Political philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau is often attributed to the discussion of the “noble savage,” and the existence of natural man. Throughout numerous works of literature, the theme of the “noble savage” is prevalent and enduring, providing indirect authors’ commentary through the actions and development of various characters. Two such novels are Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein, and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s The Sorrows of Young Werther. In both novels, Shelly and Goethe demonstrate strong Romantic ideals, while developing various characters using Rousseau’s myth.
Shelly’s Frankenstein follows a young doctor, Victor Frankenstein, who sets out to engineer a working humanlike being. Throughout the novel, Shelly uses characterization of both Victor, as well as the monster he creates, to demonstrate the novel’s roots of Rousseau’s myth. In the case of Victor Frankenstein, Shelly describes an innocent Swiss boy, living with his parents, who becomes interested in scientific exploration by reading various journals of past scientists. Despite his interest in science, Victor is told that “every instant that you [he] has wasted on those books is utterly and entirely lost,” by M. Krempe, a university professor at Ingolstadt, where Victor goes to college. As a result, Shelly acknowledges Victor’s turning point away from innocence, when he begins his studies of modern science at Ingolstadt. Using his knowledge of anatomy, learned at Ingolstadt, Victor secretly begins to work on a humanoid creature. Following months of labor, Victor’s creation is complete, and shows signs of life. However, the creature’s monster-like appearance frightens Victor, causing him to eventually vacate his house, leaving the Monster alone. Victor’s abandonme...
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...tic, young man to a jealous, suicidal lover are a prime example of Rousseau’s myth. His misinterpretation of Lotte’s behavior, and poor relationship with the aristocracy, brings about his demise. Had Werther’s sublime, natural being not been tainted by these unpleasant experiences, he may have not underwent these alterations, and may have lived.
Through the sophisticated use of characterization throughout their respective novels, Shelly and Goethe create characters that are prime examples of Rousseau’s myth of the noble savage. The changes to each character’s personality and tendencies through both novels are the products of the characters’ environments. By incorporating the Romantic ideals of nature and traditionalism within their books, both authors effectively comment on human society’s structure and evolution, while outwardly demonstrating Rousseau’s myth.
The idea for the novel of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein came to her one night when she was staying in the company of what has been called ‘her male coterie’, including Lord Byron and her husband, Percy Shelley. Mary Shelley’s whole life seems to have been heavily influenced by men. She idolised her father, William Godwyn, and appears to have spent a good part of her life trying very hard to impress both him and her husband. There seems to have been a distinct lack of female influence, her mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, having died weeks after her birth, being replaced by a neglectful step-mother. These aspects of her life are perhaps evident in her novel. The characters and plot of Frankenstein were perhaps influenced by Shelley’s conflicting feelings about the predominately masculine circle which surrounded her, and perhaps the many masculine traits that we see in novel were based upon those of the male figures in Shelley’s own life. In this essay I will attempt to show some of these traits.
Rousseau initiates his discourse with the introduction of the savage man and his seemingly preferable lifestyle. He sees man as “satisfying his hunger under an oak, quenching his thirst at the first stream, finding his bed under the same tree which provided his meal; and, behold, his needs are furnished” (P.81). Whatsoever be man’s desires, confined to those pertaining to self-preservation, he may easily and effortlessly acquire them. Being an undeniably smooth and simplistic way of life, Rousseau idealizes savage living as one that surpasses civilized living for its greater happi...
Shelley’s writing was heavily influenced by the artistic movement that emerged in the 19th century in England. One of her most popular novels, Frankenstein, features one of the key aspects of romanticism: the romantic hero. In the excerpt from this novel in Fiero’s The Humanistic Tradition Dr. Frankenstein is shown to possess the qualities of said hero. The plot of Shelly’s Frankenstein highlights the unmanageable quest of Dr. Frankenstein’s attempt to overcome the decaying effect of death. His aspirations and ultimate “failure” are what brand his character the romantic hero of the novel.
