Comparative Essay On The Relationship Between Frankenstein And The Tempest

Most people know the concept of human nature in its simplest form, a way in which humans interact with the world around them, but perhaps a more fascinating and often overlooked component of this anomaly (what word should I actually use here?) is the way that human nature applies to the way that people treat each other. Shakespeare and Shelly both observed the way in which instinct affected the way people treat each other and incorporated it into The Tempest and Frankenstein respectively. They focused on two major aspects of human nature, the way people act when in a position of power and the way people act when face with outsiders. Shakespeare did this by showing Caliban as a victim of human nature in both of these situations. Shelly made

this point in the same way, by showing the monster as a victim of human nature in these two situations. Although these two stories were written 200 years’ apart, people’s interactions with and treatment towards each other has remained constant in both The Tempest by Shakespeare and Frankenstein by Mary Shelly. This shows that regardless of time period and culture, human nature is the driving force behind the manner in which humans treat other specifically how they mistreat each other.
As English historian Lord Acton one said, “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Regardless of culture, time period, or social standing there are numerous studies and historical examples proving Lord Acton’s claim to be true. Some of the most notable examples of this are world leaders who assumed power and used that authority to abuse the population of their countries. One instance where this applies is in England in the year of 1590 when a countess by the name of Elizabeth Báthory de Ecsed known today as The Blood Countess takes power. During her 20 year reign she would trick destitute peasant women to her castle under the impression that coming there to work as maids. She would then torture and kill the unsuspecting proletariat citizens. This same abuse of power can be seen 400 years later more than 6,000 miles away in Cambodia when Pol Pot came into power. Similar to Countess Elizabeth Báthory de Ecsed, once he became corrupted by this power he abused it. Under his rule in Cambodia 2 million Cambodians were starved, tortured, and executed as a result of his reign. Aside from these historical examples, a study conducted in 2008 by The University of California, Berkley found that people who consider themselves to be in a position of power tend to show less compassion and empathy towards others, and show less interest in forming a mutually respectful relationship with people who consider themselves less powerful. Throughout history and certainly looking into the future the social elites of our society will continue to mistreat the lower class, which is an observation that both Shakespeare and Shelly made and wrote about.
In Shakespeare’s the Tempest he made this observation about society and incorporated it into the relationship between Prospero and Caliban.

In this case Prospero the rightful Duke of Milan has power over the seemingly uncivilized Caliban whom he seized the island from years ago. Prospero, in the position of power, commits three major atrocities against Caliban in The Tempest the first is taking the island from Caliban, the second is a direct result of the first and it is Prospero’s enslavement of Caliban, and the third is verbal abuse (end, and act 1 scene 2). The first interaction between Prospero and Caliban illustrates Prospero’s apprehension of the island from Caliban which he explains in the first act, “I must eat my dinner./This island’s mine by Sycorax my mother,/Which thou tak’st from me.” (Shakespeare, 1.2.331–333). In this quotation Caliban explains his rightful claim to the island that was given to him by his mother, and the way that Prospero took it from him. The second way Prospero used his power to abuse Caliban was by enslaving him after conquering the island. He did this by using his extensive knowledge and education as a form of power to trick Caliban into becoming a loyal slave. He first treated Caliban as a friend to gain loyalty. Caliban recounts this time in the first act, “When thou cam’st first/Thou strok’st me and made much of me; wouldst give me/Water with berries in’t, and teach me how/To name the bigger light, and how the less,/ That burn by day

