Frankenstein : Are Monsters Born Or Created?

Easily one of the most notable themes in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, the role of nature versus nurture in developing children, recurs throughout the novel with the two main characters, Frankenstein and his creature, believing in opposite sides of this theme. Favoring nature, Frankenstein maintains that the creature was always evil from the moment of creation, regardless of the creature’s experiences. However, the creature, in his narrative to Frankenstein, argues that “[he] was benevolent and good; misery made [him] a fiend” (106). In adherence with John Locke’s concept of tabula rasa, the creature was born with a blank slate, and only through his experiences does he gain knowledge and personality. Struggling to persevere in the human world, Frankenstein’s creature merely wants humans to welcome him as one of them. The change of the creature from looking “upon crime as a distant evil” because “benevolence and generosity were ever present” in him to seeking revenge on Frankenstein results from a culmination of horrible experiences (103). While it may be hard to see the creature as a trustworthy narrator because of how he has acted and his ulterior motives, he does present physical evidence to support his tale. Facing rejection in different forms, he becomes truly evil, giving up hope of companionship as a result of his trials and lessons. From the moment of his creation, the creature encounters abandonment, violence, isolation, and rejection everywhere he turns.

Frankenstein, a novel by Mary Shelley, tells the story of Victor Frankenstein’s pursuit of creation and the monster he unintentionally brought to life. Horrified with his own creation, Victor escaped his responsibilities, leaving him to fend for himself. The story follows the monster’s futile attempts to assimilate into humanity, his hatred finally leading him to killing his creator’s family one by one until Frankenstein committed himself to vengeance. The theme of humanity was prevalent throughout the novel as the monster’s existence blurred the line between what was “human” and “inhuman.” The question of whether nurture, or nature, mattered more to one’s identity was explored throughout the story. In Frankenstein, nurture rather than

“I was a poor, helpless, miserable wretch; I knew, and could distinguish, nothing; but feeling pain invade me on all sides, I sat down and wept” (Shelley 91). In Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, Mary depicts a hideous, macabre, creature as one of the main characters, who seeks to discover and connect with the unknown world that it has been born into. The creator, Victor Frankenstein, studies life cycle of human beings, ultimately learning the secret of creation through unnatural means. These experiments result in a monster, who must to learn and grow in consciousness, much as an infant would awaken gradually to life. He is, at first, overwhelmed by new sensations, experiencing hunger, thirst, and exhaustion. The monster begins on a clean slate, starting in his adolescence, but experiences continuous vulgar abuse from beings who show to be quick to judge. Though the monster proves to have a positive heart initially, maltreatment gradually changes his response to people and causes him to react negatively to negative stimuli from experiences and necessity. The creature’s response to society is constructed through the mistreatment by Victor Frankenstein, the DeLacey family’s rejection, and his first meeting with Victor Frankenstein in the Alps.

Victor Frankenstein engulfed in the dedication of creating a god like image of himself creates a monster. Upon its creation, the monster’s entire perception of the world was around Victor Frankenstein resembling an infant perceiving its surroundings through its parents. Victor was the monster’s “father”. The monster tried to learn more information on its creator by staring at Victor Frankenstein laid out on the bed. The monster is displaying the behaviors of the attachment theory. All of us have a predisposition to “instinctively and immediately seek to attach ourselves to someone who will keep us safe” (Lines 51). Victor Frankenstein is the first one who outcasts the monster. Victor shuns the monster for being hideous, from the moment he is resurrected. His aspirations of a creature worth admiring was plunged down the drain. Ostracized by Victor Frankenstein, the monster left the humble abode of Frankenstein. Child abandonment, in

Woven throughout Mary Shelley’s renowned novel Frankenstein, are threads of regret, lonesomeness, and rejection. Throughout the story, similarities and diversities are exemplified between Frankenstein and his creature. Both Victor and his creature suffered greatly, but their responses to their suffering is where the differences lie. Victor rejected his creature. The creature had to cope with the rejection. Rejection, demands, similarities, and differences are all portrayed throughout the book.