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein explores the downfall of certain human characteristics, set to the backdrop of creation, destruction, and preservation. The subtitle denoted by Shelly herself supports this idea, by relating the fact that the title can be viewed as either Frankenstein or The Modern Prometheus. One scholar, Marilyn Butler, also maintains this by noting, "It can be a late version of the Faust Myth"(302). Shelly uses the story of the main character, Victor Frankenstein, to produce the concept of a dooming human characteristic of which Frankenstein states, "I have . . . been blasted in these hopes"(Shelley, 152). The reader finds, as a result of his thirst for knowledge and infatuation with science, Victor creates a living being by whom he has "suffered great and unparalleled misfortunes"(Shelley, 17). Eventually, Victor realizes this self-destructive trait, but he is not able to save himself stating, "I have lost everything, and cannot begin life anew"(Shelley, 16). Although everything in his life that is dear has been lost, Victor is able to convince one in his same position--Robert Walton--to not "lead [his crew] unwillingly to danger"(Shelley, 151). While addressing the concept of characteristic and self-discovery, it is possible to realize that the monster also possesses the characteristics held by both Victor and Walton; except in his learning, the monster is driven to continue to cause destruction. Most important about the thirst for knowledge is that, as a form of human characteristic or downfall, it leads to large, critical pieces of self-discovery. In obtaining these critical pieces, Frankenstein finds satisfaction in j...
Tragedy shows no discrimination and often strikes down on those undeserving of such turmoil. In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, a creature more repulsive than one can imagine is brought to life by a young scientist. Although this creature is horrifying in sight, he is gentle by nature. Unfortunately, the softer side of the creature is repeatedly overlooked and the so called “monster” is driven to a breaking point. Even though the Creature committed many crimes, Mary Shelley’s Creature was the tragic hero of this story because of his efforts rescue the life of a young girl and helping destitute cottagers.
In Mary Shelley’s novel there is a defined contrast between the characteristics and behaviors of Justine and Victor. For example, Justine’s actions during her unfair trial undoubtedly represent the quiet, menacing strength of women and highlights the insufficient masculinity of Victor. Justine, the wrongfully accused murderer of William Frankenstein,possesses unwavering courage which is illustrated when Shelley writes, “ The appearance of Justine was calm and she appeared confident in innocence and did not tremble”(64). This statement refutes the absurd interpretation of Shelley’s women characters as being feeble and weak. It superbly demon...
The idea of duality permeates the literary world. Certain contradictory commonplace themes exist throughout great works, creation versus destruction, light versus dark, love versus lust, to name a few, and this trend continues in Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. The pivotal pair in this text however, is monotony versus individuality. The opposing entities of this pairing greatly contrast against each other in Frankenstein, but individuality proves more dominant of the two in this book.
The Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe is one of the literary texts interwoven in Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein. It talks of a story about a girl Lotte and a boy named Werther. The two fell in love although the girl was already engaged to an older man Abert. When Lotte marries the older man, Werther commits suicide because of rejection. The creature in Frankenstein finds this book and teaches himself to read from it. Shelley makes a reference to the novel The Sorrows of the Young Werther and Victor’s creature gets hold of the book and reads to practice language skills and pass time. Through this book, the creature learns a lot about feeling and emotions. The creature says "As I read, however, I applied much personally to my own feelings and condition" (Shelley 114). This shows how much the creature leant from the book because Victor created it and left it all alone without any teachings on how to speak and act like a woman.
Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein is a Gothic and Romantic novel written in the early 1800s. The novel opens with Captain Robert Walton as he is sailing on his ship on the search for new and undiscovered territory. During his exploration, Robert’s ship becomes trapped in ice, and he encounters Victor Frankenstein, who looks miserable. When Robert begins to talk to Victor, Victor starts to explain his life story, which ends up being a complete tragedy. Victor tells Robert of his desire to discover the secret to life, which ultimately leads to his creation of the Creature. However, Victor’s enormous creation and his ambitions do not bring him the fame and happiness that he had hoped to receive. He only receives pain and misery. The Creature ends up destroying all of Victor’s loved ones, which leads up to Victor’s death. From the beginning when he is born, the Creature is alone with no one to raise or take care of him, and he is forced to retreat and hide from civilization and the humans who fear him. As it can be seen, Victor and the Creature share miserable lives. In Shelley’s Frankenstein, the characters of Victor and the Creature are developed through the use of Romantic elements, which greatly influenced Shelly in creating her novel.
