It is reasonable to say that one's personality is formed through the sum of their experiences, especially their interactions with others. In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Victor’s creature ventures into the world knowing nothing and no one, learning what he can as he attempts to make contact with the people he encounters. However, he quickly learns that his horrid appearance and the fear it inspires prevents him from peacefully interacting with them. After being shot while attempting to save a little girl from drowning, he hides in a makeshift shelter, gleaning what he can about the world only from observing the Delaceys, a small peasant family. It is their interactions that guide the development of his character. As the creature’s first true …show more content…
His knowledge of language stems from listening to the them speak and reading their books, which allows him to articulate his thoughts, and, more importantly, learn his place in the world. Through novels like Sorrows of Werter and Plutarch’s Lives, he learns the range of human emotion and experience, and begins to consider his relation to them, wondering who and what he is. Most notably, the creature, upon reading Paradise Lost, finds many parallels between the relationships between characters in the story and his own relationship with Victor. He initially compares himself to Adam, but finds he find he is “rather the fallen angel, whom thou (Victor) drivest from joy for no misdeed” (Shelley 89). By comparing his knowledge of the Delacey family and the experiences of the characters in their books back to himself, he understands that he is unlike any other being. This realization leads him to begin to wonder where exactly it is that he fits, only to find there is no place for him, and he loathes himself for it. The family plays a pivotal role in this realization, as they provide him with the knowledge to reach it. Upon doing so, he yearns acceptance and companionship, which eventually transitions into resentment once that yearning isn’t fulfilled, and ultimately a violent fixation on tormenting Victor which becomes the creatures defining …show more content…
When he sees they are suffering because of their hunger, he understands that his stealing their food is a source of it, and immediately acts to relieve them by abstaining and going as far to providing them with supplies. This act of kindness signifies a huge moment of growth for him, as he is immediately interested in the wellbeing of others despite being mistreated, proving he is an inherently good person. He does not know the family, yet feels “depressed” when they are “unhappy” and “when they rejoiced” he “sympathized in their joys”, further demonstrating the creature's immense emotional development as it furthers his sense of sympathy (101). This development continues as he learns more of their culture, being moved by music and literature, his desire to revel in the same joys as the humans increasing. This peaks when Safie, an arabian woman, visits the young man in the cottage, Felix, and the creature witnesses the happiness she brings him, which, before, he “had hardly believed capable” (104). He comes to crave a similar connection, the reason he later implores Victor to create a being for him with which to have it, promising to vanish forever if accommodated with just one counterpart. This sole desire for company displays the creature developing human desires, only interested in joining them, or at least experiencing
Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein, illustrates the Romantic idea of the sublime naturalworld as an emotional experience for the characters of the novel. Within the text, Shelleyutilizes an allusion to the John Milton’s biblical story, Paradise Lost, to make a parallel betweenthe characters. Within the passage, the monster compares himself, as well as his creator, Victor,to the characters Adam and Satan. He comes to realize that he is more similar to Satan;ultimately, leading him to his reign of terror and the revenge he wishes to impose on Victor. Themonster realizes that he is similar to Adam in Paradise Lost in that they both do not want to bealone. The monster also realizes that there is good in the world that is deeply contrasted with
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.
In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Shelley explores John Locke's theory of being born as a blank slate by introducing a character who is born with a blank slate. When the creature is brought to life, the creature is immediately called a “wretch” (Shelley 68) and is left alone to fend for himself. The creature is like a child with no parents without any idea what to do. In John Locke’s blank slate theory or, tabulae rasa, knowledge and moral sense arise solely from experience. He therefore placed enormous importance on the development of education. John Locke promoted the role of sensory awareness and experiences in the formation of human notion. This theory shows that the simple things, such as colors and shapes, are gathered passively, while more complex thoughts, such as the relationship between cause and effect and individual identities, are actively assembled. (World History in Context) “Most critics agree that Locke strongly influenced Shelley's characterization of the creature. She wanted her readers to understand how important the creature's social conditioning is to his development as a conscious being.” (Gale Reference Library) Jean Jacque Rousseau created the social contact theory, which is quite similar to John Locke’s theory. In the social contract theory, people’s moral or political obligations are dependent upon a contract or agreement among them to form the society in which they live. He is enormously influenced by John Locke, which has made the theory of being born with a “blank slate” (Gale Reference Library) one of the most well-known theories. Like John Locke, Jean Jacque Rousseau also believed in the fact that humans are born with a blank slate and learn from their experiences. Mary Shelley was inspired by Rouss...