The 2004 film version of Frankenstein by Mary Shelley has many similarities as well as differences from the novel. There are differences in time, setting, the plot, and the characters. Some of these differences have to do with the amount of time allowed in the movie and the way the characters are portrayed on screen versus in a book. Although there are many differences, there are also many similarities. The overall plot line and main ideas are similar in the book and movie. The movie is different from the book in many ways, but they are based on the same plot line and have a lot of similar ideas.

In the novel Frankenstein, Mary Shelley creates a “mad scientist” named Victor Frankenstein. Victor Frankenstein’s character introduces the creation of another human being. He soon becomes horrified with his creation and wants nothing to do with it. As a result, creature is left alone. The creature wants love and to be loved, but after being rejected by society, he soon becomes a menace.

In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein Victor Frankenstein is depicted as the a typical mad scientist when Shelley focuses on the issues of fatherly neglect that she was subjected to in her own life after her mother passed and her father remarried. Victor is obsessed with the idea of discovering the secret of life and starts experimenting and creating a creature out of old body parts. Once he brings his creation to life, he is disgusted with his monstrous creation and abandons the creature. The Creature by definition is considered a monster. He is rejected by the society and even by his own creator, his “father.” The Creature in rebellious attempts begins killing Victors loved ones as revenge.

Unlike God, Frankenstein neglects his creation. Victor is not there for his creature to cast his burdens on, or to confide in or show direction. In turn, Frankenstein’s creation lashes out against humanity, against even his own creator. Frankenstein’s lack of affection and care for what he had created set forth a domino effect of the creature’s horrible

In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, the creature explains that at the birth, he was innocent, benevolent, trusting and that he was made evil and murderous through experience. What questions does Frankenstein raise about the nature of the creature? Does the creature have morality? How does he turn “monstrous?” In an essay, analyze the ways Frankenstein’s creature becomes a “monster” through experience.

In Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein,” Mary Shelley tells a story within a story in the 18th century. In the beginning, the story is framed by Robert Walton’s, an English man traveling in the Artic, remanences. Walton begins to narrate a story about a Swiss scientist named Victor Frankenstein. This narrative is terrifying and gruesome due to the horrific events that take place during the story. Frankenstein was a medical student who eventually found himself intrigued with surgical experimentation. Due to his fascination with animation, which soon evolves into an obsession, Frankenstein finds himself in a situation that he was unprepared for. In all his “success,” Frankenstein realized that his experimental outcome is too much for him to handle; even though Frankenstein is knowledgeable when it comes to the medical field, his lack of morals leaves him in sad isolation. Which was carried out by no other than his own creation, the creature he had reanimated himself. However, many critics tend to sympathize with the creature despite his actions to destroy Frankenstein’s life. Even though the creature executed terrifying actions, he was raised by a selfish man with no concern for his life. The Creature was created with an innocent child-like mind in the beginning. Nevertheless, the creature had an appearance that was scary and too much for the public to handle, including his own creator Frankenstein. Frankenstein abandons his creature and deprives him of nurturing actions. For this

Victor, in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, not only created a monster, but also created pain and a vehicle of death. His greatest achievement, Creature, brought chaos and havoc to an unsuspecting world. Victor abandoned the Creature at his “birth”, and left him defenseless in a cruel world alone. Victor also refused to make a girl companion for Creature. Living a life devoid of real emotion and love led to Creature’s life of malicious behaviors.

In her nineteenth century novel Frankenstein, Mary Shelley explores the characteristics of humanity, illuminates societal influences on development, and challenges the traditional biological definition of human through character developments and interactions. Particularly, she focuses on the characterization of the creature and his creator, pitting an ugly, malformed giant against an educated, dedicated scientist to establish a surprising conclusion. While the creature becomes fallen and corrupted through society, he retains the desire for companionship and emotional sensibility that he is born with; his duality makes him more human than Victor, who is born more monstrous.

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein portrays one of the darkest, most hopeless situations that could possibly occur due to the monstrous deeds performed by the main characters in the novel. When one thinks of Frankenstein, they generally think of Victor’s creation as being a monster, and the cause of the unfortunate events that occur in the novel. While Victor’s creation is indeed a monster, Victor is equally as monstrous in his actions. While both characters are initially innocent, they are being constantly corrupted throughout the story. Both Victor and his creation become monsters through their actions.