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Examples Of Human Nature In Frankenstein

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Human Nature and Frankenstein Humans are not perfect beings. However, they are sadly quite often responsible for not only their own life, but the lives of others as well. This is shown in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, a story about Victor Frankenstein creating a monster, fearing it, abandoning it, and facing the consequences of having his family and friends killed off by the vengeful monster. Frankenstein does not take responsibility for the monster, and several times lies and tricks the monster, and sees nothing wrong with his actions, besides creating the monster in the first place. His hubris, fear, and lack of responsibility ruins the lives of his friends and family, the monster’s life, and his own life as well. An example of Frankenstein’s …show more content…

He suddenly finds it ugly and terrifying, and realizes that he has spent two years making this creature, but he is scared of it, so he abandons it. “For this I had deprived myself of rest and health. I had desired it with an ardour that far exceeded moderation; but now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart” (59). This shows that he is horrified, and doesn’t want to have anything to do with it anymore. Another example of his fear is after he decides to make a companion for the monster, he goes back on the agreement out of fear. “I thought with a sensation of madness on my promise of creating another like to him, and trembling with passion, tore to pieces the thing on which I was engaged” (203). He tears apart the monster’s future companion, and enrages the monster because he is scared about what they could do. The monster had already said that he would take his companion and leave Europe, going to South America, and the monster has not lied. These examples show that Frankenstein is fearful of the monster, and is not entirely …show more content…

In a fit of enthusiastic madness I created a rational creature and was bound towards him to assure, as far as was in my power, his happiness and well-being. This was my duty, but there was another still paramount to that. My duties towards the beings of my own species had greater claims to my attention because they included a greater proportion of happiness or misery. Urged by this view, I refused, and I did right in refusing, to create a companion for the first creature. He showed unparalleled malignity and selfishness in evil; he destroyed my friends; he devoted to destruction beings who possessed exquisite sensations, happiness, and wisdom; nor do I know where this thirst for vengeance may end.

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684 Words | 3 Pages

This was the start of Victor’s tragedy. After having created his creature on a whim, without any real consideration for the repercussions, he simply deserts the creature. His reckless abandonment of the creature causes him to wander alone and be rejected, without a purpose or a home. This made the creature

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767 Words | 4 Pages

Frightened of his own creation he abandons it in hopes that it will disappear. Sadly this is an action that will haunt him and his family for the rest of their lives. It does not make it easier for Frankenstein when the monster discovers his need for love and affection, sincerely because he feels alone. Throughout the book, all the monster wants is company. Firstly, his longing to be accepted by Victor, and then the longing for a fellow creature, maybe even a lover, created especially for him.

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919 Words | 4 Pages

Who is held accountable for something wrong that they’ve done? Why would this be different from Victor Frankenstein and the Monster in Frankenstein by Mary Shelley? Frankenstein portrays a clear account of why you pay the consequences of your actions. Victor Frankenstein is the creator of his evil monster and he should be held accountable for his actions. As the reader reaches the point in the book where Victor brings his creation to life the author shows Victor’s dedication to his work to the point of causing himself physical harm.

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1256 Words | 6 Pages

It is haunting him in his dreams, and has overtaken all of his other ambitions, including those of interacting with people and pursuing his own happiness. This pursuit of knowledge has led him to ruin and regret, and his hatred for his creature burns within him. Even though he has spent so much time and dedication in building the creature, only regret can follow due to his lack of morals in creating such a thing along with his neglect in other more noble pursuits within his life. It is ironic that the pursuit that overtook his life and well-being managed to end up the thing he hates the most. The pursuit of knowledge leads to the deterioration of his own moral standings and nobler pursuits in

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900 Words | 4 Pages

Frankenstein by Mary Shelly depicts many acts of cruelty committed by both Victor Frankenstein and his monster. Despite having many opportunities to change, Victor makes no real effort to do so, and after not getting what it wants, the monster results to killing and committing other terrible acts of violence with no feelings at all. Most people have a definite opinion about whether Victor was the bad guy, or whether his monster was, but in truth neither was ever really good. They both did terrible and inexcusable things, and in the end, both of them deserved what was coming. It seems to me that most people get caught up in the fact that the monster isn’t all that bad because it didn’t ask to be created, and all it wanted was to be wanted,