Victor finds solace in nature, and enjoys the beauty of it. He states that the cold takes away his sorrows and fills his heart with joy. The creature finds warmth in the spring time. The creature describes to Victor how he felt when the spring came. He says, “Spring advanced rapidly; the weather became fine and the skies cloudless. It surprised me that what before was desert and gloomy should now bloom with the most beautiful flowers and verdure. My senses were gratified and refreshed by a thousand scents of delight and a thousand sights of beauty.” Both, the creature and Victor should not be blamed for what happened.
On the other hand, he never takes a gander at the general appearance of his creation until the creature is enlivened. At the present time he sees the repulsive creature he has made, Victor is dismayed. Victor 's response is finished when he doesn 't assume liability for the creature that he has made. He values physical appearance more than inside excellence, so he tries to disregard the creature and proceed onward with his life. Shelley, nonetheless, needs to create an impression about society when all is said in done, so she lets the reader get inside the beast’s head in a section. In this section the reader sees the beast battle to discover who he is, in this way creating sensitivity for him. The reader can now look inside appearance and see the error that Victor is making. The main path for Shelley to finish this articulation about society is for the beast to be dismisses by the family he tries to get to know. The friendship the beast needs, he is denied, and left to escape for the mountains. Shelley 's capacity to put the reader into the beast 's head and her depiction of Victor 's conclusion of "excellence", put forth her expression on society become animated. Never judge a man, and so on by its outside appearance, it is just within that
Victor avoids association with his family and many others during the time which he is developing the creature, and solely interacts with professors at his time at Ingolstadt. The theme of association with others goes hand in hand with the theme of isolation, as Victor seems to prefer keeping to himself. Many compare the creature to Victor and the way they are similar, but the creature longs to be apart of society, and to be loved by others, or by a family. The opposition is Victor’s inability to grasp a relationship with those who seek one with him, while the creature is kept from associating with anyone from the outside world due to the way he looks. Shelley ties together the theme of association with others to isolation, and family as many of the people Victor hides from is his family. The importance of associating or communicating with others for Victor is the less likely chance he will fall ill when isolated. Shelley provides many instances, which she places the importance of associating with others on both Victor and the
... result, when the monster murders his companion, Victor becomes miserable and more isolated. Although the monster had no choice but to live alone, he observed a nearby neighbor, the Delacey’s, and desired to receive affection from that family. By the end of the novel, Victor and the monster were no indistinguishable from each other, both comparable to Satan from Paradise Lost.
Victor had created the creature with the vision from his dreams of a strong, tall perfect being with no flaws. His years of study with the unnatural and science had come to this final conclusion and masterful idea that he was determined to finish. To his surprise, he had created the opposite, “For this I had deprived myself of rest and health. I had desired it with an ardour that far exceeded moderation; but now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart.” (Shelley 35) Victor is saddened by what he thinks of as a failure. He leaves his own apartment to go sleep in his court yard outside following his creation. He begins to isolate himself from the creature because of his fear of the creature’s outward appearance. He loses all hope for the creature without even learning anything about him. The fact that Shelley begins to refer to the being that Victor created as a “creature” shows Victor’s ignorance and lack of acceptance. It is Victor’s prejudice that blinds him of the creature’s true potential due to the unwanted preconception that follows the creature as he finds meaning in
The creature seek acceptance from humans, but when he tries to sympathize with one they aren't able to look past his appearance and are incapable of seeing his qualities. When the creature tells Victor his tale we learn how Victor's irresponsibility affects the creature. The first human to reject the creature is Victor, his own creator. Victor first states that the creature horrifies him, and left the creature to fend for himself. The creature seems like a kid because he has to learn how to survive, talk, write, read etc. When the creature continues telling Victor his tale he describes how he saves a girl from drowning, and the man that is
