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The Influence Of Nature Vs. Nurture In Frankenstein

825 Words4 Pages

Nature is the predetermined traits that people are born with, while nurture is the influence that affects people after they’re born. The debate surrounding Nature V. Nurture is how much of a person’s traits is predetermined and how much is influenced by the environment. Mary Shelley's believes in nurture more than nature. Victor Frankenstein has certain traits that he’s born with. Frankenstein is born into a prestigious, wealthy family. Being born into prominent family means that Frankenstein is set to follow a path to success, without much work. Victor is born with natural curiosity. He seems to exhibit this want for power and it’s evident in his creations. Early events in Frankenstein’s life influence his decisions later on. After reading a book by Cornelius Agrippa, Victor expressed interest in Agrippa’s theories. Frankenstein’s father sees him reading the book and tells him, “My dear Victor, do not waste your time upon this; it is …show more content…

There are many signs that happen in Frankenstein’s early life that’ll deflect him from pursuing his original studies, such as, his father not explaining why Victor shouldn’t read the book by Agrippa, the storm that he’s fasciated from and after he discovers the tree that was struck by lightening the night before. While, the Monster is traumatized after being abandoned by Victor. The Monster wants to be validated and loved by Victor. His need for validation leads him to seek it out whenever he can, though it proves to be disastrous. Overall, Shelley believes in nurture. Frankenstein is born into a wealthy family and has a natural curiosity. Whereas, the Monster is abandoned by his creator. There are signs the defer Victor from his original studies and lead him to creating his Monster. The horrible treatment leads the Monster to his bleak outlook on society. These societal and environment surroundings influenced both Frankenstein and his

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As the monster grows older, his comparison to victor becomes more and more evident, and their likeness creates a conflict between the two characters. In the first few chapter of Shelley’s novel, Victor describes growing up in great detail. From his loving parents, to his great friendships, Victor Frankenstein had a very happy childhood. He even goes as far as stating that “no human could have passed a happier childhood than myself.”

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Primarily, Victor Frankenstein’s home life had a formative influence in his early life since it molded him into who he became as an adult. Victor was born into a very wealthy and distinguished family, who did not let their social status and wealth define who they were in society. His family remained generous and noble. By being the affectionate people they were, Victor’s parents raised him as their plaything which left him with a large amount of confidence, and the belief that greatness is part of his destiny. This makes Victor unusually determined and ambitious (his ambition becomes great and he crosses the boundary of mankind and experimenting).

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After successfully creating the monster, Frankenstein is perplexed by what he has created. Due to the monster’s annoyance with Frankenstein, he acts back against Frankenstein mostly due to his lack of parenting and responsibility. Shelley’s novel strongly connects with the act of parenting. It is clear that Victor Frankenstein did not complete his role as a parent. Due to this, it further led the monster to misbehave and feel as if he does not have a purpose in life.

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But these are not thoughts befitting me; I will endeavour to resign myself cheerfully to death, and will indulge a hope of meeting you in another world”(24). Victor shows the strong love of family in his childhood “No human being could have passed a happier childhood than [me]. My parents were possessed by the very spirit of kindness and indulgence” (Shelley,40), he raised with excellent conditions and with parents who loved their children, but we do not see that Victor gives this love to his creature and ignored him, notwithstanding the fact that the two figures shared many characteristics. As a result of Frankenstein 's darkness and ignorance toward his creature, he refused to accept the monster because of his physical appearance and Frankenstein sees the creature as if he were the monster when the creature

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Oftentimes people are too afraid of what people might think to show their full potential. This is not the case for Victor in Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein. In Frankenstein we see the journey of Victor and his creation as they separately get rejected and misunderstood by society. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein supports Emerson’s ideas of self-reliance because Victor shows that fearless people can achieve greatness.