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1090 Words | 5 Pages

I was benevolent and good; misery made me fiend. Make me happy and I shall be virtuous” (90-91) In the novel, the creature was shown being helpful to the De Lacys and the little girl who was seen drowning that he saved. That is ultimately besides the point because his negative actions outweigh his positives through the entirety of his life. Overall, many things can be looked at to shift the moral responsibility but overall, due to the creators actions and his diction, he has a moral culpability over the murders

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963 Words | 4 Pages

Every unique human experience and theme in Frankenstein; or the Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley can be related to and learnt from, it has been written as an allegory for the concerns of the time. Everybody has a drive to pursue knowledge, some more than others, but this pursuit can have consequences if it turns into an obsession. Frankenstein’s passion for knowledge and ambitions caused him to obsess over his work, leading to feelings of guilt, revenge and regret. Other messages that Frankenstein story convey to us are, the duality of human nature, the responsibilities of creators and warnings about the power and morals of science. I will be addressing the themes of obsession, responsibility, duality of human nature and the warnings towards

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811 Words | 4 Pages

Frankenstein had grown up pretty wealthily and as he grew he gained a thirst for science. But with this science came consequences for he was studying a dark twisted subject on how to reanimate dead tissues. He spent years upon years trying to figure it out. He would collect dead body part from corpses and sew them together in his attempt to fulfill this ghastly mission. Then finally one night he finally one night achieved his goal but to his surprise it was not as he intended.

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276 Words | 2 Pages

Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein, a gothic frame narrative that is told by three different narrators. It is based upon the life of Victor Frankenstein, and also includes the lives of a creature he created and a North Pole explorer Robert Walton. This source is biased in the views that the characters have of one another, but overall objective with respect to the characters because all viewpoints are given in the novel. Shelley however showed the lives of all the characters to serve as foils to one another. The actions and nature of the characters are merely gothic versions of real life actions would have been.

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538 Words | 3 Pages

The creature was big, strong, powerful, and intimidating. Although, he was not evil. Frankenstein left himself exiled from the common world for so long, that he was to used to it. Yes, the monster was intimidating, but he was not evil. He has never meant to hurt

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582 Words | 3 Pages

The nature of human beings has been questioned by many over the course of our existence. Mary Shelley’s most famous novel, Frankenstein (1818), introduces us to a creature that was brought to life by Victor Frankenstein, who had become obsessed with the idea of creating life. Due to his horrid physical appearance, society views him as a monstrous evil being. In fact, the creature commits several monstrous acts towards the end of the novel. This makes the reader question whether the humans that judged him were right or if they led to his wickedness.

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1137 Words | 5 Pages

His actions are not justified even though he began as the victim. People tend to fear what they do not understand, and as Cari Romm puts it, “You have great power, and you have behavior that’s frightening because it’s so unpredictable and beyond the realm of normal experience.” The unknown behavior of the Creature, leads to people being fearful of him, as this is their initial reaction to meeting him. The irrational behavior towards the Creature, leads to the reckless actions of the Creature in order to seek revenge on what has been brought upon him. Frankenstein’s monster accurately depicts how creatures are sometimes not innately evil, but become so due to their environment not being suitable for them to be treated

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1206 Words | 5 Pages

In the story Frankenstein, a man controlled by science creates a being without thinking of the consequences that would come with his creation. Throughout the story there is the argument as to who is more human, Victor Frankenstein or his creation. As the plot progresses, you can see the humanity in Victor, but you also see his creation become a monster. In the beginning, Victor sees his creation as one of the wonderful thing’s science brings to life, but when creation is animated, his realization of the mistake he has made sets in. The creation is not evil at first, it is the abandonment, isolation, and cruelty he faces that turns him into a monster.

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1664 Words | 7 Pages

Saying that the Creature from Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein has been misrepresented is an understatement. It’s almost as if his character has split into two very flat characters. Often he is represented as a devilish monster who terrorizes all of humanity. He is also said to be a helpless victim, cursed to live out his days as a wretch because his creator, Victor Frankenstein, tried to play god. Depicting the Creature as either good or evil goes against the entire point of the book.

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520 Words | 3 Pages

The treatment of the creature in this case shows how a lack of love can impact

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