Nurture vs. Nature in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein
The nature vs nurture debate is at the centre of Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein. One of the main characters, the creature, has an elemental nature that greatly effects his way of life; however, he is not subjected to any nurturing from anyone or anything. Both nature and nurture play pivotal roles in the elements that made the creature who or what he was, but his lack of nurturing was the cause of his malicious outcome. Shelley makes his lack of upbringing and guidance clear through her emphasis on the basic things, like when the creature “thrust [his] hand into the live embers but quickly drew it out again with a cry of pain.”
Shelley first addresses the creature’s development and discoveries through nature. At the beginning of section two (the section narrated by the creature), the creature consults his creator and explains how he learned everything with nature as his guide and had no one to teach him how to satisfy his simplest needs. He was cold until he discovered fire and he felt “tormented by hunger and thirst” until he found food. These were the creature’s first memories and they were already giving way to a negative outlook on the world. These moments could have been drastically different had he been nurtured by his creator or anyone with any worldly knowledge. Instead, he was essentially set up to fail. Upon his
The nature vs nurture debate is at the centre of Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein. One of the main characters, the creature, has an elemental nature that greatly effects his way of life; however, he is not subjected to any nurturing from anyone or anything. Both nature and nurture play pivotal roles in the elements that made the creature who or what he was, but his lack of nurturing was the cause of his malicious outcome. Shelley makes his lack of upbringing and guidance clear through her emphasis on the basic things, like when the creature “thrust [his] hand into the live embers but quickly drew it out again with a cry of pain.”
Shelley first addresses the creature’s development and discoveries through nature. At the beginning of section two (the section narrated by the creature), the creature consults his creator and explains how he learned everything with nature as his guide and had no one to teach him how to satisfy his simplest needs. He was cold until he discovered fire and he felt “tormented by hunger and thirst” until he found food. These were the creature’s first memories and they were already giving way to a negative outlook on the world. These moments could have been drastically different had he been nurtured by his creator or anyone with any worldly knowledge. Instead, he was essentially set up to fail. Upon his