Selfish Ambition Frankenstein Essay -- Essays Papers

Selfish Ambition FrankensteinSelfish Ambition?The question What makes us who we are? has perplexed adult maley scholars, scientists, and theorists over the years. This is a question that we still may have not found an answer to. There are theories that people are innate(p) good, evil, and as blank slates, but it is unstated to prove any of these theories consistently. There have been countless cases of people who have grown up in good homes with loving parents, yet their destiny was to travel to destruction on others. On the other hand, there have been just as many cases of people who grew up on the streets without the guidance of a enate figure, but they chose to make a bad situation into a good one by growing up to do something worthwhile for mankind. For this reason, it is nearly out(predicate) to determine what makes a human being choose the way he/she behaves. Mary Shelley (1797-1851) published a novel in 1818 to voice her opinions about determine personality and the consequences and repercussions of alienation. Shelley uses the ideas of Jean-Jacques Rousseau to make her point. Rousseau proposed the idea that man is essentially good in the beginning of life, but civilization and education can corrupt and warp a human mind and soul. In Mary Shelleys Frankenstein or, The Modern Prometheus (hereafter referred to as Frankenstein), Victor Frankensteins wolf with human characteristics shows us that people are born with loving, caring, and moral feelings, but the creature demonstrates how the influence of society can change ones outlook of others and life itself by his reactions to adversity at take in, and his actions after being alienated and rejected by humans several times. In the first chapters of the book, Shelley describes a scientist who was obsessed with doing something great for mankind. Victor Frankenstein, an educated man of science, was completely involved with his work, which happened to be the creation of another living being with h uman qualities. at a time Victors work was finally completed, he established that he had created a monster, and he was terrified. Mary Shelley, supporting Rousseaus theory, definitely believed that people are born essentially with good intentions and feelings, and she shows this from the first few moments of the creatures life. When Victor was lying terrified in his bed, the creature came i... ... good, but can be turned to evil by societys narrow-minded view of what is normal, and the corruption of the mind through knowledge and education. The repercussions of Victors and others alienation of the creature turned a caring individual to an evil one. Shelley succeeds in bringing Rousseaus theory to life, that one is born good, but he can be turned to evil through civilization and education. This story still has a great meaning for us today. Millions of people are outcast by society, not only because of physical appearance, but also because of sexual orientation, social statu s, and religion. Once people quit looking so narrow-mindedly at one another, the world impart be a much better place, and Frankensteins monster will rest in peaceWorks CitedMellor, Anne K. Mary Shelley - Her Life, Her Fiction, Her Monsters. New York, New York Routledge, Chapman, & Hall, Inc., 1989. p 136.Scott, Sir Walter. Remarks on Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus A Novel. Blackwoods Edinburgh Magazine 1 April 1818. 26 April 2001.Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein or The Modern Prometheus - 1818 Text. Ed. Marilyn Butler. New York, New York Oxford University Press, 1993.