Frankenstein

The third theory is moral agency "derives from the capacity to act as a moral agent"(Beauchamp & Childress, 2013, p.72). If one is able to act morally, to do right by others, then that person will have moral status, if they do harm to others, then they will have a lower moral status. An example is a priest or a monk who does their best to help others, and the opposite end are criminals who have committed crime to others, so their freedom and certain rights are taken away. The two main conditions for an individual to be a moral agent is the capability to make moral decisions and "the individual has motives that can judged morally" (Beauchamp & Childress, 2013, p.72). The theory bases the ability of the individual's will to act

Due to Victor’s unwillingness to accept him, the creature was unable to conform to societal norms. From the creature’s very first moments, he is feared by others - the instant his eyes open, his creator cries out in terror and runs to his quarters. If only Victor had stayed and attempted to nurture his creation, instead of having “turned from [him] in disgust” (93), the creature may have enjoyed a gentle, upbringing in which he

In the letters that Robert Walton sent to his sisters, there is legit evidence that he was encountering difficult circumstances when he met Victor Frankenstein. When Walton's vessel was sailing to the Northern Pole they encountered heavy fog and lots of ice. Walton's exact words were, "...we were nearly surrounded by ice" (8). and he also exclaimed, "...we were compassed round by a very thick fog" (8). Also, while they were trapped in the ice surrounding them, they saw a gigantic figure going on along the ice which befuddled the crew because as Walton had said in his letters, "We were, as believed, many hundreds of miles away from any

The creature's physical grotesqueness makes the creature unable to attain affection from the human societies. The creature is initially rejected by his creator, who is the closest resemblance to a mother or father figure. Despite this relationship, Victor finds the creature to be a "miserable monster" (39). Consequently, as soon as life is present within the creature, Victor abandons his child. Victor claims that he "escaped, and rushed down the stairs" (40) away from the

The book of Genesis states that God created life in an array of fixed species and it was not until the 19th Century, that paleontological discoveries started to cast doubt on creationism and Charles Darwin published his theory of evolution in On the Origin of the Species (Clegg, 2007, p.120). The two processes that are involved in evolution and the fundamental connections between the evolutionary process and behaviour, in particular that of altruism and whether it can be seen as an adaptive behaviour are considered here.

He turns his back, defying the being who should be his child or brother. As a result, the creature begins a life of dissimilation that turns him into a monster. What pain and suffering does Victor cause Victor causes much pain for those around him given his obsession with reanimating life and the consequences of his success. Victor's "quest" does cause pain and suffering for many throughout the novel: William, Justine, Clerval, his father, Elizabeth, and the creature. (to differentiate between the creature and all others--Victor's creation of the creature caused the creature pain and suffering.)

The creature is seen as horrifying and ugly becoming a disgrace to Victor that has shattered his perfect life. He begins to go through a series of change as he notices the mistake he allowed his obsession to

After Victor’s creation of the creature, he is shocked at “the miserable monster whom [he] had created” and he escapes “and rushed down stairs” after “a grin wrinkled [the monster’s] cheeks.” (page 83, chapter 4). This causes the monster to aim to find Victor after he deserts him. Throughout the novel, the monster is seen as caring and affectionate while seeking out the man who created and abandoned him.

Under a general character-based approach, decisions result from a tendency to act in way that is virtuous. When faced with the moral decisions of daily life, a person of good character usually decides to do what is morally and socially acceptable without much consideration to the specifics of their situation because they are inclined to take action through a strong consideration of their character, as opposed to the consideration of the possible consequences and repercussions. The actions that are made are not dependent on the ever changing environment of the agent, but instead on the agent himself, whose character is evident through his tendencies and usual mannerisms. As a result, one following a character-based approach is consistent and

The monster believed that Victor would accept him, but after he realized that not only did Victor not want to assume his position in the monster’s life, but society also rejected him, it became a transitory thought, and instead became replaced with his bloodthirst towards Victor and his loved ones, which he knew would hurt way worse than just killing him; making him lonely like himself. Both Victor and the monster partook in horrid acts, in which held horrendous actions; the main one being Victor creating the monster in the first place which in result caused the both of them heartbreak, loneliness, and pain. If Victor wouldn’t have created the monster, then his life would not be filled with so much grief and emptiness; Victor is the true monster, although they are both the primal protagonists as much as they are the antagonists because of the display of the emotions they both portray as lamenting humans/monsters, and the power they give to nature in order to destroy one another. Victor used nature to his advantage, although it was wrong; Victor used nature to create and destroy the monster; he used the

To act morally is to act from no other motive than the motive of doing

Morality has been a subject of many philosophical discussions that has prompted varied responses from different philosophers. One of the most famous approaches to morality is that of Immanuel Kant in his writing Groundwork of Metaphysics of Morals. Kant in this work argues that the reason for doing a particular action or the drive to do good things is a fundamental basis of defining moral quality in a person. To him, an action could be considered morally right only if the motivation behind doing that action was out of ‘goodwill’. When he defines these moral rules, he characterizes them in the form of imperatives – the hypothetical imperative and categorical imperative. While hypothetical imperatives deal with motivations and actions that

Another approach in ethics is virtue ethics, which refer to not only ethical actions and behaviours, but also embody the ethical character as which characteristics help people become ‘virtuous’, in which “an action is right if, and only if, it is what a virtuous agent would do in the circumstances, a virtuous agent is one who exercises the virtues, and a virtue is a character trait that human beings need to flourish”. (Hursthouse and

conclusions on both what morals is, the means by which it is helpful and who can acquire

Morality is the effort to guide one’s conduct by reason, that is, to do what there are the best reason for doing- while giving equal weight to the interests of each individual who will be affected by what one does. (Ibid: 14). May be irrational and under the influence of prejudice, selfishness, or cultural conditioning. Indeed, morality is, first and foremost, a matter of consulting reason. The consideration of impartiality is emphasized by almost every theory of morality. It basically considers eac Moral philosophy is the human beings’ attempt to reach a reasonable understanding of morality and how we