Nature Vs. Nurture In Mary Shelly's Frankenstein

Nature V.S. Nurture in Mary Shelly's Frankenstein Mary Shelly's Frankenstein discusses the nature of human begins, whether it is simply one's natural instinct to act maliciously or if it's one's surroundings and environment that impact their behavior. Victor Frankenstein, the protagonist of this intricate novel, answers this question in two ways, as both the product and the perpetrator of how it is both in the nature of a person, and their nurturing that develops their behaviors, and in the case of this plot, malicious behaviors. Since a young age Frankenstein desired knowledge, constantly seeking for greater wisdom, while his father did not care for this. His passion for learning wasn't something that his parents conditioned him into, and

"Believe me, Frankenstein, I was benevolent; my soul glowed with love and humanity; but am I not alone, miserably alone?" (M. Shelly 114). Therefore the daemon's nature must be loving and compassionate, but because he experienced a lack of nurturing, that he was expecting to receive from his creator, Frankenstein, this then caused the daemon to be monstrous and seek revenge upon his creator; therefore Frankenstein's pain was a result of his own failures. The character of Frankenstein argues that both nature and nurture influences the behavior of people through his actions against his very own monster and in turn the effect of those actions on himself. Frankenstein left the monster alone, and the monster reacted for seeking that Frankenstein should feel just as much loneliness and woe and he did by killing off his entire family. Shelly is therefore claiming that one's own nature and forms in which they were nurtured (Frankenstein) have an effect on those of others, and can even cause someone else to be more inhumane than the original person (the daemon). This is seen in human nature, where one who experiences abandonment from a parent because the parent's nature causes them to flee, this person will be more likely to commit crimes due to their loneliness and lack of direction by a parental figure. This translates directly into the plot of the story,

nurture through the character development, reactions, and decisions of the protagonist, Victor Frankenstein. Based on Frankenstein's nature to learn and have rash and irrational decisions, it certainly caused him to act inhuman in certain circumstances of the story, naturally. Nonetheless, his family bond, which was nurtured into him, also caused him to make monstrous decisions and actions in other situations within the plot. Therefore, Mary Shelly claims, through Victor Frankenstein that both human nature, and the environments that one is put in, can mold them into inhuman monsters, whether this person is the product of the nurturing, or the perpetrator, and in this case, Frankenstein was