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The differences between nature and nurture in human development
The differences between nature and nurture in human development
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Crystal Jane Marie Robinson Mrs. Elaine Fowler ENC 1102 16B 21 July 2017 Rough Draft Nature versus nurture has been a huge debate over centuries. People debate whether a person’s character is the result of nature or nurture. Nature is some characteristics that a person is born with, while nurture is how a person is raise by people surrounds him or her. In the novel Frankenstein, Mary Shelley makes an impression that evidently support the fact that one’s surrounding and experiences helps shape a person’s character. Frankenstein is a story about a scientist named Victor Frankenstein who is passionate in exploring humanity and biology. Victor creates a living creature and later Victor abandons him. Victor’s abandonment of the creature has a huge …show more content…
A child learns from his or her parents teaching and the people surrounds them. In Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein creates the creature by using lifeless body he constructed. Victor do not want anybody to know about his creation, so he conveniently hides the details of his experiments to himself. Victor succeeds in his experiments by bringing the creature to life. In a book Frankenstein, Mary Shelley explains how Victor Frankenstein succeeds on his creation. Shelley says that “It was on a dreary night of November that I beheld the accomplishment of my toils” (58). The creature is born innocent. When Victor awakes, the creature is staring at him reaching his hands and smiles. Victor flees in horror when he meets his creation and rushed of the …show more content…
The family is very thankful when they find out that somebody is helping them. The creature on the other hand feels happy observing the de Lacey’s. He is very amaze how the family are communicating to each other. The creature declares “The gentle manners and beauty of the cottagers greatly endeared them to me; when they were unhappy, I felt depressed; when they rejoiced, I symphatized in their joys” (Shelley 131). The creature learns many things from the de Lacey. Victor Frankenstein is to blame for the actions of creature which brings by his rejection. Victor becomes obsessive in his work, but when his creation is complete he fully rejects it causing the creature to lead a life of
Although humans have the tendency to set idealistic goals to better future generations, often the results can prove disastrous, even deadly. The tale of Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, focuses on the outcome of one man's idealistic motives and desires of dabbling with nature, which result in the creation of horrific creature. Victor Frankenstein was not doomed to failure from his initial desire to overstep the natural bounds of human knowledge. Rather, it was his poor parenting of his progeny that lead to his creation's thirst for the vindication of his unjust life. In his idealism, Victor is blinded, and so the creation accuses him for delivering him into a world where he could not ever be entirely received by the people who inhabit it. Not only failing to foresee his faulty idealism, nearing the end of the tale, he embarks upon a final journey, consciously choosing to pursue his creation in vengeance, while admitting he himself that it may result in his own doom. The creation of an unloved being and the quest for the elixir of life holds Victor Frankenstein more accountable for his own death than the creation himself.
He was left by his creator, his father, without a mother or sibling to care for him. He is like a babe, born in innocence unaware of evil around, “half-frightened” and “cold” in a new and unknown environment (72). The Monster finds a small village and is instantly hated. The Monster scares the villagers, “some fled, some attacked” automatically hating the strange being that had come into their midst (75). However, the Monster does nothing against the villagers even though he is seen with giant stature and brute strength. After the village incident the Monster flees and finds a small family living in the wilderness in a small cottage. As he stays near the cottagers for a time he begins to learn that he is indeed alone. He learns the roles of family members and yet he does nothing to provoke them. Even after confronting the bling cottager and being “struck” by the man’s son he does nothing but run into hiding. Only after discovering Victor do we see the Monster show sign of evil traits. After telling his story the first sign of hate the Monster shows is talking to Frankenstein saying “Cursed, cursed, creator!” (99). The Monster begs for a “companion” from his creator, longing for someone to spend his days with in happiness (105). As Frankenstein agrees to the Monster’s terms, the Monster feels some sense of happiness. The happiness is not long-lived as Frankenstein recants his promise and
Are nature and nurture required when creating a person? In the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, the nature vs. nurture discussion is put to the test by the actions of the main character Dr. Frankenstein's creation: a monster. In the novel Dr. Frankenstein is enthralled with the scientific creation of life and creates what he thinks will be a human but actually turns out to have the makings of a monster. Dr. Frankenstein is terrified by his creation and abandons it by running away and leaving it locked up. The monster breaks out of Dr. Frankenstein's confines and goes into the world to explore in his surroundings and hates his creator for not caring for him. By looking at environmental effects on a child's intellectual ability to learn, and a child's inherent sense of direction it is apparent that at birth the human mind is a blank slate.
Often the actions of children are reflective of the attitudes of those who raised them. In the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelly, Dr. Victor Frankenstein is the sole being that can take responsibility for the creature that he has created, as he is the only one that had any part in bringing it into being. While the actions of the creation are the ones that are the illegal and deadly their roots are traced back to the flaws of Frankenstein as a creator.
The debate of nature versus nurture has been argued for a long period time. The concept of tabula rasa was popularized by John Locke; it stated that babies are born into this world without innate knowledge. Knowledge and personality are developed through experiences and environment, emphasising the nurture in the nature-nurture split. At first blush, Frankenstein avidly supports the theory but in some other parts it does not.
