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In the case of Frankenstein's monster, we have an essentially innocent creature abandoned by its creator. It is a sort of tabula rasa (blank slate), acquiring moral character and knowledge from its surroundings. As the monster observes the cottagers, it imitates them and acts in a kind and generous fashion, but when it is rejected and treated with disgust, it becomes evil. In this way it acts as a litmus test or ethical mirror for humanity. The monster also reveals the hypocrisy of Frankenstein in applying ethical standards inconsistently, saying:
“Listen to me, Frankenstein. You accuse me of murder; and yet you would, with a satisfied conscience, destroy your own creature. Oh, praise the eternal justice of man!”
Even whilst arguing with Frankenstein, the monster seemingly maintains its composure and a level head, “You are in the wrong, …and instead of threatening I consent to reason with you. I am malicious because I am miserable” (Shelley 174). Eloquent speech, composed thought and mind, these are traits found in the monster that Shelley describes in most of her novel. Nevertheless, the description of the creature is only a page behind from the following statement also expressed by the monster, “I will revenge my injuries; …I will inspire fear, and chiefly towards you my arch enemy… do I swear inextinguishable hatred” (Shelley 175). This response, although it may seem justified, came about because Frankenstein refused to comply to the creature’s
In Frankenstein, Shelley tried to show that a person is shaped by the way that they are treated and their environment. She wanted people to understand that Frankenstein’s monster was born like a baby, innocent and free, and she showed the reader in the novel that it was the way that he was treated that made him who he was. The way that the monster was created would have been seen as immoral by the reader, although he was clearly not evil to begin with, despite the way that he had been created. However the way that he appeared led people...
Like most horror stories, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein has a wretched monster who terrorizes and kills his victims with ease. However, the story is not as simple as it seems. One increasingly popular view of the true nature of the creature is one of understanding. This sympathetic view is often strengthened by looking at the upbringing of the creature in the harsh world in which he matures much as a child would. With no friends or even a true father, the creature can be said to be a product of society and its negative views and constant rejections of him. Although this popular view serves to lessen the severity of his crimes in most people’s eyes, the fact remains that the creature is in fact a cold-hearted wretch whose vindictive nature is brought through the killings which take place throughout the story. Regardless of his unfortunate upbringing and life, however, the creature is a being determined to ruin the life of Victor, through being the master of Victor’s life and every day existence, almost in a slave and master scenario, who feels remorse but continues to kill anyway and is therefore deserving of the title, "monster".
TO WHAT EXTENT DO YOU AGREE THAT FRANKENSTEIN IS TYPICALLY GOTHIC NOT ONLY IN ITS VIOLENCE AND THE RADICAL CHALLENGES TO SOCIAL ORDER IT PRESENTS, BUT ALSO IN IT BEING AN EXTREMELY MORAL TALE?
Early in the novel, a scientist named Victor Frankenstein treats his creation worse than anyone. He does not give the monster a fair chance, before he knows anything about the monster he regrets creating artificial life. Victor sees his monster and is astounded by him at first, then, triggered by appearance and early observation, hates his creation and only sees evil. Frankenstein says, “I never saw a more interesting creature: his eyes have generally an expression of wildness… he is generally melancholy and despairing” (Shelley 51). Frankenstein’s hate and lack of respect for his own creation represents the shallowness of society. When Victor uses words like “wildness” and “creature”, he connotes that he sees the monster as nothing more than an animal. Animals live in the wild and have wildness about them because they only know survival. Victor does not think the monster possesses any human like qualities otherwise he would not regret creating him. Fr...
...ions toward one another. However, Frankenstein’s uncaring, negligent-parent approach to his creation who emotionally resembles a lost child, allows Shelley to establish the conflict between scientific discovery and moral consequence, as well as the greater conflict between right and wrong. She allows the audience to question who the true villain is in the story, and allow each reader to determine for themselves if the “parent” Frankenstein or the “childlike” monster is truly to blame for all the evil deeds that occur. Today, our society should view Frankenstein as a cautionary tale of the possibilities and consequences of scientific discovery mixed with greed.
The novel Frankenstein written by Mary Shelley is a work of fiction that breaks the ethics of science. Ethics is defined as rules of conduct or moral principles which are ignored in the story. The story is about a person named Victor Frankenstein who creates an artificial being. Victor abandons the being out of fear and the being is left to discover the outside world on his own and be rejected by people making the monster go on a violent rampage. Victor’s decision would affect him later on by the monster killing his loved ones causing Victor to suffer. Then Victor chooses to seek revenge on the monster and this choice will bring him to his death. In novel Frankenstein one might say that the main character, Victor, breaks the ethics of science when he plays God by creating his own being.
