The Nature Of Man In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

The nature of man is naturally good, only turning to evil devices after being corrupted by man. This statement is corroborated by events within Frankenstein such as when the monster is marketing his appeal to Frankenstein. When is trying to explain himself and his actions, he explains the nature in which he was made in. He explains that “I was benevolent and good; misery made me a fiend”(Shelly 171). This quote here explains Rousseau, the pioneer in this line of thought, as it explains how he was created good and well, but all the bad events that happened to him such as being cast out by Felix or being shot after saving a girl had corrupted him and made him evil. This series of events leading to the aforementioned misery made the monster commit

This line of thought is confirmed when the face to face with Walton the daemon explains himself. Being prejudged and condemned by Robert, the monster, as with Victor pleads his case. Following with the same thoughts as Rousseau the monster explains himself in that manner saying “My heart was fashioned to be susceptible to love”(Shelly 421). This quote affirms the Rousseauean stance on human nature. It shows that the way the creature was created it was originally compassionate and sympathetic to humans but after the torture he endured it turned evil. This quote is interesting as it also extends through the examples above how much torture and misery one must go through in order for the heart to flip. Only after a series of terrible encounter and being shot did he finally turn. This long and arduous journey of terrible events only that turns him. This just shows how Rousseau's ideas show how only after a lot of experiences of negative encounters turn him evil. Even in his writings Rousseau goes as far to explain how man through their actions ends up destroying all things and is turned sour due to these experiences saying “God makes all things good; man meddles”(Document 3: Jean Jacques Rousseau “

This evident and expressed by the string of malicious attacks launched on the monster while he was performing good deeds. These attackers such as Felix or the shooter acting on self prejudices against someone who looks different, show how the evil can spread even through acts that to them appear as self defense against a person, the monster, performing a good deed. Even within society today we see once good people corrupted turn evil. This transformation can be seen in many soldiers who after returning home from war and all it tragedies end up taking the lives of others or themselves. One example of this was Albert Wong who after returning home from war could not get passed the horrors he saw and ended up killing 3 people working with him for his mental illness “gunman as 36-year-old Albert Cheung Wong… an Army veteran”(). This tragic story makes Rousseau's points all too true. Being a soldier, Albert performed the ultimate selfless act putting his life on the line so all his fellow Americans could be a safe. Experiencing all of the calamities of war, Albert was corrupted and ended up evil and killing three people attending to his