Three Key Ideas from Modern Criticism of Frankenstein

I read Frankenstein and the Tradition of Realism by George Levine, which is a modern criticism of Mary Shelley's famous classic Frankenstein. Three key ideas present in this criticism are:

1. "the hero and his antagonist are one". Levine brings up the point that it is actually commonplace in literature for our hero and his/her enemy to be one and the same. Levine says that Victor and his monster are doubles that resemble and depend upon each other. They are tied together and cannot escape this.

2. "the responsibility of father to son". Levine compares Victor to a father figure and the monster to a son figure. Victor is essentially the monster's father because he deliberately and willfully created it. However, Victor rejects the monster. Levine says that this novel is an "examination of the responsibility of the father to the son.

3. "a claustrophobic novel". Levine says that this book is very claustrophobic because it doesn't really present readers with the whole landscape of the world. It only presents us with "a single mind" and the only figure who "stands outside of that mind" is Walton. Walton works as a connection between our real world and Frankenstein's world. Levine calls this book claustrophobic because so many relationships in it are blood-related. Walton is an outlier with this, too. Even Elizabeth and Victor, who are going to be married, are related to each other. All of these blood relations suffer because of Victor; as he tries to eliminate the monster, he really eliminates his family.