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Victor Frankenstein turns away from his responsibilities by ignoring the existence of his creation. Throughout the novel, Victor is constantly running away from the monster and not giving him attention, which resulted in the monsters change of personalities. For example, in page 71 the creation said, “All men hate the wretched; how must I be hated, who am miserable beyond all living things! Yet you, my creator, detest and spurn me, thy creature, to whom thou art bound by ties only dissoluble by the annihilation of one of us.” This quote suggests that because of the ignorance of Victor the monster began to become evil and have the urge to seek

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Victor does not handle his monster, or his fears, well. When Frankenstein first sees his monster, he immediately “escaped, [from the room the monster was in] and rushed down stairs. p50” As the monster is an externalization of Frankenstein’s fears, this escape, this inability to so much as look at the monster, can be interpreted as Frankenstein’s inability to acknowledge his fears and anxieties. Like with anxiety, denying the monster’s existence only causes him to grow more destructive.

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Victor’s parental figures in Frankenstein poison him by surrounding him with countless indulgences. From childhood, Victor was given all of his desires without question and this led to him becoming self-centered and dependent on the service of others. Victor describes his childhood with

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The monster is spurned by society because of his horrific appearance, his body, alone and hated, unfit for the company of strangers, just as Frankenstein fears he is. He is miserable which makes the hatred grow, as he says, “all men hate the wretched; how then must I be hated, who am miserable beyond all living things!” In fact, this wretchedness and enforced isolation is the monster’s main character trait, parallel to the isolation being Frankenstein’s biggest fear. Now that Victor is in college, he does not have his family to fall back upon for affection.

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The monster continues by reassuring the creator of his independent intelligence and power over the creature by telling Frankenstein, “This you alone can do”. Here, the creature assumes a role of submissiveness and reliance on Frankenstein. Frankenstein’s monster gains the sympathy of the reader who, despite condemning the murder of innocent people, commiserate with the lonely creature who is in search of an acquaintance, which he will likely never find. The monster also displays power and aggressiveness over Frankenstein; “You are my creator; but I am your master; obey!” The monster wants to desolate Victor’s heart, not by killing him directly,

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Such passion is seen in Victor’s ‘noble intent’ to design a being that could contribute to society, but he had overextended himself, falling under the spell of playing ‘God,’ further digging his grave as he is blinded by glory. His creation – aptly called monstrous being due to its stature, appearance, and strength – proved to be more of a pure and intellectually disposed ‘child’ that moves throughout the novel as a mere oddity, given the short end of the stick in relation to a lack of familial figures within his life, especially that of parents. Clearly, Victor Frankenstein had sealed his fate: by playing God he was losing his humanity, ultimately becoming the manifestation of Mary Shelley’s hidden desires, deteriorating into The Lucifer Principle by which the author Howard Bloom notes social groups, not individuals, as the primary “unit of selection” in human psychological

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He reads books, studies literature, explores sciences, and finds love. Frankenstein’s ability to explore new ideas and create are his biggest sources of freedom. At a young age, Victor discovers the teachings of Cornelius

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Frankenstein created the creature so he could manipulate the power of life, not to learn from the experience. He is so immersed in his studies, fascinated by the creation of life. He studies what the human body is made up of and how it falls apart. Victor completely disengages from the world when away at school after his mother dies of scarlet fever.

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Throughout the novel Victor and the Monster come across many relatable situations that they are forced to overcome. Victor Frankenstein had a very happy childhood, and he describes his parents as being “possessed by the very creature of kindness and indulgence”. Although Victor had a very happy childhood, these characteristics do not seem like the foundation of good moral character. Similarly Victor’s monster was not raised with the foundation of a good moral character. When the monster was first created he possessed more strength than he knew what to do with.

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Nature and Frankenstein compare in their understanding of the relationship between human beings and the natural world because the natural world is an emotional experience and the influence of nature changes the mood drastically. The natural world is an emotional experience for Victor because he got depressed about the death of Justine and William. To cope with his feelings he decided to escape to the hills. Victor struggles to cope with the deaths: The sceneries help Victor out by cheering him up and acting as a sense of relief.

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