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Brendon R. Foley

Mr. S. Bundy

Honors English 12

24 January 2017

Nature vs. Nurture in Frankenstein

One of the very popular television shows of this generation, Criminal Minds, explores the

actions of serial killers and what causes them to commit these crimes. It has been a highly

debated argument what exactly is the cause, whether it be a result of ones upbringings or an evil

that people are born with. In her novel, Frankenstein, Mary Shelley portrays through the

creatures life the idea that ones hatred of others can stem from abandonment and isolation in

their developing years.

Victor Frankensteins thirst for knowledge drives him to create a powerful, humanlike

creature from lifeless corpses. When this creature was born, he was so disgustingly hideous that

Frankenstein ran away without looking back. This left the creature, who was unaware of

anything, stranded on its own having to learn how to survive in an unknown territory.

Now, as the creature explored the world a bit, it came into contact with other humans.

The humans, acting as anyone who encounters a giant beast naturally would, either screamed and

ran away or prepared to attack the creature. This had a horrible effect on the creatures mind that

just wanted a sense of belonging. Ultimately, it lead the creature to hating mankind and

murdering multiple people. The question is, did this hatred come from an evil within the creature

from birth or as a result of being abandoned and left on its own?

Shelley hints at the latter, that the creature being alone and miserable turned him into a

monster. When the creature confronts Frankenstein, it says:

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Remember that I am thy creature; I ought to be thy Adam, but I am rather the

fallen angel, whom thou drivest from joy for no misdeed. Everywhere I see bliss,

from which I alone am irrevocably excluded. I was benevolent and good; misery

made me a fiend. Make me happy, and I shall again be virtuous. (Shelley 87)

The creature clearly states here that the only reason for it being this way is because it is in

isolation from mankind, and it cannot have any sort of interaction with other humans. It has been

shown even in real life that this factor does play a significant role in ones future hatred of others.

If you take a look at some of the famous serial killers in history, this factor pops up as one

of the possible reasons why they committed their crimes. The other factor that experts are

considering is predetermined genes that make up the chemical balance of our brain, body,

thoughts, ideas, and most importantly actions (American Academy). It is a highly debated

argument over which factor actually has a greater effect on serial killers actions.

One of the most famous of all serial killers is Jeffrey Dahmer. In his lifespan, he took the

lives of over twelve men that he would meet and bring back to his place. A look back at his

childhood hints at the monster that he would inevitably become. He felt left out with the other

kids in school who thought he was really strange. At the age of eighteen, his parents got

divorced. His mother got custody of his younger brother and moved away. Jeffrey was left alone;

his father was nowhere to be found. He was abandoned and left alone in the house with nothing

but his increasingly deranged fantasies (Twisted Minds). This, much like the creatures situation,

arguably drove him to the level of insanity that he reached as an adult. He is not alone either. In

a study of fifty convicted serial killers, fifty percent of them suffered from psychological abuse

as a child under the age of eighteen (Guy). This shows the devastating effect that abandonment

and isolation can have on a persons mind.

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The other side of this debate also makes a compelling argument. Supporters of this view

often point to the case of David Berkowitz. Unlike Dahmer or the creature in Frankenstein,

Berkowitz was raised by his adoptive parents in a loving manner. He was well supported and

known to be very polite (Salvatore). However, he grew up to be a deranged serial killer. So how

did this come about without any evident childhood trauma? The only answer, experts say, is

somewhere in the genetic makeup of Berkowitz. There have been studies done on the brains of

people who are prone to violence. These studies did come up with some evidence that supports

this argument:

Back in 2000 a report that was published in Science by Dr. Richard Davidson at

the University of Wisconsin at Madison compared brain scans of more than five

hundred people between those who were prone to violence and those who were

considered to be normal. The study found that the brain images of those who had

been convicted of a murder with aggressive or antisocial disorders showed

distinct brain activity compared to those who were considered normal. If this

study is correct then these murderers must have been born with an entirely

different genetic makeup than that of those in the majority of the population who

are not violent. (American Academy)

While there may be evidence like this to support this case, the magnitude of the effect does not

seem to be as great as the nurture side.

Getting back to the case of the creature in the novel, it can be debated which side directly

caused the creature to become a murderer. The most obvious argument to be made in support of

nature is in the way the creature was created. It was constructed from an abundance of random

human remains dug up from cemeteries. It is really easy to see how there could be some evil
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within the creature from the second it first opened its eyes. However, there is no clear evidence

anywhere in the book that suggests the creature committed the murders because it was wired to

do so.

So that only leaves the concept of nurture and the circumstances of the creatures

upbringings. At the creatures birth, it was left alone, being abandoned by Frankenstein. Much

like Dahmer, the creature was isolated from any human contact for most of its childhood. It all

relates to Maslows hierarchy of needs. Everyone needs to feel loved. Everyone needs to feel that

they belong somewhere. Without these things, a persons mind can be severely damaged, as seen

by the creature and many of the serial killers in history.

There are many situations that easily could have destroyed the possibility of the creature

becoming a monster. Most simply, Frankenstein could have done his duty to the creature by

looking after it and teaching it the ways of humans. Then he could have shown others the

creature he created and told them that it was friendly just like them. The creature might have

been accepted by everyone else if someone explained to them that it was not a dangerous

monster and it would not hurt anyone. Frankenstein could have even been revered by the

scientific community for his creation. But none of that was possible after he abandoned his

creature at birth.

The family that the creature observed for awhile also had the potential to fulfill the

creatures needs. The old man actually understood the creature and wanted to help it because he

could not see the wretchedness of the creatures appearance and only knew it for its kind

personality. If the other people in the family just took one second to listen to the creature or their

father, then they too could have realized the creature just wanted to belong somewhere. Plus,
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they could have learned that the creature had been helping them out for many months prior to

that. But since they acted on instinct and attacked the creature, none of that was possible either.

A lot can be learned from the themes in this novel with one of the most important being

the fact that abandonment and isolation can have a terrible and destructive effect on ones mind.

People look at all these serial killers and wonder how any human could ever do such a thing to

another person, and they never think to consider the things that this person has probably gone

through in their lives. Some of these people have lived through unimaginable pain and suffering

that definitely takes its toll on their brains. The worst part of it all is that there are kids in the

world right now going through these things, and without someones love and care, they could

end up like the creature in this novel.

Works Cited
American Academy of Experts in Traumatic Stress. The American Academy of Experts in

Traumatic Stress, 2014, www.aaets.org/article213.htm. Accessed 11 Feb. 2017.

Guy, Fiona. Crime Traveller. Crime Traveller, www.crimetraveller.org/. Accessed 11 Feb. 2017.

Salvatore, Tayler. The Undergraduate Times. The Undergraduate Times,

ugtimes.com/2015/04/science/the-creation-of-a-serial-killer-nature-vs-nurture/. Accessed

11 Feb. 2017.

Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. Bantam Dell, 1981.

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Twisted Minds. Maria, 2008, twistedminds.creativescapism.com/most-notorious/jeffrey-dahmer/.

Accessed 11 Feb. 2017.