The Importance Of Human Nature In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

I feel sympathetic for the creature on many occasions in the fiction novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. Frankenstein has brought something to life that he cannot even look at without being horrified. I believe it was wrong that Frankenstein played God and created something he didn’t understand. Once you are finished with this essay I believe you will agree with me.

Unfortunately for the creature, the need for friendship and love is not met by the people he longed to receive it from. He is cast out by his “friends”. This halts his progression up the ladder. This does not stop the creature though. He decides to try again to gain love and recognition from human beings. As he is walking along a river he sees a young girl slip and fall into it. “I rushed from my hiding-place, and, with exreme labour from the force of the current, saved her … when I was suddenly interrupted by the approach of a rustic … on seeing me … he aimed a gun, which he carried, at my body and fired3 (143).” Unlike the previous two attempts, as the creature is deprived of reaching the next need. Yet all hope is not lost for he believes that there might be one last opportunity to get his need of love met.

In the novel "Frankenstein" by Mary Shelley, the relationship of external apperence and internal feelings are directly related. The creature is created and he is innocent, though he is seaverly deformed. His nature is to be good and kind, but society only views his external appereance which is grotesque. Human nature is to judge by external apperence. He is automatically ostracized and labeled as a monster because of his external apperence. He finnaly realized that no matter how elequintly he speaks and how kind he is, people will never be able to see past his external deformities. Children are fearful of him, Adults think he is dangerous, and his own creator abandons him in disgust.

He longs for a companion who will understand him and who will not mistreat him. The last moments of compassion dies within the creature when his creator destroys the companion he promised to create, and the revenge continues from there. Even though the creature commits awful crimes, he also commits acts of kindness.

The creature began to converse freely with the blind father who addressed him with kindness. However, when his two children returned, the daughter fainted and the son "dashed me to the ground and struck me violently with a stick" forcing the creature to "quit the cottage and escape unperceived to my hovel" (115). These acts of cruelty emphasize how often humanity stereotypes individuals. Just because a creature looks monstrous does not mean his intentions match his appearance. After this heartbreaking event, the monster decides to stop seeking love and instead to seek revenge against his creator and attempt to force Victor to create a companion for him. The creature attempts to explain his cruel ways when he exclaims, "There was none among the myriads of men that existed who would pity or assist me; and should I feel kindness towards my

The creature claims that the creation of a equal partner like himself would make him happy. The creature proclaims, "my virtues will necessarily arise when I live in communion with an equal. I shall feel the affections of a sensitive being, and become linked to the chain of existance and events, from which I am now excluded" (121). In this speech, the creature tries to provoke sympathy from Doctor Frankenstein. However, because of his previous acts of violence, his request is denied. This agonizes the creature: "Shall each man...find a wife for his bosom, and each beast have a mate and I be alone?" (140). The result of these constant rejections that the creature becomes violent and therefore cannot be blamed for his violence. The creature's desire to be given affection and sympathy can only reside in another being like himself since he has been denied by the world around him.

In this section of the reading, the creature’s habits really stood out to me. I couldn’t help but see a more softer and human like side to the monster. When the creature is observing his neighbors he comes to notice that they are unhappy and he is “deeply affected” by this. When the creature learns that poverty is causing their unhappiness he also comes to the realization that when he has stolen their food he causes them great pain and suffering. So the creature “abstained” and swore to not steal anymore. So not only is this supposedly monsterish creature feeling sorrow and remorse for others pain, but he also chooses to end his role in causing this pain. These kind of emotions and actions that the creature is conducting are really interesting.

When Victor has the opportunity to become an important figure in the Creature's life he fled; leaving his Creation alone, abandoned, and uniformed in a world where society scrutinizes every detail. The Creature was only a child when Victor abandoned him and left him to navigate a world that would not accept his physical flaws or lack of external perfection. To try and understand the world the Creature is obsessed with watching and observing the DeLacey family to acquire some basic social skills. According to Anne Mellor, the Creature also learned the “nature of heroism and public virtue and civic justice,” from observing the DeLacey family (Mellor 48). The Creature initially believes that the DeLacey family was a family of power and

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

As a result of Victor's neglect and rejection of the creature, society also denies the creature acceptance which creates a life of loneliness for it. The creature, after being rejected by Victor, is left helpless, wanders into a forest, and experiences what hunger and pain are for the first time in life. The creature longs for acceptance, especially from Victor, but is denied. For example, the creature first learns of its rejection from society when it enters the house of an old man that is cooking; it as at the sight of the creature that the man "shrieked loudly" (90) and runs out of his hut. From that moment the creature realizes it is deformed and unlike anyone else. While the creature is roaming through the woods one day it comes upon a cottage. The creature notes the inhabitants of the cottage, the DeLacey family, as being beautiful in comparison to its

The first person who had seen the creature, other than Victor, “Shrieked loudly” (Shelley 83) when he looked upon his ugly and massive frame. This was a reaction the creature got used to, and he decided he would be better off to stay out of the paths of humans. When he found the hovel near the cottage he watched over for many months, the creature still was a loving, gentile being, despite the few nasty run-ins with humans. His sincitivity showed when he marveled at nature, and cried at some of the depressing stories from ancient civilizations. His tender and caring heart showed when he looked over the family, gathered

Over two centuries ago, Mary Shelley created a gruesome tale of the horrific ramifications that result when man over steps his bounds and manipulates nature. In her classic tale, Frankenstein, Shelley weaves together the terrifying implications of a young scientist playing God and creating life, only to be haunted for the duration of his life by the monster of his own sordid creation. Reading Shelley in the context of present technologically advanced times, her tale of monstrous creation provides a very gruesome caution. For today, it is not merely a human being the sciences are lusting blindly to bring to life, as was the deranged quest of Victor Frankenstein, but rather to

    The creature's ambiguous humanity has long puzzled readers of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. In this essay I will focus on how Frankenstein can be used to explore two philosophical topics, social contract theory, and gender roles, in light of ideas from Shelley's two philosophical parents, William Godwin, and Mary Wollstonecraft.

“Your appearance shouldn't define who you are, and that's what I like, the contrast between people looking like the opposite of what they truly are deep inside” (Matthias Schoenaerts). In past and current societies, appearance has always played an important factor in the way people perceive one another. Throughout the novel, the creature’s actions change in relation to the way others see him, he sees himself and eventually him falling into the label society had provided for him. In the novel Frankenstein, Mary Shelley exploits the human obsession with physical appearance to share the story of an outsider, alienated because of his physical deformities.