Abhorred by the sight of what he has made, Frankenstein, the equivalent of the creature’s father, flees the room unable to look at the creature. Referring to his success as a catastrophe on page 58, Frankenstein tries his best not to think about “the wretch—the miserable monster”. More than relieved when the creature leaves the house, Frankenstein does not attempt to find him. However, at this point, the creature is essentially an infant, already cast out alone in a world that he does not understand. Left to grow up on his own, the creature runs off to the forest to escape to safety, having no knowledge of language or the world around him. When parents abandon their child, the child ultimately is afflicted by this event for the rest of his …show more content…
To stay away from humans, he makes refuge in a hovel next to the DeLacey family whom he describes as “[his] beloved cottagers” (130). Watching the family through a crevice in his temporary home, the creature feels “sensations of a peculiar and overpowering nature” that were “a mixture of pain and pleasure” (111). From this moment on, he considers the DeLaceys as his surrogate caregivers, taking Frankenstein’s place. While they are ignorant of his existent, the DeLaceys nonetheless influence and teach the creature, which should have been Frankenstein’s job. Their pain and selfless acts of kindness toward each other help to teach the creature their simple, loving ways and nurture his heart. Immediately, the creature stops eating food from their supply to ensure that all three of the family have enough to eat and chops wood so that the son can spend more time performing work around the house. Even though this is an important part of the creature’s development, it is not enough for him simply to learn through trial and error and watching the DeLacey family’s interactions. There is no one to support him, and he never learns to make connections with people. Mostly observing the family, the creature never experiences the process of forming a relationship, which is a necessary part of growing up. Considered to be one of the simplest components of morality, relationships with other beings define a person and help create that person’s personality. Yet, alone in the forest, the creature only watches how happy the DeLaceys are when they are together, realizing how lonely he is without anyone. The creature’s lack of human interactions set him up for failure in the future and make him overly sensitive to
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.
In Volume 2 of Frankenstein, the Creature’s repeated experiences of rejection unleash the “monster” in him and lead to the destruction of the De Laceys cottage. Through the portrayal of the “monster” inside the Creature, Shelley argues that loneliness caused by lack of human relationships will drive an individual to do harmful actions. Throughout volume 2, the Creature had been secretly living alongside the De Lacey family. He grew attached to them the more he spied. The creature finally decides to reveal himself to the De Laceys. As he does that, the family runs away in fear. After all that happens the creature says “My protectors had departed and had broken the only link that held me to the world. For the first time, the feeling of revenge
Agatha fainted, and Safie, unable to attend her friend, rushed out of the cottage” (122). As regular humans, the De Lacey’s cannot accept the creature’s The Creature has scared the De Laceys when seeking for help, and they decide to leave their cottage. He reflects on this news in his hovel “in a state of utter and stupid despair He, mad with their decision, burns down their cottage. He knows that they left because of his appearance and most likely them knowing he has been watching them for time.
American psychologist and well renowned author Jerome Kagan states “Genes and family may determine the foundation of the house, but time and place determine its form.” The topic of nature vs. nurture is highly known to the English literature community and is classified as a major aspect of gothic works. In the novel Frankenstein the author Mary Shelley uses the monster’s constant rejection from society to demonstrate that an individual’s traits are affected more by their environment and their surroundings than by nature.
The creature displays his hatred toward Frankenstein for leaving him immediately and not providing guidance and protection in this harsh, new world by murdering his family and friends. While seeking his creator, the creature first murders Victor Frankenstein’s youngest brother William and exclaims, “I too can create desolation; my enemy is not invulnerable; this death will carry despair to him, and a thousand other miseries shall torment and destroy him” (Shelley 144). The creature wishes for Victor Frankenstein to suffer taking his own companions away, forcing him to be miserable as well by destroying his personal relationships with others by murdering loved ones. Through the rejection of the creature because of his physical appearance, he learns what is accepted as well as how you can treat another being as he succumbs to his anger and proceeds with his crimes. The creature tells Frankenstein, “your hours will pass in dread and misery, and soon the bolt will fall which must ravish your happiness forever.
...creature must not have hated Frankenstein during the whole chase and later, depressing times in Frankenstein’s life. The boy only wanted attention from his father.
