The Role Of Evil In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

The desire to belong is natural in most humans. Even though we understand the struggle of belonging, we, as humans still persecute others who are different. This exclusion is, in itself, a form of bullying. In her novel Frankenstein, Mary Shelley exemplifies this phenomenon of human behavior when she shows the maltreatment Frankenstein’s monster receives for his unattractive physical features and how he attempts to communicate with others in order to put an end to his isolation. Despite the monster’s benevolent nature, he is still alienated because he is different. Through the use of the monster and his discrimination, Mary Shelley shows that humans are not that different from the monster in the way we seek others; and those that persecute others are the real monsters.

In the novel Frankenstein written by Mary Shelly, the creature's behavior is a result of the cruelty shown by his creator and other humans, not because he was “born” evil. The creature is constructed of random corpuses body parts that Victor, the creator, stole, sewed together, and then brought to life. Although he looks like a monster, he only transforms himself into a monster, personality and behavior wise, after he is continuously rejected by society because they see a hideous creature and expect it to do hideous things.

In the infamous novel, Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus, by Mary Shelley, there have been a variety of recurring themes throughout the book, one of them being good versus evil. Good versus evil is a popular theme that appears in several movies, TV shows, as well as literature itself. According to Wikipedia.com, it means: “[...] the battle between ideologies, with one side Good, and the other Evil. Another variation is the inner struggle in characters (and by extension, humans in reality) between good and evil.” This theme is specifically crucial to the plot because it ultimately asks the readers what it means to be “human.” Shelley supports her representation by manipulating society’s behavior, questioning the limits of humans, and

For as long as man has encompassed this world, the divisive enigma of humanity has prevailed. Seeping its way into each generation, while sparking heated conversations, it has become evident that there is much we do not know about what truly makes us human. Regardless of our genetic composition, philosophers often ponder the deeper meaning of humanity. We know that, biologically, recreating the genetic makeup of a human does not yield humanity, so what is the missing aspect? Humans -have the ability to contemplate their own existence in this world. Awareness of existence. This driving force enables us to analyze situations while placing ourselves within them. Our involuntary ability to understand the impact of our actions and the affect they have on others causes us to be inherently human. Our actions evoke strong emotions within us that allow us to learn through our experiences. We retain the resonated feelings of certain occurrences and apply them to others in order to deduce outcomes. Often this facet of mankind is taken for granted, yet we are reminded, through both literature and hypothetical scenarios, of its importance. Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, constitutes as one of these profound reminders. Shelley develops a theoretical story in which the humanity of Frankenstein’s monster is questioned. Despite having the accurate organs and framework of a human, Shelley causes the reader to seek the missing aspect that is preventing the monster from being human. Likewise,

As shown in Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley people grow evil without the presence of others with which they can relate. If someone feels they are alone, their actions will stray from their good intentions, and soon their intentions will not be so good either. The awful deeds done by humans, including those done by Frankenstein’s Monster, are done because isolation drives people to malicious actions. Frankenstein, Walton, and the monster would all be better people if they had a companion to help them through their troubles. The actions of these characters in their solitude’s contrast to their previous actions shows that being alone is what make them evil.

endure the aspect of the being I had created, I rushed out of the room

Morality vs immorality, the question of where the line is and when it comes to separating the two it cannot always be clear whether a decision is moral or not because as with most things there is a gray area between the two where there is still room for discussion on the choices of an individual. In Mary Shelley's sci-fi book Frankenstein, this battle between the two is made clear when Victor Frankenstein goes about creating the monster by stealing body parts and can even be applied to Victor's decision to make the monster in the first place. The actions of the monster that Victor created can also be questioned in their morality for example when the monster killed Victor's little brother out of revenge it can be questioned whether his actions were a morally right decision. The novel along with bringing attention to moral and immoral decisions and showing a contrast between the two also throughout the book mixed romantic elements of literature and Gothic elements of literature. The novel did this by implicating an awe of nature, the celebration of the individual, an interest in seeing things from the eye of a child, bleak environments, passionate characters, and ominous implications.

Living in a world of hate, but still trying to be optimistic is what the creature is like in Frankenstein. The creature defended for himself on his own. He was a caring and compassionate person, but people assumed from his looks that he only had evil intentions. The creature was born innocent and unaware of the evils of the world, but his looks cursed him for tragedy. By looking at any evidence that he was born neutral it will prove if the creature was made evil or born evil.

