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Nature vs. Nurture in Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein
Nature versus nurture is an age-old controversy that is used in psychology to help answer what makes us who we are when it comes to personality and behavior. Nature refers to the personality traits we inherit or are genetically predisposed to. And nurture refers to all the environmental influences that we experience throughout the developmental stages of life. Francis Galton first framed this concept of nature versus nurture in the late 19th century. Galton once said, "Nature is all that a man brings with himself into the world; nurture is every influence from without that affects him after his birth” (Galton 12). Mary Shelley asks the question of nature versus nurture in her novel, Frankenstein: are children genetically predisposed to behave a certain way or is the environment they are brought up in responsible for their behavior? Victor gives life to his creation and then abandons him at birth. Therefore, was the monster born evil, or did his forced isolation and abandonment by Victor cause him to become evil?
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When the novels frame narrative directs to the monsters point of view, he tells Frankenstein about one of the first experiences he has on his journey into the world.
Soon after fleeing Victor’s apartment the monster comes upon a village, where all the people he encounters either run from him or attack him. The monster recalls, “The whole village was roused; some fled, some attacked me, until, grievously bruised by stones and many other kinds of missile weapons, I escaped to the open country, and fearfully took refuge in a low hovel” (Shelley 87). The monster does not act on defense by fighting back but flees instead, proving his goodness and innocence. Because this is one of the monsters first reactions, his act of fleeing can serve as a perfect example of a genetic or natural behavior and can be compared to his reactions later in the
novel. When the monster finally decides to confide in the father of the De Lacey’s, the son Felix finds him in the cottage and attacks him, “he dashed me to the ground, and struck me violently with a stick. I could have torn him limb from limb, as the lion rends the antelope. But my heart sank within me as with bitter sickness, and I refrained” (Shelley 111). The monster maintains his natural behavior by not acting on violence, but as he tells his story to Victor it becomes clear that his outlook as changed, “There was none among the myriads of men that existed who would pity or assist me; and should I feel kindness towards my enemies? No: from that moment I declared everlasting war against the species, and more than all, against him who had formed me, and sent me forth to this insupportable misery” (Shelley 112). This is when it becomes abundantly clear that the monsters experiences have made him into a bitter creature, to the point where he declares war on the human species as a whole and most of all his creator. In The Educational Legacy of Romanticism, while referring to the creature in Frankenstein Willinsky and Rosenberg state, “In his origin, he is neither good nor evil, though he is capable of becoming either” (77). The creature was rejected by humanity, simply because he was never taught to be human. He was abandoned by his only “parent” and then excluded by all others. Therefore although the creature may have been born inherently good, his experiences of rejection and abandonment shaped him into an evil monster.
What makes a person who they are is a difficult dilemma. Mark Twain's novel, "Pudd'nhead Wilson and Those Extraordinary Twins" is a critical analysis of how nature and nurture can cultivate emotions and free will, which in turn affects the life of individuals. "Twain's faltering sense of direction began about slavery, moral decay, and deceptive realities (Kaplan 314). The debate of `nature versus nurture' has been one of the most intriguing scientific and cultural issues for most of the twentieth century, in determining the behavioral aspects of human beings. The changes in environment, society, education, political influences, family values and morals and other external influences, combined with physical genes determines how mankind will evolve into adulthood. Both nature and nurture, in combination with emotions and free will, control the behavior of human beings and determines who we are.
In Frankenstein, various themes are introduced. There are dangerous knowledge, sublime nature, nature versus nurture, monstrosity, and secrecy and guilt. I chose a main theme as nature versus nurture. Nature is some traits that a person is born with, and nurture is an environment that surrounds a person. The novel indirectly debates whether the development of individual is affected more by nature or by nurture through Victor and the Monster.
“I now hasten to the more moving part of my story. I shall relate events that impressed me with feelings which, from what I was, have made me what I am” (Shelley 92). Frankenstein’s Creature presents these lines as it transitions from a being that merely observes its surroundings to something that gains knowledge from the occurrences around it. The Creature learns about humanity from “the perfect forms of [his] cottagers” (90). Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein offers compelling insights into the everlasting nature versus nurture argument. Her husband, Percy Bysshe Shelley wrote, “Treat a person ill, and he will become wicked.” Shelley believes that the nurture of someone, or something, in the Creature’s case, forms them into who they become and what actions they take. While this is true for Frankenstein’s Creature, the same cannot be said about Victor Frankenstein.
The theme of nature vs. nurture is highly debated in the field of psychology and is quite a prevalent topic of the novel Frankenstein. Nature vs. nurture is a psychology term related to whether hereditary genes or the environment
Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein, has captured people’s attention since it was first written. People often wonder how much of Mary Shelley’s life is documented in her novel. From the theme of parental abandonment, to the theme of life and death in the novel, literary scholars have been able to find similarities between Frankenstein and Shelley’s life. The Journal of Religion and Health, the Journal of Analytical Psychology, and the Modern Psychoanalysis discuss the different connections between Shelley’s life and Frankenstein. Badalamenti, the author of “ Why did Mary Shelley Write Frankenstein?” in the Journal of Religion and Health, primarily discusses the connection between Victor
A predominant theme in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is that of child-rearing and/or parenting techniques. Specifically, the novel presents a theory concerning the negative impact on children from the absence of nurturing and motherly love. To demonstrate this theory, Shelly focuses on Victor Frankenstein’s experimenting with nature, which results in the life of his creature, or “child”. Because Frankenstein is displeased with the appearance of his offspring, he abandons him and disclaims all of his “parental” responsibility. Frankenstein’s poor “mothering” and abandonment of his “child” leads to the creation’s inevitable evilness. Victor was not predestined to failure, nor was his creation innately depraved. Rather, it was Victor’s poor “parenting” of his progeny that lead to his creation’s thirst for vindication of his unjust life, in turn leading to the ruin of Victor’s life.