“I shall collect my funeral pile and consume to ashes this miserable frame, that its remains may afford no light to any curious and unhallowed wretch who would create such another as I have been.” The Creature’s actions have not rendered him incapable of eliciting as The Creature acknowledges that he has done some terrible things and only wishes to end the suffering caused to him by the end of the novel. The desolation he has brought upon Frankenstein mirrors the desolation and misery he has been doomed to for the entirety of his existence, leaving him miserable and incapable of love and sympathy. It’s because of this that The Creature chooses to act the way he has towards those who have rejected him. In the novels conclusion the creature is just the same as he had been when he first decided to take action though now he has no purpose and no longer has reason for living, and as his punishment, dooms himself to
The creature who has been leading a solitary existence by observing the Delacey family, exclaims “The more I saw of them, the greater my desire to claim their protection and kindness; my heart yearned to be known and loved by these amiable creatures” (Shelley 112). Being isolated from most of society, the creature’s only contact with mankind is through observing the Delaceys. Unlike any base monster, the creature has “yearning” that originates in his heart. Because the creature relates with the Delaceys as “amiable creatures” his desire for companionship with them is brought forth, further distinguishing him as distinctly human. Miserable and lonely, the creature desires to also “claim their protection and kindness” which demonstrates how the creature desires even more than just mere companionship but also to be loved. Most importantly, the creature desires acceptance into their family as one of their own. Although he observed the family, the creature took a radical and somewhat desperate choice to abduct Victor’s younger brother: “If I could therefore seize him, and educate him as my companion and friend, I should not be so desolate”. (Shelley 121). Such extremes show to what lengths the creature was willing to go to gain companionship and acceptance. Without companionship, the creature cannot survive in happiness, but he yearns for it and cannot do without it. Once again, the human need for companionship comes to the forefront of the creature’s purpose and endeavors and he is not fulfilled without it. Far from being an emotionless, brutish monster, the creature need for a friend aligns it to mankind’s basic
Throughout Mary Shelley’s classic novel Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein pursues, with a passion lacking in other aspects of his life, his individual quest for knowledge and glory. He accepts the friendships and affections given him without reciprocating. The "creature," on the other hand, seems willing to return affections, bringing wood and clearing snow for the DeLaceys and desiring the love of others, but is unable to form human attachments. Neither the creature nor Victor fully understands the complex relationships between people and the expectations and responsibilities that accompany any relationship. The two "monsters" in this book, Victor Frankenstein and his creation, are the only characters without strong family ties; the creature because Frankenstein runs from him, and Victor because he runs from his family.
Are nature and nurture required when creating a person? In the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, the nature vs. nurture discussion is put to the test by the actions of the main character Dr. Frankenstein's creation: a monster. In the novel Dr. Frankenstein is enthralled with the scientific creation of life and creates what he thinks will be a human but actually turns out to have the makings of a monster. Dr. Frankenstein is terrified by his creation and abandons it by running away and leaving it locked up. The monster breaks out of Dr. Frankenstein's confines and goes into the world to explore in his surroundings and hates his creator for not caring for him. By looking at environmental effects on a child's intellectual ability to learn, and a child's inherent sense of direction it is apparent that at birth the human mind is a blank slate.
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.
As the creature continues on his journey, he only seeks love and acceptance. He is human. He wants to be accepted and feel lived by a family. The creature find the DeLacey family and he watches them. He begins to learn how to speak. Shelley gives the monster a voice— something never done before. Furthermore, the monster finds refuge in the blind man, the father. The blind man is the only person who seems to care about the creature. He listens to him. In a sense, he is the only shot the creature has at acceptance. Once the children find the monster, “Agatha faint[s]; and Safie, unable to attend to her friend, rush[s] out of the cottage. Felix dart[s] forward, and with supernatural force tore [the monster] from his father” (Shelley 161). They force him out of their
Philosophers and scientists alike have debated for centuries whether a person’s character is the result of nature or nurture. In the writings of Thomas Hobbes, it is expressed that humans are endowed with character from birth, and that they are innately evil in nature. John Locke’s response to this theory is that everyone is born with a tabula rasa, or blank slate, and then develops character after a series of formative experiences. The idea that true character is the result of experiences and societal interaction is a theme deeply explored throughout Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Through different interactions with the monster, Shelley attempts to express that it is because of Victor’s failings as a parent and creator, because of the monster’s isolation, and because of society’s reaction to the monster that the monster has become evil. The monster’s character is a direct result of how he was nurtured, based on his experiences and circumstances, rather than his being innately evil from “birth.”
Friendship is one of the most common human desires found all over the world in every different type of people. In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, this deep-seeded need is explored, especially as it manifests itself in the hearts of three great men. Captain Walden writes to his sister about the loneliness that he is experiencing on his journey at the very start of the book. Then, as the story progresses, a similar want can be found in Victor despite his tightly woven relationship with Henry Clerval. The Creature is constantly denied his lust for companionship demonstrates the horrible consequences of incessant loneliness. His amiable nature combined with his grotesque appearance proves to be a horrific collaboration that serves only in gaining rejection as he is shunned, quite irrationally, over and over again by all living beings. The Creature's suffering could only be abandoned if he were able to encounter an unprejudiced and completely tolerant friend. Shelley masterfully conveys the importance of a kindred spirit and the overall necessity of loyalty between people.
It is only after he learns about human relationship that he begins to grieve “no father had watched my infant days, no mother had blessed me with smiles and caresses; or if they had, all my past life was now a blot, a blind vacancy in which I distinguished nothing.” (Chapter 13) As he gets familiar with the history of the cottagers, he is “impressed deeply” and “learns to admire their virtues”. From this we can see that the intimate household environment not only triggers the monster’s pain but it also makes him more eager to establish relationships with human. His attempts all turn out to be failure—when he finally becomes friends with the blind old man, he is kicked out by Felix and Agatha only because they are terrified by the monster’s experience (Chapter 15); when he saves a drowning girl, his only reward is getting shot by the girl’s father (Chapter 16). The desire to build relationships keeps the monster approach human, yet his appearance continuously renders his attempts in vain. The monster is thus caught up in a painful vicious cycle—the more he learns about the human society, the more eager he is to establish relationships with human; the more times he attempts to do so, the more times he is