As a tragic hero, Victor’s tragedies begin with his overly obsessive thirst for knowledge. Throughout his life, Victor has always been looking for new things to learn in the areas of science and philosophy. He goes so far with his knowledge that he ends up creating a living creature. Victor has extremely high expectations for his creation but is highly disappointed with the outcome. He says, “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). Frankenstein neglects the creature because of his horrifying looks, which spark the beginning of numerous conflicts and tragedies. At this point, the creature becomes a monster because of Victor’s neglect and irresponsibility. The monster is forced to learn to survive on his own, without anyone or anything to guide him along the way. Plus, the monster’s ugly looks cause society to turn against him, ad...
The monster of the novel is often misattributed with the name, “Frankenstein.” However, Victor Frankenstein can ultimately be considered the true monster of this tale. His obsession would lead to the corruption of his soul and the creation of two monsters—one himself, and the other, the creature. In attempting to take on the role of God, nature would become a monster to Victor and destroy his life. These elements of monstrosity in Frankenstein drive the meaning of its story.
In today’s world of genetically engineered hearts and genetically altered glowing rats, the story of Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, seems as if it could be seen in the newspapers in our near future. The discoveries seen in modern science, as well as in the novel, often have controversy and negative consequences that follow them, the biggest of which being the responsibility the creator of life has to what has been created. Victor Frankenstein suffers from a variety of internal and external conflicts stemming from the creation of his monster, which in return also experiences similar problems. Shelley uses these tumultuous issues to portray the discrepancies between right and wrong, particularly through romanticism and the knowledge of science.
An idea becomes a vision, the vision develops a plan, and this plan becomes an ambition. Unfortunately for Victor Frankenstein, his ambitions and accomplishments drowned him in sorrow from the result of many unfortunate events. These events caused Victors family and his creation to suffer. Rejection and isolation are two of the most vital themes in which many dreadful consequences derive from. Victor isolates himself from his family, friends, and meant-to-be wife. His ambitions are what isolate him and brought to life a creature whose suffering was unfairly conveyed into his life. The creature is isolated by everyone including his creator. He had no choice, unlike Victor. Finally, as the story starts to change, the creature begins to take control of the situation. It is now Victor being isolated by the creature as a form of revenge. All the events and misfortunes encountered in Frankenstein have been linked to one another as a chain of actions and reactions. Of course the first action and link in the chain is started by Victor Frankenstein.
The theme of nature vs. nurture is highly debated in the field of psychology and is quite a prevalent topic of the novel Frankenstein. Nature vs. nurture is a psychology term related to whether hereditary genes or the environment
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.
Victor Frankenstein is the protagonist and the narrator of the main story in Frankenstein. Raised by doting parents, Victor confesses: “I was their plaything and their idol, and something better-their child, 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 they fulfilled their duties towards me.” (35) This statement condemns his later reckless and arrogant behavior. Victor was obsessed from an early age with natural philosophy and the ultimate knowledge of life. He sought answers to the many questions that puzzled great minds before him. Motivated by ambition and an insatiable quest to be God like and create life, Victor dedicated himself to this one pursuit for nearly two years. The creature, which was made out of old body parts stolen from the cemetery, strange chemicals, and a mysterious spark, convulsed to life. In this moment, Victor becomes a creator of a human life, the “God” to a being that was deserving of the attention and love of its creator.
A predominant theme in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is that of child-rearing and/or parenting techniques. Specifically, the novel presents a theory concerning the negative impact on children from the absence of nurturing and motherly love. To demonstrate this theory, Shelly focuses on Victor Frankenstein’s experimenting with nature, which results in the life of his creature, or “child”. Because Frankenstein is displeased with the appearance of his offspring, he abandons him and disclaims all of his “parental” responsibility. Frankenstein’s poor “mothering” and abandonment of his “child” leads to the creation’s inevitable evilness. Victor was not predestined to failure, nor was his creation innately depraved. Rather, it was Victor’s poor “parenting” of his progeny that lead to his creation’s thirst for vindication of his unjust life, in turn leading to the ruin of Victor’s life.
In conclusion, Victor Frankenstein is to blame for the actions of the creature, which was brought about by its rejection. Victor became obsessive in his work, but when his creation was complete he fully rejected it causing the creature to lead a life of solitude. The monster also attempts to seek acceptance from society and fails. The creature, also aware that it has been rejected by Victor, pursues a life of revenge killing those dear to him. Hence, if Victor would have never abandoned his creation the multiple deaths of the innocent could have been prevented.
Philosophers and scientists alike have debated for centuries whether a person’s character is the result of nature or nurture. In the writings of Thomas Hobbes, it is expressed that humans are endowed with character from birth, and that they are innately evil in nature. John Locke’s response to this theory is that everyone is born with a tabula rasa, or blank slate, and then develops character after a series of formative experiences. The idea that true character is the result of experiences and societal interaction is a theme deeply explored throughout Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Through different interactions with the monster, Shelley attempts to express that it is because of Victor’s failings as a parent and creator, because of the monster’s isolation, and because of society’s reaction to the monster that the monster has become evil. The monster’s character is a direct result of how he was nurtured, based on his experiences and circumstances, rather than his being innately evil from “birth.”