How Does Society Affect Frankenstein

Addressing the Inner Workings of Both Society and the Minds Affected By It
The eighteenth century occurred after both the Industrial Revolution and Enlightenment and many different progressions, both good and bad, happened during this time. These include the growing questions on gender roles and the role of a person in society as a whole. In all kinds of societies, people are treated and raised in different ways according to certain traits they own and how society perceives these traits. Jean-Jacques Rousseau's philosophy on the affect of society on an individual addresses these situations and explains why and how people are influenced by society. In the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, three characters, the Monster, Victor Frankenstein,

The Monster's situation and whole life is a prime example of Rousseau's philosophy concerning how a being is naturally born with conscience and good-meanings, but the way society raises and treats a person affects how he or she would become. The Monster was a result of Frankenstein's labor to "[infuse] life into an inanimate body" (Shelley). The Monster started out as the dream and goal that Frankenstein had strived for for two years in order to bring life into the dead, an effect from the death of his mother soon before he had left for college. The Monster had started out as a blank slate, a "tabula rosa," when he was created, and the reactions and treatments of others around him and society as a whole shaped him into an "instrument of

This family, although not knowing it, provides both sustenance, shelter, and education, mostly of reading and speaking. The Monster is deeply affected by the family, for "when [the family was] unhappy, [the Monster] felt depressed; when they rejoiced, [he] sympathized in their joys," (Shelley). This shows the Monster's more sensitive and kind personality, as he feels sorrow or joy according to the family's mood. Later in the story, however, the Monster grows restless and, craving interaction with the family, attempts to talk to the old man De Lacey while the other cottagers were out. Before revealing who he was, "Felix, Safie, and Agatha entered [the house][...] Agatha fainted, and Safie, unable to attend her friend, rushed out of the cottage. Felix darted forward, and with supernatural force tore [the Monster] from his father, to whose knees [he] clung, in a transport of fury, he dashed me to the ground and struck [him] violently with a stick," (Shelley). This rejection of the Monster deeply traumatized him and caused him to grow more malignant towards those who reacted against him according to his appearance, despite his continued search for