Frankenstein: A Sense of Maturity

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Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein shows the progression of maturity in many characters seen in the book. The monster in the book shows a significant amount of maturity at the end of the novel, however, the maturity progression is not seen because story is Victor’s narration. The wretch knows his murders were wrong and ultimately accepts responsibility for his deeds. In the beginning of the book, the monster has the maturity of an infant and knows not of the way humans behave. The monster lacks nurture and self-control and is emotionally disordered (Brown 148). The monster in Mary Shelley’s gothic novel Frankenstein matures throughout the book, ultimately taking responsibility for his actions, and inflicting upon himself the punishment he believes that he deserves for his sins.

In the beginning of the novel the monster is an infant, incapable of understanding the way humans act. As an infant, the wretch commits numerous misdeeds, showing his initial lack of maturity. The argument can be made that the monster was created with a sense virtue, a benevolent and gentle creature. “I was benevolent and good; misery made me a fiend. Make me happy and I again shall be virtuous” (Shelley 100). This is Perhaps Godwin’s philosophy of “man’s innate goodness”, considering much of the ideas in this novel are inspired by him (qtd. in Swingle 51). Marshall Brown notes: When it first encounters language, the monster calls it a “godlike science”... the monster’s obviously undependable judgment that humans are “all that can be conceived of noble and godlike” when they aren’t “a mere scion of the evil principle” (qtd. in Brown 157).

Shelley’s monster is incredibly intelligent and “learns with astonishing ease” (Brown 150). Desp...

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