Frankenstein Research Paper

The theme of how your environment can shape and mold is international. For instance, in classic literature, René Dubos incorporates this theme in his book So human An animal, saying “Man not only survives and functions in his environment, he shapes it and is shaped by it.” This literary piece demonstrates the effect that your environment can have on you and how drastic the changes can be. Similarly, the idea that the environment you are in shapes you plays a primary role in the novel Frankenstein. Specifically, in order to prove that the environment shapes people Mary Shelley uses the contradicting factors of Victor Frankenstein and his creation.

Victor becomes increasingly insane throughout the novel as he loses more loved ones, proving that

I could not doubt it. The mere presence of the idea was an irresistible proof of the fact” (Shelley 65). This is the first of many big blows Victor will take from the creature, which starts his loss of humanity. Victor is not a strong man so when he loses the people that are closest to him it is very hard this is when he starts to become increasingly insane. After Victor arrives in Ireland he is charged with a crime but little does he know he will see “The lifeless body of Clearval [...]. I gasped for breath; and throwing myself on the body [...] I lay for 2 months on the point of death” (Shelley 171). This is a monumental event in the novel because Victor says he is on the point of death, so he is starting to lose who he is as a human. This is because of all the death that has surrounded him in the last couple of months with what happened to Willian, Justine, and now Clerval. After the Creature kills Elizabeth Victor asks himself, “Could I behold this, and live?

The creature starts to gain some human emotions when he first sees the cottagers, when he says, “The silver hair and benevolent countenance of the aged cottager won my reverence; while the gentle manner of the girl won my love” (Shelley 98). Mary Shelley uses the cottagers to act as a make-shift family to the creature since he doesn’t have a true family. This makeshift family that the creature has helps him become a kind and caring being, he starts to cut their wood for them and shovel the driveway if it snows and is like their guardian angel. As the novel progresses the creature starts to save and take care of humans when he, “Rushed from [his] hiding place, and, with extreme labor from the force of the current saved [the little girl] and dragged her to shore. She was senseless; and [he] endeavored, by every means in [his] power, to restore animation” ( Shelley 133). Even though the creature has not had very many positive experiences with humans he still goes out of his way to save one in a time of need. The environment that the creature had just experienced with the cottagers, where they took care of and helped each other, plays a big role in the reason that he saves this little girl from drowning. At the end of the novel, the creature starts to reflect on the things that he has done and tells us the guilt that