I had the opportunity to read Frankenstein by Mary Shelley several years ago and it became one of my favorite books. My initial feeling was sorrow, what a wonderful story that has been slowly destroyed by Hollywood through the years. We think of Victor Frankenstein as a mad scientist trying to destroy mankind, and the monster having bolts in his neck with very little intellect. Mary Shelley’s book is completely different from the Hollywood version we are accustom to. The monster is intelligent and has emotions, the mad scientist or Victor was scared of his own creation due to his appearance. The monster initially showed no signs of evil in the novel, but where did he learn it from? Who is the real evil monster
...uter appearance reflects one’s inner self, but only because society reacts accordingly, making beautiful people able to do good and ugly people able to do bad. Thus, in the debate over nature versus nurture, nurture clearly holds an emphasis. Frankenstein mindfully toys with the idea that men, women and monsters are all brought into this world as a blank-slate, slowly shaped according to experiences. Eerily enough, vengeance is what gives the monster a rather twisted purpose for existing. Victor is no Prometheus, and the unfortunate result of his ambition shows that people are rulers of our own destinies.
The question “What makes us who we are?” has perplexed many scholars, scientists, and theorists over the years. This is a question that we still may have not found an answer to. There are theories that people are born “good”, “evil”, and as “blank slates”, but it is hard to prove any of these theories consistently. There have been countless cases of people who have grown up in “good” homes with loving parents, yet their destiny was to inflict destruction on others. On the other hand, there have been just as many cases of people who grew up on the streets without the guidance of a parental figure, but they chose to make a bad situation into a good one by growing up to do something worthwhile for mankind. For this reason, it is nearly impossible to determine what makes a human being choose the way he/she behaves. Mary Shelley (1797-1851) published a novel in 1818 to voice her opinions about determining personality and the consequences and repercussions of alienation. Shelley uses the ideas of Jean-Jacques Rousseau to make her point. Rousseau proposed the idea that man is essentially "good" in the beginning of life, but civilization and education can corrupt and warp a human mind and soul. In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus (hereafter referred to as Frankenstein), Victor Frankenstein’s creature with human characteristics shows us that people are born with loving, caring, and moral feelings, but the creature demonstrates how the influence of society can change one’s outlook of others and life itself by his reactions to adversity at “birth”, and his actions after being alienated and rejected by humans several times.
In the humdrum and mundane events of human life, the question is often wondered if certain abstract characteristics are given to individuals via nature or nurture. This notion has been the core of debates for centuries. The nature notion suggests that individuals are innately gifted with their talent. Adverse to nature is the idea that a person’s talents or skills are acquired through a knowledge that has been taught to them i.e. nurture. Like any debate, nature and nurture have their respective followers. Philosophical greats, such as Plato even offered his perspective on the nature vs nurture debacle. In his work, The Republic, Plato vicariously speaks his thoughts through his character Socrates. Socrates defends his view of justice against his friends Glaucon and Adeimantus. Socrates asserts that justice, in itself, is a naturally good and is desired. To defend his view of justice, Socrates must first construct what he believes to be a
Andrew Lustig proposed a great question to the readers of Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein, “How far should we go in out efforts to alter nature, including human nature? As stewards of God’s creation what are our responsibilities?” (Lustig 1) This question results in theme of nature vs. nurture in the novel. The nature vs. nurture debate is an important topic in Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein. The two central characters, Victor Frankenstein and the creature that he creates; both, characters were raised differently. The nature and the nurture of their upbringing can be a cause of why they are, the way they are. Victor and his creature are subject to very different nurturing styles. Shelley also incorporates the representations of light and fire. This representation is key to the nature vs. nurture discussion in the novel.
When Victor abandons the monster he runs away and tries to forget about his failed creation. It was extremely dangerous for Victor to flee his experiment because the monster soon becomes aggressive with hate and is curious to know why Victor left him; furthermore, the monster becomes obsessed with self-learning and knowledge.
Frankenstein, a novel written by Mary Shelley that tells the tale of Dr. Frankenstein’s monster, and Wuthering Heights, a book authored by Emily Brontë that tells the story of a character named Heathcliff, both include the concept of nature vs. nurture. The pair of works include death, a passion-driven villain, and madness, which are all elements present in Gothic literature. The two novels both exhibit the prevailing theme of nature vs. nurture through the usage of these Gothic elements.
The understanding of human nature is the concept that there is a set of inherent distinguishing characteristics, including ways of thinking, feeling, and acting that all humans tend to possess (Winkler, 1996). My basic view of human nature correlates with Charles Darwin’s nature vs. nurture theory. Human nature is influenced by both nature and nurture. Nature is all that a man brings with himself into the world, and nurture is every influence that affects him after his birth. An individual’s morals, values, and beliefs are developed from the nurturing aspect of their life. The environment that an individual is raised in creates their human nature. Then they go through life developing more upon their own morals, values, and beliefs. The nature vs. nurture theory is an every changing concept, and I believe that human nature changes for each individual based on their life experiences.
Nurture is how one is brought up or raised. It includes social standards and customs in the area one was raised. Nurture varies from nature. Nature is one’s biological makeup, or how one was born. Caliban, for example, was born a monster. His mother was an evil witch named Sycorax. When Prospero first came on the island, he and Caliban got along and planned to dually rule the island. However, after Caliban attempted to rape Miranda, Prospero made Caliban his slave. Although Prospero attempted to turn Caliban good, his evil nature took over the attempted nurture. Michael Taylor in Shakespeare Criticism in the Twentieth Century describes the nature of Caliban.