Whittington 1

Brad Whittington

Ms. Winter

English 12, Period 6

28 January 2022

Innocence vs. Ignorance: Prompt 1

Nhat Hanh once said, “Most of your suffering comes from the lack of understanding of

yourself and others,” where in the book Frankenstein (1832) by Mary Shelley, this is explored in

two contrasting ways. Victor Frankenstein is a well-off student on a mission for glory and

gratification, leaving behind close relationships for his goal of fabricating a human creature using

malicious practices. When Victor brought his creature to life, he is unsure how to proceed

because he didn’t plan for anything past this moment. The creature comes to life and is projected

into a world shadowing his creator. Similar to a young kid, the creature is very impressionable

and lacks knowledge of the world he has entered. When his creator fails to properly demonstrate

proper care, the creature is left to wander the world alone. Shelley displays ignorance versus

innocence. Victor, the embodiment of the egocentric and pride-valuing society, as opposed to the

creature who is impressionable and left to discover and navigate life because of it.

Nature versus nurture is an idea touched on in the novel, as the creature is brought up in a

world where there is a multitude of “nurture” factors that apply. The biopsychosocial model of

mental health takes into account all the influences on one's cognitive behaviors. This includes

physical factors, social status, and influential people in one's life. When applied to the creature, it

is easy to see where there is a lack of support. Though Victor worked tirelessly for years to

complete this project, the moment he laid eyes on his living creation, “the beauty of the dream

vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled [Victor’s] heart,” and never gave the creature a
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chance (Shelley 87). Victor immediately assumed the worst of the situation and from that point

on, labeled the creature a monster solely from appearance. At this point in time, the creature

couldn't distinguish light from sound and sought comfort, “I knew, and could distinguish,

nothing; but feeling pain invade me on all sides, I sat down and wept;” the creature clearly

wanted help (Shelley 159). Gaining the ability to function, the creature is curious and feels holes

in his life he needs to fill. After trying to talk to humans, he is rejected continuously and is unsure

why. Instead of welcoming the creature, “the whole village was roused; some fled, some attacked

[him],” and, “after [his] late dearly bought experience, [he] dared not enter [the cottage],” and

learned that humans are barbaric and to be avoided (Shelley 165). Unable to understand that

humans create prejudice based on appearance, the creature now views them as incomprehensible

to his situation.

Victor already has everything one needs for a quality and comfortable life, yet he still

wants more. Being a beneficiary from a wealthy family, having good friendships, and having a

soon-to-be wife, Victor leaves it all behind to chase glory. Shelley uses Victor to represent the

imbalanced society viewed then and still today. Though Victor and Walton had similar desires

with Victor’s story being the cautionary tale, both derive the same message, “my life might have

been passed in ease and luxury; but I prefer glory to every enticement that wealth placed in my

path,” and essentially what they already have is not enough (Shelley 21). It is here that a

connection can be drawn to form a greater meaning. With Walton and Victor on the quest for

something more, it only benefits themselves and neglects all other aspects of their life. They

forget about their family and friends that have emotional and mental ties to them. Later on in the

novel, the relationship of Victor and the creature shows how this can have negative impacts on

people outside of the relationship. “The death of William, the execution of Justine, and the
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murder of Clerval, and lastly of my wife.” The dispute between Victor and the creature had now

become a greater issue; many people died because Victor lacked foresight for his actions; his

greed and lust for glory caused the deaths of innocent people (Shelley 308). Similar to how in

modern-day society the greed of those already fortunate has exponentially greater impacts on

those less fortunate - “I had turned loose into the world a depraved wretch, whose delight was in

carnage and misery; had he not murdered my brother?” Though this was not the case, the

creature was nothing but a clean slate, an innocent child that knew nothing (Shelley 117). As

Victor denied the creature the proper support and only taught hate, the creature responded as

such. Many instantly blame those legally responsible for crimes such as this, when the true blame

should be those ignoring morals and other people's feelings perpetuating this evil and hate. Those

who don’t know better and are innocent, in this case, the creature, had no idea what he was doing

because Victor was not there to teach the right thing.

Victor taught the creature the wrong ideas in life; he was responsible for the tragedies in

the novel because he was too ignorant. The creature had little knowledge of life and only knew he

was missing many things people need. Deprivation of the simple necessities caused the creature

to revolt and act harmfully on innocent people, though it was Victor who didn’t think about the

consequences that led to the situation. The pursuit of knowledge was his downfall when he

already had everything. Shelley used the relationship between the two to model society and its

imbalance. Prejudice comes from greed and glory. Shelley incorporated this into Victor to

contrast the innocent and impressionable creature he created. The creature wanted nothing but

love and was only met with distaste, essentially “turning” him evil after people had already

assumed the worst. This inability on Victor's part to reciprocate love and compassion was what

set off the chain of tragedies in the novel.