Are Humans Inherently Good or Evil?

In the end of Frankenstein, one can safely say that the two main characters -Victor Frankenstein and the monster- are well and truly evil. The monster has killed every single person close to Frankenstein in response to the loathing and lack of care Victor has shown him, and Victor's life has deteriorated to the point where his only goal is to exact revenge on the monster who ruined his life. Despite the fact that Mary Shelley's two main characters end up evil, she is not saying that they, and as an extension human beings in general, are inherently evil. But she is also not saying that humans are inherently good. Rather, Shelley's message is that human nature is not universal; it varies from person to person. From the very start of the book it is clear that Victor Frankenstein is inherently evil. As a young boy, Victor became obsessed with the works of famous alchemists and took it upon himself to learn all their teachings. "I entered with the greatest diligence into the search of the philosopher's stone and the elixir of life; but the latter soon obtained my undivided attention...what glory would attend the discovery if I could banish disease from the human frame and render man invulnerable to any but a violent death!" (p21) Despite being thirteen and untouched by any outside influence other than a few books, Victor was already obsessed with personal achievement and glory. At the age of seventeen and recently enrolled in the university at Ingolstadt, Victor's obsession with alchemy was dismissed as a waste of time by the natural philosophy professor, M. Krempe. However, Krempe's words were scoffed at. "I had a contempt for the uses of modern natural philosophy. It was very different, when the masters of the science sought immortality and power; such views, although futile, were grand..." (p26) Here again we see a young, egotistic Victor who is obsessed with fame and power. Why would he bother with useful modern sciences that only offer limited greatness, when he could be spending his time on the impractical but potentially glorious and fame-bringing field of alchemy? A final example of Victor's inherent evilness before the creation of the monster (that way there can be no argument that Victor's actions were influenced by his creation) occurred over the two year period where he was intently studying at Ingolstadt. Completely disregarding the recent death of his mother, his bride-to-be Elizabeth and his father and the rest of his family, Victor consciously makes the the decision to stop contacting them in favor of focusing on his work. This demonstrates how selfish he truly is; he is so concerned with achieving something that will bring him recognition that he is willing to sacrifice his family for it. In stark contrast to Victor, the monster stands out as an inherently good and kind-hearted creature. Immediately after his "birth," the monster experiences his first taste of human hatred from, of all people, the very man who created him. Fleeing from Victor's apartment, the monster, alone and confused, began to roam the country side. Each time he encountered humans he inspired disgust,  was yelled at, ran away from, or pelted with rocks until he was forced to flee. Despite all this, however, the monster did not once retaliate. Eventually finding his way into a hovel next to a cottage, the monster was finally able to observe the ways of humans in peace. "Several times the [young cottagers] placed food before the old man when they reserved none for themselves...this trait of kindness moved me sensibly. I had been accustomed, during the night, to steal a part of their store for my own consumption;but when I found that in doing this I inflicted pain on the cottagers, I abstained..." (p78) While before he had stolen food because he didn't know better, the monster now realized that it was causing others pain and immediately began to stop, making life more difficult for himself in the process. After living in the hovel for a while, the monster finally worked up the courage to enter the cottage in hopes of being accepted despite his appearance. He was met with scorn by the cottagers he had come to idolize, destroying his confidence and further reinforcing that he shouldn't trust humans. But did he strike back? No. In fact, after fleeing the cottage, the monster immediately proceeded to rescue a girl from drowning in the river. He was rewarded by being shot. At this point, the monster had understandably lost all of his faith in humanity, and was rightfully furious at his creator for granting him existence only to release him into a cruel world. This is the point when the monster began killing and carrying out horrible deeds, but the pain Victor had caused him warranted this kind of response from the monster. Despite his many gifts, Victor Frankenstein was an inherently evil man who's life experiences caused him to descend even further into wickedness. On the other hand, the monster, with all his imperfections, was blessed with a good soul, only to have it turned evil by the cruelty he experienced in his lifetime. These two extremely complex characters serve the purpose of showing that every individual is created with a separate and unique nature.