Rousseau contemplates many of the problems in society. He draws reflection to the past of humans and tries to find an understanding of how the time of savages was much more tranquil. He reminisces to the time where there was acute awareness of, and regard for, oneself in relation to others, being before humanity. He compares savages to the present human society. Using contrasting ideas about the methods of survival, in the past, to human’s desires of the present, he emphasizes how life was much more simple and peaceful during the time of the savage. Rousseau focusses his views on reason, enlightenment, and natural laws in order to show how hostility has grown since the growth of civilization. He uses these views to provide an explanation of how he feels why we must revert back to nature to solve current problems of our existence.
The role of the imagination in Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel, Frankenstein is a vital when defining the work as Romantic. Though Shelley incorporates aspects that resemble the Enlightenment period, she relies on the imagination. The power of the imagination is exemplified in the novel through both Victor and the Creature as each embarks to accomplish their separate goals of scientific fame and accomplishing human relationships. The origin of the tale also emphasizes the role of the imagination as Shelley describes it in her “Introduction to Frankenstein, Third Edition (1831)”. Imagination in the text is also relatable to other iconic works of the Romantic Period such as S. T. Coleridge’s Biographia Literaria in which he defines Primary and Secondary imagination. The story as a whole is completely Romantic in that it is filled with impossibilities that seem to have come from a fairy tale. The imaginative quality of the plot itself is a far cry from the stiff subject matter of the Enlightenment period. Frankenstein is wholly a work of Romanticism both from the outside of the tale and within the plot. Shelley created the story in a moment of Primary imagination filling it with impossibilities that can only be called fantastical. Imagining notoriety leads Victor to forge the creature; the creature imagines the joy of having human relationships. The driving factor of the tale is the imagination: imagining fame, imagining relationships and imagining the satisfaction of revenge. Shelley’s use of the imagination is a direct contradiction to the themes of logic and reason that ruled the Enlightenment Period.
Rousseau’s depiction of the noble savage in Discourse on the Origin of Inequality separates man from society in order to argue that modernity has come with a cost to man’s natural state. Rousseau explores the uncivilized state of nature to form “conjectures…concerning what the human race could have become, if it had been left to itself” (Rousseau 17). Through his conjectures, Rousseau’s posits that the progress of man is detrimental to his well-being. Nevertheless, the formations of civil and, later, political societies were responsible for “perfect[ing] human reason while deteriorating the species” (Rousseau 43). He finds that the acquisition of knowledge is dangerous, and man is better off naïve about the true extent of the world (Rousseau 31). Aside from an instinct for self-preservation, the noble savage comes equipped with pity. In his natural state, this pity exists as amour de soi, or simply, good intentions. Without this pity, “men w...
...r than its basic needs. In addition, modern man is characterized by self-love or amour-propre. This love for his self and personal property turns man into an individual who thinks of himself in comparison with others. Arguably, therefore, modern man essentially forgot who he is as a human being. Further, humans have moved from aidez-moi, where we begin to look for man's help or subsistence, to aimez-moi, take me or help. Rousseau explores how because natural man has no moral relationships or obligations or social inequality, natural man's situation is better not only for him but society as compared to modern man. For that reason, we can return to the natural, more content state by simply lowering the bar of society in terms of expectations and morality.
Man in his original state is inherently good, but is corrupted by the “progress” of society. For Rousseau, the societal ascent of our species is paralleled by our moral descent. Through the development of civilization, our individual and autonomous will becomes entangled with the wills of all others, until we ultimately lose our freedom since we are dependent on the will of others. Rousseau’s formulization of the social contract sought to reconcile individual autonomy with political society. The “general will” is the vehicle by which freedom and political authority can be synthesized. Consequently, “amore propre”, the idea of self-love which is at the root of human vice come be replaced with “amore-de-soi” which would free one’s individual will from its entanglement with others and achieve true
This last step determines the heavily communitarian perspective that Rousseau adopts. If we can only be fully human under the auspices of the social contract, then that contract is more important than the individuals that agree to it. After all,...