Are Humas Innately Good or Evil?

Victor Frankenstein is an innately good human.

Introduction: Monster

When the Frankenstein’s become victims of the monsters anger, Victor feels extremely guilty for being the cause of their deaths. Victor is still upset about William and Justine’s untimely deaths and when he sees the monster he tells him that he never should have created him. William and Justine were innocent and Victor did not want them or anyone else to suffer from his creations wrath. Another death has occurred, the monster has just killed Henry Clerval and Victor is beside himself. His suffering is making him physically and mentally ill and his guilt is affecting him greatly. This proves he is innately good because he has a conscious and is able to comprehend the mistakes he has made.

How he is

innately good...

In the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, the creature is proven to be born innately good, but due to circumstances that occur throughout the novel, he becomes a vision of an evil being.

- “I was overcome by gloom and misery and often reflected I had better seek death than desire to remain in a world which to me was replete with wretchedness” (Shelley 184).

“Cursed (although I curse myself) be the hands that formed you! You have me wretched beyond expression” (Shelley 97).

Another death has occurred, the monster has just killed Henry Clerval and Victor is beside himself. His suffering is making him physically and mentally ill and his guilt is affecting him greatly.

Victor is still upset about William and Justine’s untimely deaths and when he sees the monster he tells him that he never should have created him. William and Justine were innocent and Victor did not want them or anyone else to suffer from his creations wrath.

“My Spirits were elevated by the enchanting appearance of nature; the past was blotted from my memory, the present was tranquil, and the future gilded by bright rays of hope and anticipations of joy” (Shelley, 114)

"But I, the true murderer, felt the never-dying worm alive in my bosom, which allowed of no hope or consolation. (Shelley 82)

Victor Frankenstein is an innately good human.

This shows Victor feels extreme guilty for what happened to William and believes he is responsible for his death. This proves he in innately good because he has a conscious and is able to comprehend the mistakes he has made.

To conclude;

This quotation is when Victor meets with the monster and the monster is sharing his perception of the world through his eyes. This proves that the creature is innately good because he originally viewed the world as beautiful and peaceful; his point of view is positive and bright. The creator only wanted the future to be good for him, he didn’t understand where he came from but he was content with just being in this world.

After all the traumatic events Victor was put through, he is in anguish over the monster’s doings. He never wanted his friends and

family to suffer because of him. Evidently,

Victor has innate goodness because he

realizes his mistakes and would take back

all the hurt and grief he caused his family

if he could.

- Ignorance is bliss is a major theme in the novel. Victor never would have started his creation if he had not pursued science as much as he did. Humans are innately good until certain circumstances corrupt them and if Victor had not obtained the knowledge that he did, he never would have created the monster and his life would have been completely different. Although the results of Victor’s plan to create a new race were disastrous, it shows how victor is innately good because he realizes his mistakes and regrets what he did entirely.

“Seek happiness in tranquility and avoid ambition, even if it be only the innocent one of distinguishing yourself in science and discoveries” (Shelley 227).

Victor has finished telling Walton his story and these are some of the last words he says to Walton before dying, again warning him of trying to learn too much.

“How dangerous is the acquirement of knowledge and how much happier that man is who believes his native town to be the world, than he who aspires to become greater than his nature will allow” (Shelley 43).

The circumstance that

changed him

Although the results of Victor’s plan to create a new race were disastrous, it shows how victor is innately good because he realizes his mistakes and regrets what he did entirely. He even tells Walton earlier in the novel that he will not share how he actually created the monster because he does not want anyone else to have that knowledge, for fear of someone else trying to do what he did and try to play God. This is also displayed in Rousseau's Nouvelle Heloise, Rousseau said, “Man was good before being spoiled by society.” Victor was just an innocent man before being corrupted by the power of knowledge and science.

“It was the secrets of heaven and earth which I desired to learn” (Shelley 35)

Victor is talking to Walton about his studies in Ingolstadt and is discussing the repercussions of knowledge. Obtaining too much of it can be dangerous and Victors actions have destroyed his life. Even though Victor has learned this the hard way, he is warning Walton not to follow in his footsteps and be careful, showing how he is innately good.

This passage from the novel shows Victor's desire to obtain more knowledge. it expresses how he is innately good because at the beginning Victor just developed curiosity about the potential power developed in knowledge but then he became obsessed with the idea the knowledge is power, he wants power for himself

“… now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart. Unable to endure the aspect of the being I had created; I rushed out of the room” (Shelley, 49).

