Nature Vs. Nurture In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

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Have you ever had an atrocious experience with something as a child and now you despise or even fear it? That experience can cause someone to shape the way they think or act for a very long time. Many people believe that when nurtured a certain way, it can change your personality. Others believe that your genes determine how you are as a person. The nature versus nurture debate possesses the idea that nature, biology and genes, or nurture, events and experiences, determines personality. Victor Frankenstein, from Mary Shelley’s, Frankenstein, created a monster. Victor then started the monster’s life with the misery that ultimately led to the monster’s revolt. Victor’s monster committed malevolent actions due to their mistreatment early on in …show more content…
Careful nurture is an important part of growth and development and Victor did not do this for his monster. The monster states himself that he would have appreciated a better environment when he says, “...perhaps, if my first introduction to humanity had been made by a young soldier, burning for glory and slaughter, I should have been imbued with different sensations (130). The monster uses a metaphor to say that he would have preferred a much more joyful start to his life with humans. He also explains that he would have acted with a more benevolent heart if he had this more desirable introduction. Specific events in one’s life can alter a personality. For example, after being disappointed by his encounter with the De Lacey’s, the monster states, “There was none among the myriads of men that existed who pity or assist me; and should I feel kindness towards my enemies? No; from that moment I declared everlasting war against the species, and more then all, against him who had formed me and send me forth to this insupportable misery (137). After being viciously attacked by Felix De Lacey, the monster no longer felt compassion. This event in his life affected him to be more malevolent. The monster also states that it is Victor’s fault that he is in distress. This validates the fact that the impetuous nurturing by Victor modified the monster’s personality. Negligent nurturing is
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