Mary Shelley expresses various ethical issues by creating a mythical monster called Frankenstein. There is some controversy on how Mary Shelley defines human nature in the novel, there are many features of the way humans react in situations. Shelley uses a relationship between morality and science, she brings the two subjects together when writing Frankenstein, and she shows the amount of controversy with the advancement of science. There are said to be some limits to the scientific inquiry that could have restrained the quantity of scientific implications that Mary Shelley was able to make, along with the types of scientific restraints. Mary Shelley wrote this classic novel in such a way that it depicted some amounts foreshadowing of the world today. This paper will concentrate on the definition of human nature, the controversy of morality and science, the limits to scientific inquiry and how this novel ties in with today’s world.
The creature’s moral ambiguity characteristic was a vile ingredient to the construction of this novel Frankenstein because it made the reader 's sympathies with him even after the audience knows he had committed murder because the readers had seen the truth this creature had to face. That he had tried everything within his power to peacefully live with them, to interact, communicate, and befriend them “these thoughts exhilarated me and led me to apply with fresh ardour to the acquiring the art of language”, that even though he was seen as a monster because of the looks he was created with, something he had no control over, he still had hope to be seen as equals, ”My organs were indeed harsh, but supple; and although my voice was very unlike the soft music of their tones, yet I pronounced such words as I understood with tolerable ease. It was as the ass and the lap-dog; yet surely the gentle ass whose intentions were affectionate, although his manners were rude, deserved better treatment than blows and execration;” this hope of his was utterly crushed, and can only set him up for utter disappointment(12.18). Because in the end he only received hates, scorns, violence, and prejudice from his good will. So in the end of the story, Mary Shelley’s forces the readers to see within the creature’s heart and for
In the novel, Frankenstein written by Mary Shelley, the creature's actions are essentially evil and immoral due to the fact that he did take someone’s life. However, the story as a whole is in favor of the creature and allows readers to sympathize for him.
“I began the creation of a human being” – Victor (54). These exact words from a delusional character from the novel Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, would change the phase of the characters life. The novel Frankenstein is about a man named Victor and how his life changed after his imagination got the best of him.The novel appears to be a monster story but on the contrary, it's actually a story about human nature. Through the characters of Frankenstein’s monster, Victor, William, and the De Lacey family. Shelley shows human nature means being judgmental and being judged. Human nature is the way of life of being judgmental and judged. In the novel,the act of human nature has occurred numerous times. One was when The monster was shot once the boy seen Frankenstein even after he saved a girl's life. Another example was when Victor the creator of the monster was disgusted by his creation.
In the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, Shelley addresses many debatable topics such as creation, sciences and guilt. Indeed these are important topics to discuss. However, morality is the most concerning issue that she discusses. When Victor Frankenstein creates his monster, he believed that he had created a hideous creature that he should not reveal to the world. Frankenstein abandons the monster because he cannot cope with his creation. Immediately, he assumes that his creature is an evil beast, but contrary to this idea, the monster is not evil in nature and possesses what every human has: a soul. The being
end Frankenstein’s life, but, be that as it may, the creature seeks revenge, desires a
In psychology there is a theory known as “Tabula Rasa”, according to The New World Encyclopedia this theory states that, “individual human beings are born "blank" (with no built-in mental content), and that their identity is defined entirely by their experiences and sensory perceptions of the outside world.” According to this theory, Frankenstein is responsible for how the creature behaved. By abandoning the creature, the creature was shown no love, and it’s “sensory perceptions of the outside world” were ones of despair as the outside world feared the creature. That being said the creature was only exposed to negative experiences, making it become coarse and one capable of murder. If Frankenstein had shown the creature love instead of abandoning it, the creature would have been the type of person it longed to be. If Frankenstein would have killed the creation rather than abandon it in it’s “blank slate” William, Henry, and Elizabeth all would have lived, and there would have been no harm by the creature to the
The most famous character in Frankenstein, the Creature, represents the corruption that human greed and ambition can cause. The Creature is conceived by Victor’s ambition and much like his creator, he thirsted for knowledge of the world and its’ workings; “I perceived that the words [...] spoke[n] sometimes produced pleasure or pain, smiles or sadness, in the minds and countenances of the hearers. This was indeed a god-like science, and I ardently desired to become acquainted with it” (Shelley 78). He was abandoned at birth, which left him ignorant and vulnerable and ultimately served as the catalyst to his fascination with the