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The Innately Good In Mary Shelly's Frankenstein

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There will always be a controversy amongst the human race whether or not humans are innately good. If so, then the influence of society plays a major role on maintaining one’s good will. The theme humans are innately good is evident in Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein through the actions and character development of the creature. Initially, the creature is innately good even though his creator abandons him, he continuously proves to be good through is acts of kindness and generosity, although, he is corrupted by rejection from society and his creator, turning him into a real monster. The creature holds onto his innocence and remains good even after being abandoned by the one person he is supposed to depend on as his teacher and caregiver, Victor …show more content…

Throughout the story he is constantly fighting the urge to get revenge on humanity, eventually he is corrupted. Victor breaks his promise to the creature of giving him a mate, this strikes the spiral of horrific events that follow. The first act of revenge the monster commits is killing Victor’s best friend Henry Clerval. In Victor perspective when he first discovers Henry has been killed, “when the mark of the fingers was mentioned I remembered the murder of my brother and felt myself extremely agitated”(Shelley 181). The creature aims to let Victor know he is serious about his threat to seek revenge on his wedding day by killing Henry. Not only is this sending him the message but it makes Victor feel the guilt that killing the creature’s mate is what cased this domino effect. The creature’s next and final kill is the death of Victor’s wife-to-be, Elizabeth, “I rushed towards her and embraced her with ardour, but the deadly languor and coldness of the limbs told me that what I now held in my arms had ceased to be the Elizabeth whom I had loved and cherished” (Shelley 204). Victor discovers his love’s dead body shortly after he realizes the creature is not after him, but he’s after the one Victor cares for most, being Elizabeth. At this point Victor is alone, just like the monster intends, the only thing he is left with is all the guilt

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Because of this, we can see that it is not a fair act of revenge at all, as humanity are not responsible for the Creature’s upbringing and rejection; that job is Victor’s and Victor’s alone. Victor’s wife, Elizabeth, was another innocent person who was hurt in order to harm Victor. Although she was married to him, Elizabeth was not a party to Victor’s actions and did not cause the Creature’s pain, yet she was the one to pay for it. The Creature again showed his hot-headed nature when he announced that he will “see [Victor] on [his] wedding night”, demonstrating that he was once again angry at all of humankind rather than solely at Victor, which can call into question the authenticity of the Creature’s ‘revenge’. The Creature sought a more than warranted vengeance against Victor and certainly achieved it, but at a heavy

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