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Frankenstein analysis
Physical changes in Frankenstein
Analysis of frankenstein frankenstein
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Does someone always end up like their parents? This is the question of the century, people can argue for either side for hours. Through Victor and his creation Shelley's novel Frankenstein helps provide examples of Nature, Nurture, and the hope of changing after one's personality is already formed. People develop their personalities through a factor of both nature and nurture and may have a chance at changing who they are.
Many people will argue that individuals are born with a set list of traits and according to their genetics are already made up to either be good or evil. In the novel, Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, Victor Frankenstein is born into a very loving, wealthy, and normal family. But even with being nurtured so well by loving parents he still
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chooses to go out and isolate himself from all his loved ones and perform these horrific experiments on trying to become a god like figure.
Even with growing up in a very good home Victor admits on page 19 of the novel, “My temper was sometimes violent.” This shows how even with being nurtured so well he was born with a trait that sometimes made him violent. According to multiple studies on over 500 sets of twins that were separated at birth, a lot of these twins shared similar traits with their siblings that they did not grow up with. With this information it shows that these twins were born with very similar traits as their counterparts and thus people's personalities are given to them at birth.
On the other side of the argument, you have the nurture side where people's traits are decided from society and how they are raised and treated. In the novel Frankenstein it exemplifies this theme by the character
development of Victor's creation. He is born kind hearted and attempts to help people but just gets treated like a monster by society because of the way he looks. Even after getting treated horribly by humankind he risks his life to save a little girl from drowning and is still shot at. “I had saved a human being from destruction, and as a recompense I now writhed under the miserable pain of a wound which shattered the flesh and bone” (101). This shows that he is born good and tries to do good in the world but still gets shot down and treated horribly. This event leads to him saying, “The feeling of kindness and gentleness, which I had entertained but a few moments before, gave place to hellish rage and gnashing teeth. Inflamed by pain, I vowed eternal hatred and vengeance to all mankind” (101). He wasn't born with hate or violence in his heart but after numerous events he developed these traits over time. Events happening around him influenced who he was as a person. There is something called the Tabula Rasa theory, created by philosopher John Locke, it is the idea that individuals are born without built-in mental content and that therefore all knowledge comes from experience or perception. This can be easily proven by the fact that kids who are born into more unstable households have a much higher chance to have mental illnesses and to become criminals. People are born with a so called blank slate and are molded by society and events happening around them. Can people change? No matter what side one might agree with, they have to think about, can people change after their personalities have already been formed? This is a very interesting topic; you can look at prisons for some answers. An estimated two-thirds (68 percent) of 405,000 prisoners released in 30 states in 2005 were arrested for a new crime within three years of release from prison, and three-quarters (77 percent) were arrested within five years, per the Bureau of Justice Statistics. This statistic shows the majority of people can’t change once their personalities are already formed but also shows that some (a much smaller number) can change after their personalities have been formed. In the novel Frankenstein, when the monster begs Victor to make him a companion he swears he will change his ways and not kill another human being. We can only assume he wasn't lying just to get his way. But this shows that there is a chance you can change. Another example from the novel would be how Victor is obsessed with death and reanimating the dead, but once he gets a good glimpse at his creation this throws him off of his obsession and he sees the thing as a hideous demon. Some people can change once their personalities are formed, but can everyone? So do you think people are going to end up just like their mom or dad? Are they really born with an already set personality or does it come with experience? Can they really change who they are after their personality is already formed? Only time will tell.
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.
Throughout most of her novel, Frankenstein, Mary Shelley establishes a them stating no one can be born evil but the life a person lives turns them evil. The creature becomes a monster everyone believes him to be after continuous rejection and abuse. This is the reason why readers become more sympathetic towards Frankenstein's creation than any other character in the novel.
A book in which a character’s childhood negatively effects their future is “Frankenstein: Or the Modern Prometheus” by Mary Shelley
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.
The beginning of Frankenstein’s dream started as a young man, Victor’s interests lie in science, chemistry, and the balance and contrasts of life and death. Acting as a hypocrite, Victor explains how parents should be there to teach you to become great, “The innocent and helpless creature bestowed on them by heaven, whom to bring up to good, and whose future lot it was in their hands to direct to happiness or misery, according as the fulfilled heir duties towards me” (Shelley 16). Victor says that his parents play a big role in how their child turns out; if the parents treat you bad then the child will come out bad but if he learns from good then he will come out to be a perfect little angel.
Victor Frankenstein and his creation are very much alike. Both are abandoned by their creators at a young
Perceiving the novel, Frankenstein through the lens of parenting lends the creature a more sympathetic reaction from the reader. The creature, unnamed and rejected is subject to the harsh realities of living without the support and love of a parent. Even after identifying Victor as his “father”, he refers to him solely as creator or god. From the beginning of his tragic existence he is abandoned and left to learn about the world on his own. Parenting or the lack of it eliminates so many possibilities in his life and sets him up for his revenge and ultimately murder. The importance of nurture is widely acknowledged in a child’s upbringing. When Victor as a father discards his son he demonstrates
...ve that could have been was pure hatred. Even thought Victor’s nurture was the other way around.
Victor Frankenstein's upbringing in a perfect society ultimately led to the destruction of his life which coincided with the lives of those emotionally close to him. Victor was raised in an atmosphere where beauty and physical appearance define one's quality of life. This superficial way of life results in a lost sense of morals and selfishness, which in turn produces a lost sense of personal identity. This can cause a feeling of failure and resentment in the later stages of life which, in Victor's case, can be externalized into a form of hatred directed toward himself.
...and accept the natural bond created. “Victor’s personality is imparted to his creation in much the same way as God creates man in His own image”(Soyka 2). Victor Frankenstein wants it to be the monster that is evil but it is him who is the one who is truly evil.
Man versus nature is a significant conflict in literature and in real life. This type of conflict is a problem in which nature is the antagonist, or villain, and the human protagonist , or good guy, is pitted against it. Nature is considered storms, climate, temperature, or the sea. It is also called man versus environment. This situation happens commonly in literature, such as books, the arts, such as paintings, and in life, now and earlier.
Society is sometimes can be unfair, because the world is full of judgment. It is about being poor or rich, ugly or beautiful, right or wrong, and selfish or kind,. In the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley is a story that is based on an obsessed scientist men named Victor Frankenstein that is only cares about himself. To begin the story Victor could not except the fact that his mother Caroline death, so he decided to create life. He wanted the name of fame, being wealthy, famous, and loved by all the people around him, however after his creation Victor looks upon the creature with such hate and disgust. He does not have the bravery or deepness of personality to look behind the ugly features that he himself has created. According to the novel,
Some people believe they can choose their family, but these people would be wrong. A family is given to a person without much warning and each person must cope with their own. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is a novel focused on Victor Frankenstein, a scientist who aims to create life, but does not foresee the consequences. He neglects his creation as well as his family in the process, which leads to several heartbreaking deaths, and leaves him with too many regrets. Shelley makes the argument through Victor’s story to say how important it is, however difficult, to take responsibility of a person’s actions in all aspects of the world including scientific responsibility, social responsibility, and parental responsibility. A parent not only has