Theme Of Nature In Victor Frankenstein

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein tells the tale of a man whose entire life turns to misery after creating what he calls a monster, a demon and a fiend. However, the real monster in this story is pride and the feeling of superiority. This is evident in the novel with Robert Walton’s view of himself and his expedition, Victor Frankenstein’s attitude towards himself in comparison with the creature, and mankind’s perception of the creature and their ignorance towards him.

This novel reflects Shelley’s own childhood, which consisted of her feeling obligated to rebel against her own father’s wishes and his choice for her marriage. Frankenstein is a way for Shelley to tell her own experiences with parental conflict and how she feels she was affected by her demanding father and the environment she grew up in, by comparing herself to Victor’s monster. Shelley analyzed her own characteristics, and the characteristics of her father, and placed them within Victor and the

Walton is like a past version of Frankenstein before he created the monster. He is young, naïve and excited about the task which he will endure. Both Walton and Frankenstein were well educated and both were very close to their sisters. From the letters, we learn that Robert’s passion for a sea-farer’s life stems back to his childhood, where he would read nothing but histories of voyages.

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein deeply develops the trope of nature vs. nurture. The romantic era is characterized by a desire to revert to natural animalistic living in the world. Shelley’s main characters embody nature and nurture respectively. Victor, raised in a loving home, kills with no concern and disregards his caring family. The Monster, Victor’s creation, on the other hand, is forced to live in nature like an animal with no companion. Victor is Shelley’s direct comment on the Victorian lifestyle characterized by material possession and religious moral structure. Victor embodies one who is grounded in societally constructed niceties and formalities but is corrupted by the lifestyle. The monster is shown to be the morally correct character

In Shelley’s Frankenstein, the monster is portrayed as a grotesque abomination. However, as Hopkins states in Contending Forces, the cultural and geographical situations, or lack thereof, in which one matures in play a crucial role in the proper development of one’s mind and brain. The monster is simply a product of circumstance. The lack of social interactions alongside geographical isolation propelled the daemon to be alienated from society, ultimately resulting in a lack of morals and an underdeveloped psyche. By being a culmination of his surroundings and experiences it is revealed that the true monstrous entities are the factors that leave the daemon predisposed to fail in a modern society. Arguably, Victor created a being, while the circumstances that said being was placed in “created” a monster. Shelley purposefully terrorizes the monster with such intensity to provoke and justify the overarching theme in this novel which states that people should not be judged on their physical appearance.

The ultimate consequences of Promethean ambition are characterized through Victor and Walton, who parallels Victor, yet is able to turn from the ‘intoxicating draught’ of superiority and unbridled ambition. This juxtaposition of character reinforces the significance of moral responsibility, as Shelley ultimately mocks the hateful bond between Frankenstein and his child, the Monster. The harsh consequences of disrupting nature and forfeiting moral conscience are conveyed, connoting the inevitable demise due to loss of self and identity.

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

The “Frankenstein” society only upholds and esteem those who are of “high and unsullied descent united with riches” (Shelley 386), these privileges commanding reverence and respect. Here, Shelley articulates a distinct class hierarchy prevalent within society, wherein disadvantaged figures like the creature, who does not possess sufficient wealth or honourable descend, will be condescendingly dismissed or even loathed upon. The creature who is perpetually the less powerful (given that it has neither family nor riches) will forever remain “a blot upon the earth” (Shelley 386), the stain as an analogy which reiterates its unwanted and undesirable position. Further accentuating such class inequalities is the juxtaposition of the monster’s status with that of Victor and his family. Termed a “savage inhabitant of some undiscovered island” (Shelley 280), the monster is alluded to be a wild and obscure figure whose acute lack of stable power and identity shapes it into a strange and terrifying Other dwelling within an incomprehensible realm, a manifestation “representing the dispossessed” (Vlasopolos 130). In contrast, Victor’s family, who originates from the aristocratic upper class, belongs within society and is highly-regarded. The superiority enjoyed by their status is exemplified from how they are already well-established as a family whose ancestors “had been for many years counsellors and syndics” (Shelley 289), their father gloriously securing much “honour and reputation” (Shelley 289) in numerous public domains. The creature who is part of the inferior class is comparatively neglected and remains the outcast, relegated to the isolated sphere of the Other. The collective contempt demonstrated towards the creature builds and affirms its distinct status as the Other, whose victimisation then works to expose class inequalities hidden behind the façade of

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

In the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, man tries to tamper with nature. This is an enormous mistake, because his experiences prove that man should respect the omnipotent power of nature so man can be happy. Man should respect nature because if man goes beyond his limits, then nature lets man creates all types of consequences for himself which proves Shelley’s point to respect nature’s powers.When people look at nature, they are automatically healed just by its looks. This is a much more powerful force than anything man is capable of doing, thus nature is all powerful. Nature is constant, unlike man who is constantly changing, which shows that nature is always in control.

In Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein, Robert Walton, Victor Frankenstein, and Frankenstein’s Creation reach similar conclusions humanity by seafaring to the North Pole, delving into the dark depths of science, and observing the rejecting nature of humans. The three tragic heroes Walton, Frankenstein and the Creation are all character doubles in their initial enthusiasm for knowledge, inner dualist personalities, religiously glorified personal goals, possessive relationships and negative effects of gaining knowledge. The three character’s views of humanity are a microcosm of the culturally accepted importance of beauty, and how the culmination of knowledge can be blinding and lead to utter ruination.

In 1818 Frankenstein was written by Mary Shelley. In Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein brings a creature to life. The creature kills William, Henry Clerval, and Elizabeth. Victor had promised to make a female creature for the creature, but he did not fulfill his promise. This makes the creature enraged. The creature runs away and Victor follows him. Victor gets on a boat with Walton. Victor dies and the creature comes and is very sad that his creator has died. The creature says that he must end his suffering and he jumps into the ocean. In the novel Frankenstein, Shelley uses the theme of nature to show how it is like the characters of the story and how it affects the characters.

The concept ‘nature vs. nurture’ refers to the debate surrounding the influence of genetic factors and the environment in determining personality. It still remains contentious as to whether our personality is primarily determined by inherent genetics (biological approach) or by environmental conditioning (behaviourist approach). Shelley effectively embodies this life-long debate through the characterisation of Victor Frankenstein and the Frankenstein creature. She highlights the significance of the environment in creating personality as indicated by the influence of Victor’s home education and the creature’s character development. This essay shall hence illustrate that Frankenstein does not only engage with the nature vs. nurture debate,

The concept of sustainability, on a broader spectrum, is not a matter from the post-industrial society. Simon Dresner gives us an overview of how the bright minds explained the concept of progress, growth and the such, several years before the Industrial revolution. Tracing down the progress back time, the invention of printing press has revolutionized the world and made it easier to spread ideas between nations with no much effort. With constant development in Western science, belief in progress and growth became more obivious and strong.

Walton has high hopes to be the first to discover a part of the world that has never before been visited in the Arctic. Through the letters he writes to his sister, Walton assures her that “success shall crown [his] endeavours. Wherefore not? Thus far I have gone, tracing a secure way over the pathless seas: the very stars themselves being witnesses and testimonies of my triumph” (23-24). Walton believes that despite the difficulty of his journey, he will achieve success and is determined to not stop until he gets there. His mentality eventually gets him caught in an unsatisfactory situation and it’s not until he meets Victor Frankenstein that he realizes he must finally retreat from his mission.