Knowles Frankenstein #3

Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, demonstrates that although people are capable of acting in cruel ways, humans are inherently good.  In the novel, none of the characters are truly evil, but they do act in horrific ways towards each other, when they are provoked by some action of another character.  Early in the novel, Frankenstein is full of curiosity, passion for his studies, and interest in the world.  When his monster comes into being, the creature innocently begins to learn the ways of the world, discovering and observing kindness and generosity.  As the story progresses, Frankenstein is weighed down by the worry of what he has let lose into the world, and the consequences that it will have.  With each murder and disaster that the monster brings about, Frankenstein is brought further and further away from his “goodness”.   He acts in ways that may be seen as evil, but he does not possess inherent evilness.  His motives, feelings, and goals are ever changing, and are never truly evil.  When Frankenstein is floating out at sea in his boat after having dropped the remains of his female monster into the ocean, he finally sees land, and this prompts him to comment on human emotions.  He says, “how mutable are our feelings…” (126).  Mary Shelley is elaborating on the fact that humans are not inherently evil; that humans change.  It could also be understood from this statement that humans are not inherently good either, but it seems that Mary Shelley is arguing that humans are born good, and are only led to evil actions when evil is done to them.  Throughout the novel, Shelley gives examples of the inherent goodness of humans.  When Frankenstein comes ashore in Ireland, he explains that “Mr Kirwin had shown me extreme kindness” (131), even when other people were accusing Frankenstein of a murder.  In this example, Mr Kirwin has experienced no evil from Frankenstein, giving him no reason to be wicked, and so he exhibits inherent goodness.  On the other hand, when Shelley’s characters commit atrocities, they are provoked by something, whether it is another character’s actions or the emotions that these actions cause.  As he goes after the Monster, Frankenstein states that, “I devote myself, either in my life or death, to his destruction” (148).  This may seem to be an evil statement, but it does not come from inherent evil.  Instead, Frankenstein explains that he is pushed to this state because of “grief”, “rage”, and “despair” (150).  He also explains that “My rage and vengeance...overwhelmed every other feeling” (153).  The strong feelings of Shelley’s characters overpower some of their rational thought, and allow them to act in destructive ways.  After suffering for many years without a companion, Frankenstein’s monster killed Elizabeth (just after Frankenstein had married her).  Later the monster explains that “Evil thenceforth became my good” (164).  In Frankenstein, Mary Shelley is not ignoring the fact that humans can be evil.  Although the monster is not really human, he seems to represent humanity in the story, and Shelley clearly shows that the daemon was once good, but was eventually led to act in evil, malicious ways because of the suffering he himself was forced to endure, and his strong desires that were never fulfilled.

Humans are not inherently evil.  Generally, humans are inherently good.  There is, of course, a spectrum of different types of people, most of whom cannot be characterized so easily into one of those two descriptions, who fall somewhere in the middle.  No humans are exactly the same, and because of innumerable different factors, individual human develop to fall more to one end of the spectrum than the other.  That being said, it seems very rare that someone is inherently evil.  There are almost always times when someone does something kind, generous, or simply good.