In the process, victor neglects the artificial duties from the animated man. The creature finds it difficult to thrive in rejection from the other human beings and the creator himself and makes it lonely. From the incidences, we find that he went ahead to look for the family that is surrogate and just look for one who will sympathize with him and accepts him to be one of his families since the creator who is supposed to do so has neglected the responsibility (Haynes, 1). He wanted a family that will be proud and binds their lives with his away from the brutality that he is getting from the surrounding environment. He adopted a family imaginatively from the cottagers that he observes from far their domestic harmony. He attaches himself to the family calling them the cottagers in that he identified himself with them as protectors and my
The naturalistic setting serves a multi-functional purpose in this novel. Primarily, it mirrors the simplistic workings, yet the astonishing stature of the Creature and contrasts his undeniable ignorance that first accompanies him. Since he is assembled from old body parts and strange chemicals, the Creature is similar to nature because he too is divinely constructed and with so much detail “when [he] look[s] around [he] s[ees] and hear[s] none like him”; furthermore, not even his creator can gracefully bestow him. Moreover, the eight foot tall, enormously strong being with yellow skin and straight black lips is unfathomable as the serene images of nature are in Shelley’s novel. The setting also magnifies the vast world that the Creature has been thrown into without any regard, for his mind was originally that of a newborn. The setting is symbolic of knowledge and experience; however, the Creature lacks in all aspects. Victor, his creator, priding himself in schooling, education and exploration still fails to provide his “offspring” with such valuable traits. Nature brings him to lif...
...e all the evil things they have done. When he goes to Victor's coffin, the creature does the opposite of what a evil being would do. He grieves over Victor despite all the horrible things the creature has done to Victor. The creature even feels guilt over the innocent people he has killed and the torment he put his creator through. Despite Victor's actions leading the creature to commit evil deeds, the creature finds in himself to feel regret in the end.
In drastic contrast to Victor, The creatures early beginning had no ounce of love as victor had as Victor gave none. Naomi Hethering describes Victors want to give affection to the creature “only fleetingly“ as his first responses to the creature were of disgust, even to the point of saying “Dante could not conceived”(43) such a horror. Appearance alone caused major alienation of a son to a father or creator, and when your father cannot even accept you where can you turn? Society's judgement on appearance continues to be illuminated as his sight alone causes an entire villages to immediately erupt in violence and causes old man to run with speed “of which his debilitated form hardly appeared capable”(90). Mary Shelley addresses this conflict directly later as the creature sees his own reflection and is horrified. We know the creatures character character is good as seen with his interactions with the Blind DeLacy so the only thing to pin this drastic alienation is the creature's appearance. His appearance and happenings with others drove his contempt of the beautiful. This seen with his interactions with Justine Moritz, as he prematurely decided what her reaction would be to seeing him and resented her for it, saying that “she shall suffer...be hers the punishment”(128). Mary Shelley illustrates a picture of horror on so manys faces during the
Knowledge comes from experience. Since birth, Mary Shelley’s Monster from her acclaimed epistolary novel, Frankenstein, has been assaulted by all of the difficulties of life, yet he has faced them completely alone. The Tabula Rasa concept is completely applicable to him. The Monster begins as a child, learning from mimicking and watching others. He then educates himself by reading a few books which help shape his personality and give him an identity. Following Maslow’s hierarchy of needs the Monster searches for and accomplishes the basic human necessities but feels alone, and needs human interaction and companionship. “My heart was fashioned to be susceptible of love and sympathy, and when wrenched by misery to vice and hatred, it did not endure the violence of the change without torture such as you cannot even imagine,” (Shelley 115). As the book progresses, the Monster ceases to be a one-dimensional and flat watcher of humanity. Through his numerous experiences and education, the monster instead morphs into a participator of humanity with the ability to achieve goals, broaden his personality and create himself an identity.
As a result, the Creature becomes a wretched monster, who now has no sympathy for anyone or anything. The Creature becomes fixed on the idea of needing a companion, and due to this obsession, he turns Victor’s life upside down. The Creature is able to torment Victor by killing his family members, then quickly vanishing so Victor can not tell who or what he saw. The Creature and Victor finally meet again, and the Creature tells Victor of his stories and struggles. Throughout the novel, the Creature remains in the same state of being, he persistently harasses Victor and maintains a watchful eye on him.