Mutation Of Human Nature In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein '

Avery Teal

Ms. Watson

Pre-AP English

November 23, 2016

Mutation of Human Nature In Mary Shelley’s ”Frankenstein” the main character, Victor, struggles with guilt that plagues his thoughts. He is constantly brought down by the death of his brother; a death he feels responsible for. The “monster” he created murdered Victor’s brother, William. A dear friend of Victor is wrongly accused of the murder and is sentenced to death. These two events throw Victor’s psyche into a dark haze clouded by grief and deep remorse. In the story, Mary Shelley includes a poem that ties into the theme of the nature of humanity. The poem explain the mutability of the emotions that humans feel. The poem is included to show the mutability of Victor’s emotional. As Victor begins to progresses through the story, he begins to change his position on the monster and the loss he has dealt with, this ties back to the mutability of human nature.

He repeatedly blames himself and feels that his emotions will never changes. The poem helps explain his nature. “We rest; a dream has power to poison sleep. We rise; one wand’ring thought pollutes the day. [Sic]” (Shelley 111) The poem suggests that one bad thought can pollute a human’s emotions. As Victor thinks about the death of his brother and Justine, we see how his nature changes. “I lived in daily fear lest the monster whom I had created should perpetrate some new wickedness… There was always scope of fear so long as anything I loved remained behind” (Shelley 103) Here we see how Victor’s psyche becomes extremely tainted by these thoughts and they haunt his every moment. He fears for the ones he loves and expresses remorse for those that died. The poem and his guilt tie together in the theme of human nature and the effects that thoughts and guilt can have on mental