Rousseau once said;

This quotation is the circumstance as to why the creature turned evil and had evil intentions afterwards. Victor states in this quotation that he is ashamed of his creation and doesn’t want anything to do with it. The creature was rejected and abandoned by Victor, therefore leading him to doing wrong and seeking revenge towards his creator. Victor disowning him makes the creature feel alone and sad, he begins to see himself as ugly and abnormal, just like how Victor and everyone else sees him. This is the cause of the creature acting out in evil ways and forgetting about how he once saw everything as good and peaceful.

Evil intentions in

the end

“If you will comply with my conditions, I will leave them and you at peace; but if you refuse, I will glut the maw of death, until it be satiated with blood of your remaining friend” (Shelley, 83).

"Much more important as we should expect from our previous discussion, is the place given to what we may call primitive goodness. Man was good "before the fall," said the church, 'before being spoiled by society'"

This quotation shows the end result of the creature having evil intentions. The creature begins to pursue revenge against Victor by murdering William and framing Justine for the murder. His creator turned his back on him which made him feel useless to society which is why he revolves his life around proving to Victor that he is strong and capable, turning his good intentions to evil ones.

“No guilt, no mischief, no malignity, no misery, can be found comparable to mine”

This quotation was spoken by the creature, stating that he feels guilty for the murders he had caused. The guilt that is expressed through the creatures emotions shows that he is good hearted and that he is not proud of his evil actions because he knows what he did wrong. If the creature was born innately evil, he would not experience this guilt and would be controlled by this anger and loathing that he is feeling but instead he is bothered by his doings.

Works Cited:

The Theory of "Natural Goodness" in Rousseau's Nouvelle Heloise

George R. Havens

Modern Language Notes , Vol. 36, No. 7 (Nov., 1921), pp. 385-394

Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press

Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2914711

Shelley , Mary . Frankenstein. United States of America : Perma-Bound , 1998. Print.

Marklund, Sara . "Good and Evil in Man: The double NAture of Victor in Frankenstein." (2010): n. page. Web. 5 Dec. 2013. <https://gupea.ub.gu.se/bitstream/2077/23793/2/gupea_2077_23793_2.pdf>.

Are Humans Innately Good or Evil?

Victor Frankenstein is an innately good human.

Introduction/ Overview

Victor wanted to help the future of science by creating a new race, he never intended for everything to go so badly. He had every intention of doing something good for the world by doing this project and did not expect things to turn out so badly in the end. Victor did have good intentions when he first began the creation of the monster. He did not intend to bring harm amongst his fellow humans; in fact Victor was trying to help society by using the power of knowledge.

Aristotle and Plato are two philosophers who had different beliefs about whether people are born with tabula rasa or innate wisdom. Aristotle believed that the mind was a blank slate at birth, whereas Plato thought people already had knowledge at birth. After a close examination of the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, and reading about the different characters, it is shown that humans are born innately good. In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein or The Modern Prometheus, Victor is depicted as being born innately good when he has good intentions, when the theme of ignorance is bliss is developed, and when Victor’s guilt is highlighted on many occasions throughout the novel.

“I thought that if I could bestow animation upon lifeless matter, I might in process of time (although I now find it impossible) renew life where death had apparently devoted the body to corruption” (Shelley 52)

This is displayed when, “… when I considered the improvement which everyday takes place in science and mechanics, I was encouraged to hope my present attempts would at least lay the foundations of future success” (Shelley 44).

This expresses how Victor did have good intentions when he first began the creation of the monster. He did not intend to bring harm amongst his fellow humans; in fact Victor was trying to help society by using the power of knowledge. This idea is further examined within the article, Good and Evil in Man: The Double Nature of Victor in Frankenstein, “At the surface Victor Frankenstein appears to be an altogether good and kind human being. He is well-educated, sensitive, eloquent and loving towards his family and friends.” (Marklund 5)

“Curiosity, earnest research to learn hidden

laws nature, gladness akin to rapture, as they

unfolded to me, are among the earliest

sensations I can remember.” (Shelley 25)

This shows how in creating the monster, Victor never thought he

was doing something wrong. He had every intention of doing

something good for the world by doing this project and did not

expect things to turn out so badly in the end.

In this excerpt from the novel Victor explains that he has always been a

curious individual. By insisting and constantly redirecting that he was just

curious, the reader is caused to feel sympathy for him. This sympathy allows for

one to believe in Victor being innately good.