The 1800s was a time of change politically, economically, and personally for many citizens. Because of rapid change in power many rules were put in place, changed, neglected as well as rebelled. More specifically, when an individual committed a crime, back then they had different ways of going about the punishment. Some would see their ways as sexist and biased, whereas others thought it was completely reasonable. In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein there are a series of unexpected deaths in the story. The first one however, one of the more critical ones because the characters and the audience is not sure who is responsible. As the characters debate who is the murderer, punishments and explanations change

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is very much a commentary on the Enlightenment and its failure to tame the human condition through reason. The human condition can be defined as the unique features which mold a human being. The creature is undoubtedly a victim of this predicament. He grapples with the meaning of life, the search for gratification, the sense of curiosity, the inevitability of isolation, and the awareness of the inescapability of death. These qualities and his ceaseless stalking of his master conjure up the metaphor that he is the shadow of the Enlightenment. Indeed, the Enlightenment is represented through Frankenstein whereas the creature is the embodiment of everything it shuns. These include nature, emotion, and savagery. The two characters are understood as counterparts and yet strikingly similar at the same time. The creature is considered a monster because of his grotesque appearance. Frankenstein on the other hand is a monster of another kind: his ambition, secrecy, and selfishness alienate him from human society. He is eventually consumed by an obsessive hatred of his creation. Both characters also commit primordial crimes. Although rationality pervades through Frankenstein's endeavours, it can be argued that he becomes less human the more he tries to be God. The secret of life lies beyond an accepted boundary from which none can return. By creating life Frankenstein ironically sets the stage for his own destruction as well as that of his family. The

While standing over the recently departed body of his inventor, Victor Frankenstein’s creature reflects that he “had cast off all feeling, subdued all anguish, to riot in the excess of [his] despair.” The creature uses his anger to dispel the pain of his rejection from society to purge himself of morals, finishing that “evil thenceforth became [his] good” (220). What constitutes “good” and “evil” for the creature, however, is rather hazy, and what constitutes good and evil for the rest of humanity is even less clear. Nonetheless, through Frankenstein, Mary Shelley implies that humans are predisposed to strive for goodness, which is defined by health and compassion, but that despite this, humans are inclined to act in self-interest.

The battle between good and evil is the greatest battle of human nature. Are humans fighting to become good, or are humans fighting against evil? To be born good means that evil is not rooted in any human, but rather evil is influenced upon one. To be born good implies that criminals, rapists, and murderers are not born with the intent of destruction and evil doings, but society has triggered them to become that way. Is innocence in a human lost, or is it never there? In Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein, Shelley uses the example of the Creature to argue that all humans are born good and innocent, but because of the pain, suffering, and societal influences one may endure in a lifetime, this good can be destroyed and overcome by evil

The novel of Frankenstein shows how the monster demonstrates a mad character; the monster is mainly looking for justice, other than injustice. The monster became more freely after the death of Victor, since there wasn't really anything else he could do but just move on and accept the fact that people will always see him different. The novel Frankenstein mainly demonstrates the significance of the monster through murder. Victor shouldn't have rejected his creation just because he didn't turn out to be what Victor had wanted, because it only lead the monster to suffering by sadness, and then leading to the monster seeking for revenge. Due to the fact that everyone feared the monster, and wouldn't give him a chance to express himself due to his

My research will be based on Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein. The research will center around Frankenstein’s monster and his development throughout the novel. Also, the paper will focus on the monster’s acquisition of knowledge and morals and how it affects his view on society and how it affect his action and interactions towards the other characters in the novel. By applying texts that focuses on child development—specifically feral children—and texts that focuses on the idea of isolation and how it affects one’s motive and rationale, the paper will uncover the rationale behind the monster’s actions throughout the novel and his ideology. The paper will address why the monster did the things he did and what is the motive and rationale behind those actions.

When you hear the word monster what do you think? Do you think of something like a zombie, or Dracula, or do you think of the people that you might pass on the streets everyday that might have murdered someone just minutes before? Do you think that a monster can change it’s personality? What do you think goes through a monster's mind? What leads them to be as bad as they are sought out to be? Can a monster only be a monster or is there more to it than what the naked eye can see?