Crimes of Passion and Social Justice

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Recommended: The psychoanalytic theory of frankenstein

Marry Shelly’s romantic novel Frankenstein expounds the idea of evil as a downward spiraling corruption of character, which is naturally benevolent, caused by societal rejection and intolerance. Molière’s enlightened comedy Tartuffe expresses evil as a selfish and hedonistic pursuit of power fed by individual motives. These contrasting definitions of evil and their individual remedies allow us to explore the cultures behind their origins. The Enlightenment period focuses on individual evils that can be remedied by society as an authoritative figure, while the Romantic period focuses on a degradation of character that eventually becomes evil because of outside forces that can only be remedied by a humanistic society’s intervention.
Shelly elucidates human vulnerability towards becoming evil by exploring the relationship between Victor Frankenstein and his wretched creature. It is made clear from the very beginning that Victor set out to create this beast in order to obtain a level of recognition that is godlike “A new species would bless me as its creator and source” (Shelly 54). However, Shelly demonstrates a different connection other than a god to creation connection. Victor also willfully compares himself to the father of a child “No father could claim the gratitude of his child so completely as I should deserve theirs” (Shelly 54). It becomes somewhat ironic that the first action this father performs when he sees his child spring to life is run away from it. He abhors his creation based solely on his appearance; although, it is hard to believe that victor did not notice the creature’s appearance as he was stitching it together, limb-by-limb. The monster reminds Victor numerous times of his fatherly debt “ I am thy creature,...

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...her hand does not believe that society could have intervened with Tartuffe’s plot. He shows, through the many times Orgon’s family attempted to dissuade and prevent Tartuffe from brining his plan to fruition, that the only entity capable of quickly understanding and resolving the dilemma is the king.
In a modern society the crimes that Tartuffe and the monster commit are on very different spectrums of the law. Tartuffe committed the crimes of extortion and fraud, which in today’s society carries a low moral stigma. The creature on the other hand committed the crime of murder, which carries a very high moral and social stigma. One would rather have an extortionist in their house than a murderer. Today, none would view the creature as a victim but they would view poor Tartuffe as a redeemable man who simply tried to get a leg up in the world in the wrong way.

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