victor and the Creation's at the start of the novel. The passage reads, "Presently Ernest came, and enquired if we had seen his brother: he said he had ben playing with him, that William ran away to hide himself, and that he vainly sought for him, and afterwards waited for him for a long time, but he did not return" (Shelley, 46). After Victor finished his life goal of the creation, the creation arose. Victor ran to hide as soon as he saw the finished creation. The creature did search for Victor but Victor hid as long as he could to stay away from the creature. Although the fate of Victor does not end like Williams, the similar set up of the story occurred to allow parallelism between the differing relationships. Also, this parallelism continued as a part of the frame story of the novel.