and night. And then I loved thee” (Shakespeare, 1.2.333–337). After Prospero gains Caliban’s loyalty Prospero exploits this loyalty and enslaves Caliban. The final way Prospero exploits Caliban is through verbal abuse which can again be seen in the very first interaction between the two characters in act 1. Prospero starts by calling Caliban a “poisonous slave” because he is the child of the devil and the evil Sycorax. Prospero then threatens him with magic saying that he will make the night unpleasant for Caliban by giving him cramps. These small acts of bullying are a way for Prospero to show dominance over Caliban and demean him. The frequency of abuses like these three allow the reader to come to two conclusions, first, Shakespeare placed these in the play intentionally to make a point and second it is unavoidable human nature for Prospero to bully and abuse Caliban.
Mary Shelly writes about similar themes in Frankenstein observing this phenomenon and integrating it into the story line through Victor Frankenstein and his helpless monster. Brought to life with the knowledge of an infant, but the figure of a beast the monster was absolutely clueless. Victor didn’t have power by money or influence, but rather in the knowledge and the ability to create the monster however he choses. Throughout the story the monster became a victim of the choices Victor made. First Victor didn’t consider what the monster’s situation would be once he was alive, then he abandoned the monster when he created it, and finally he refused to create a friend for the monster which tortured the poor lonely creature. The power that Victor Frankenstein had was knowledge, and amongst the excitement of that knowledge to create life he neglected to consider what consequences for his creation may be. In the end this selfishness blinded him from the fact that life would be awful for his outcast creation, and society wouldn’t accept the monster. After failing to consider the future, Frankenstein proceeded with his creation and the day the monster came to life he ran away. Frankenstein let the fear of his creation drive him away in chapter 5, “Unable to endure the aspect of the being I had created, I rushed out of the room and continued a long time traversing my bed-chamber” (Shelly, 5.199). Feeling no obligation to help the creature whom he had already dehumanized, he didn’t give the monster a second thought. That is, until the monster came to him in a plea for help, which is where Victor pains the monster one last time. The monster isolated and lonely as a result of Victors’ abuse so he asks Victor to create another creature to keep him company and Victor declines. Victor Frankenstein is extraordinarily powerful because of this knowledge he holds, but he never uses it to help his creation only to hurt it.
Evidence of prejudice and discrimination against people who look different dates back to ancient times. Although it has taken different forms throughout history, discrimination has been an unshakable aspect of human nature. This trend is most commonly seen in the form of racism, an idea that existed in one of the worlds oldest civilizations, Ancient Egypt, and is still prevalent in countries across the world today. Ancient Egyptian cave paintings from as early as 1350 BC illustrate human skin with four different colors; red, yellow, black, and white. It is believed that these four ethnic groups fought for power over 2,000 years ago. When the lighter skinned Egyptians held power, they would call the dark skinned population “The evil race of Ish”, and when the dark skinned Egyptians held power, they would refer to the lighter skinned population as “The pale, degraded race of Arvad.” . This concept of racial discrimination continued through the centuries and still exists in modern times. Looking exclusively at US history shows multiple examples of discrimination against different groups including the Native American’s when Europeans first arrived in the new world, the African-Americans stemming from slavery in the 17th and 18th centuries, and the Japanese-Americans after the events of World War II. Based on historical examples, racism is an inevitable part of human nature, and this was proven by a 2005 Arizona State University study. The study concludes, “the tendency to be prejudiced is a form of common sense, hard-wired into the human brain through evolution as an adaptive response to protect our prehistoric ancestors from danger.” Which comes as a result of prehistoric times when outsiders were often a valid threat to the community. It is logical that people in prehistoric times were afraid of outsiders, and that explains the development of hostility towards those who are different, but in today’s times this instinct is obsolete. Shakespeare and Shelly observed and understood this trend rooted in ancient times to discriminate against outsiders and shed light on it through their writing.
The way in which the European settlers (Prospero, Antonio, Miranda, and the others from Italy) in The Tempest treat Caliban closely mirrors the way in which settlers throughout history have treated odd looking natives. The islands newest inhabitants exploit and oppress based mainly upon physical appearance. Soon after the ship wreck, Trinculo is wandering the island when he come across what he describes as “A strange fish.” (Shakespeare, 2.2.25). His primary reaction to this man fish is, “I in England now – as once I was – and had but this fish painted,/not a holiday-fool there but would give a piece of silver.” (Shakespeare, 2.2.26–27). Despite the fact that this creature is alive, Trinculo’s first instinct is not to help it, but rather to exploit the strange and unusual looking monster by selling it for his own gain. Caliban comes across a similar situation in Act 5, when Antonio sees the deformed creature and reacts in the same way, saying “One of them/Is a plain fish, and no doubt marketable.” (Shakespeare, 5.1.264–265). In this quotation the reader can assume that the creature Antonio wants to make a profit by selling is Caliban based on the comparison to a fish which is often used throughout The Tempest to describe him. This example once again shows how people treat those who stand out as different, not with respect but with spite. The third example of someone discriminating against Caliban in The Tempest based on looks is Miranda. In the opening act of the pay she refers to Caliban as an “Abhorréd slave” and tells him he is of a “vile race” which is the reason that he is and always will be a slave. This bluntly proves the point that in this instance Miranda is judging solely based on “his kind” or “his race.” Proving that even a character like Miranda who we know to by compassionate still cannot escape humanity (or should I just say human nature again).
To neglect someone based on what they look like is a less direct, but no less real form of discrimination that was the case with Frankenstein’s monster who was a well meaning beast. Unfortunately for him, no one looked passed his physical appearance to find the kindness underneath. As the study by Arizona State University mentioned previously concluded, discrimination is a natural reaction to the fear of outsiders. Much in the same way the ancient civilizations would reject outsiders; the townspeople in Frankenstein ran from the monster before considering the logical course of action. This happened multiple times to the well meaning beast first in Chapter 11 the monster saw an open door to a cottage and walked in, but was perplexed by the mans reaction, “An old man sat in it, near a fire, over which he was preparing breakfast. He turned on hearing a noise; and perceiving me, shrieked loudly, and quitting the hut, ran across the field with a speed of which his debilitated form hardly appeared capable.” (Shelly, 11. 73). As this was his first experience with rejection he didn’t fully understand what had occurred, but this continued to happen, as people were scared of his deformed figure. When the son of the cabin he was hiding at came home one day to see his father, DeLacy, talking to the beast, the son scared him off, and the well meaning beast realized how all humans would treat him. The well meaning beast made his final attempt at human interaction by finding Victor, his creator, who also ran away neglecting his own creation out of fear of the hideous atrocity he had created. No one accepted the monster because he looked like an outsider and a threat, and it is easy to believe that people would react in exactly the same way now for the exact same reason, human nature.
Both The Tempest by Shakespeare and Frankenstein by Mary Shelly make a statement that the way people treat others in certain situations is entirely influenced by inescapable human nature.

The two authors show this through situations where people are placed in similar situations and react in similar ways. Primarily when put in a situation of power, people are expected to mistreat those without power, as evident in The Tempest when studying Prospero and Caliban’s relationship and in Frankenstein when examining Victor and the monster’s relationship. Secondly when faced with people who act and especially look different, human nature is for people to act with hostility and intolerance which is shown in the Tempest by the way the Europeans treat the odd looking native islander, and is also shown in Frankenstein by the general populations reaction to Frankenstein’s monster. Human nature is a timeless concept that will always exist, and was extremely influential in the plot of both The Tempest and Frankenstein which only confirms that these books will be classics

forever.