Julie Vandervort
Dr. Adam Johns
ENGCMP 0200
Immoral actions, causing harm to others, selfishness, bad intentions; these are all traits that I associate with evil. Because Frankenstein posses all of these traits at one point or another throughout the novel, I believe he is ultimately evil. Frankenstein did not have any moral reasons for creating the monster. “Imposing life into an inanimate body” doesn’t serve any purpose nor does it benefit anyone or anything (58). Frankenstein created the monster for his own selfish reasons. He wanted to see how far he could push the boundaries of science and he ultimately regretted it. He ended up hurting his family, friends, and even himself because of his creation. Frankenstein became obsessed with finding the monster and ending its life. Little did he know, his creation wasn’t just a terrorizing monster, it had feelings and it even learned to communicate with others and fend for itself. However, it didn’t change the fact that the monster was responsible for the death of Frankenstein’s friends and family members. I think Frankenstein failed to thoroughly think through the consequences of his actions.
I don’t think of Frankenstein as an evil person when he is creating the monster because he didn’t know the consequences of his actions and I don’t think he realized how badly everything would turn out. I really believe he was just trying to test the boundaries of science. Who wouldn’t want to be known for something as innovative as creating a human and giving it life? I do not believe his intentions were evil but, I think he needed to think though the consequences that would come with giving life to something.
Frankenstein creating the monster is similar to a mother giving birth to a child. A mother would not abandon her child minutes after giving birth to it. Therefore, Frankenstein shouldn’t have abandoned his monster minutes after bringing it to life. The monster was scared and confused, it needed someone to be there for it and teach it the ways of life. Instead, he abandoned the monster, which in turn caused Frankenstein’s family and friends to suffer. In my opinion, Frankenstein didn’t even have a logical reason for the abandonment of the monster. Moments before bringing the monster to life Frankenstein describes it as beautiful and luxurious. He describes “his teeth of pearly whiteness” and how its “hair was of lustrous black” (58). However, after the creature comes to life Frankenstein is “unable to endure the aspect of the being [he] had created”, and rushes out of the room (58). When the monster found Frankenstein in his bedroom “he muttered some inarticulate sounds, while a grin wrinkled his cheeks” and “one hand was stretched out” (59). This act terrified Frankenstein and made him escape to the courtyard.
Frankenstein didn’t even consider the possibility that the monster was probably scared and confused and just needed some companionship. Frankenstein refers to the monster as a “demonical corpse”, a “wretch”, and “a thing such as even Dante could not have conceived” (59). He didn’t even give his creation a chance. The fact that everyone shunned the monster because of his appearance led the monster to kill. In my opinion, Frankenstein is responsible for the deaths because he abandoned his own creation. I also think that creating the monster in the first place was unnecessary. It was selfish on Frankenstein’s behalf. However, since he created the monster he should have taken responsibility for it.
4 comments:
Overall, I believed you made a very valid argument. I feel like you have a good idea about what the prompt was asking and delivered it.
When you reread your paper, make sure you look for spelling mistakes and general grammatical errors. For example, you typically want to stay away from beginning a sentence with "because".
I think you may have contradicted yourself at the beginning of the second paragraph by saying Frankenstein was not an evil person when he was creating the monster. It is implied that he was evil in creating the monster due to the fact that you claimed Frankenstein did not have any moral reasons for the creation of the monster. You also state that "who wouldn't want to be know for something as innovative as creating a human and giving it life?", when it is implied that this advancement does not help anyone and is not worth pursuing in a way.
I thought that maybe it would be beneficial to add more examples of when Frankenstein treated the monster unfairly, such as his refusal of a creating a mate when Frankenstein himself was about to become married.
Maybe you could also elaborate more about the deaths of Frankenstein's loved ones? You wrote about how the deaths were his fault. Talk about his initial feelings of the first few deaths and how his feelings change as more deaths occur.
Julie Vandervort
Dr. Adam Johns
ENGCMP 0200
Immoral actions, causing harm to others, selfishness, bad intentions; these are all traits that I associate with evil. Because Frankenstein possesses all of these traits at one point or another throughout the novel, I believe he is ultimately evil. Frankenstein did not have any moral reasons for creating the monster. “Imposing life into an inanimate body” doesn’t serve any purpose nor does it benefit anyone or anything (58). Frankenstein created the monster for his own selfish reasons. He wanted to see how far he could push the boundaries of science and he ultimately regretted it. He ended up hurting his family, friends, and even himself because of his creation. Frankenstein became obsessed with finding the monster and ending its life. Little did he know, his creation wasn’t just a terrorizing monster, it had feelings and it even learned to communicate with others and fend for itself. However, it didn’t change the fact that the monster was responsible for the death of Frankenstein’s friends and family members. I think Frankenstein failed to thoroughly think through the consequences of his actions.
When Frankenstein abandons the monster it is clear that he is an evil person. When he realized that creating the monster was a mistake he should have taken the necessary precautions. He ultimately had two options; he could have killed the monster or raised it like a child. Abandoning the monster was the worst thing he could have done and that is why I believe he is responsible for the deaths that occurred throughout the novel. If he wouldn’t have abandoned the monster then obviously the monster wouldn’t have killed Frankenstein’s loved ones.
Frankenstein creating the monster is similar to a mother giving birth to a child. A mother would not abandon her child minutes after giving birth to it. Therefore, Frankenstein shouldn’t have abandoned his monster minutes after bringing it to life. The monster was scared and confused, it needed someone to be there for it and teach it the ways of life. Instead, he abandoned the monster, which in turn caused Frankenstein’s family and friends to suffer. In my opinion, Frankenstein didn’t even have a logical reason for the abandonment of the monster. Moments before bringing the monster to life Frankenstein describes it as beautiful and luxurious. He describes “his teeth of pearly whiteness” and how its “hair was of lustrous black” (58). However, after the creature comes to life Frankenstein is “unable to endure the aspect of the being [he] had created”, and rushes out of the room (58). When the monster found Frankenstein in his bedroom “he muttered some inarticulate sounds, while a grin wrinkled his cheeks” and “one hand was stretched out” (59). This act terrified Frankenstein and made him escape to the courtyard.
Frankenstein didn’t even consider the possibility that the monster was probably scared and confused and just needed some companionship. Frankenstein refers to the monster as a “demonical corpse”, a “wretch”, and “a thing such as even Dante could not have conceived” (59). He didn’t even give his creation a chance. The fact that everyone shunned the monster because of his appearance led the monster to kill. In my opinion, Frankenstein is responsible for the deaths because he abandoned his own creation. I also think that creating the monster in the first place was unnecessary. It was selfish on Frankenstein’s behalf. However, since he created the monster he should have taken responsibility for it.
Ryan - I would have liked to see a clearer focus in your response; it seemed a little jumbled, although the individual points were worthwhile.
Julie - As a possibly minor (or not) point, giving a list of traits that you associate with evil isn't at all the same as *defining* evil. This contributes to the overall unstructured feel of the introduction.
Your discussion of the abandonment is emotional (in a good way), and generally very solid - I like your focus on the text. But while I tend to agree with you, you're relying here on an implicit understanding of what evil is, *and* you don't contextualize it within the novel as a whole. I agree with you intuitively, but as a structured argument, despite your good focus on *one* part of the text, it's indifferent - your weak definition and introduction make it hard for it to be as good as it could have been.
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