StudentShare
Contact Us
Sign In / Sign Up for FREE
Search
Go to advanced search...
Free

The Effects of Negative Societal Norms in Frankenstein by Mary Shelley - Essay Example

Cite this document
Summary
This paper "The Effects of Negative Societal Norms in Frankenstein by Mary Shelley" tells that one can argue that human beings are inherently evil, and backs it up with the centuries of conflicts, wars, betrayals, and slavery that has ravished for the entirety of human history…
Download free paper File format: .doc, available for editing
GRAB THE BEST PAPER94% of users find it useful

Extract of sample "The Effects of Negative Societal Norms in Frankenstein by Mary Shelley"

The debate of leaders are born versus leaders are made can also be placed in the context of evil. Are evil men made or they are born that way? Mary Shelley’s famous 1918 horror novel ‘Frankenstein' largely describes the battle between a scientist, Victor Frankenstein, and a separate muster/creature he created using science. the novel explores different themes including the negative social norms that have been normalized or shunned yet common and their impacts on individuals and the society at large.

This article explores how negative norms are harmful to society as they can be seen in the novel. One negative social norm that drives the majority of the evil that Frankenstein's monster is judged by appearance rather than by merit/actions. For one when Frankenstein realizes the creature he has created is ugly to look at, he flees in panic. The creature also helps a family living in the woods by fetching their firewood and manages to befriend the father who happens to be blind. However, when the other family members see him (the creature) fleeing in fear (Shelley 79).

This makes the creature bitter and lonely, which is escalated when Frankenstein refuses to create a female companion for it. A society based its judgment on looks, shunning people as ugly and praising others as beautiful. This creates people with low self-esteem, self-hate, and confidence. This can result in higher crime and criminal profiling for the so-called ugly people, depression, and the likelihood to commit suicide due to societal standards that pile pressure on them (Oakes 67). ‘Frankenstein’ explores secrecy as a negative societal norm that is common yet causes so much harm to individuals and the society at large.

In the novel, Frankenstein keeps the secret of monster's secret only to himself hence is not able to seek alternatives advice about how to handle the situation nor warn his family of the mortal threat they are under (Shelley 58). In the world, people have normalized keeping secrets that are harmful to their mental health and also lead to mistakes in one's life/disasters. In society, secrets lead to late diagnosis of medical issues and wrong convictions as witnesses fail to confess the truth. Cowardice is explored as a social vice in the book, as Frankenstein shows cowardice by failing to acknowledge his creation leading to poor and wrong decisions such as abandoning the creature.

This leads to the creature becoming rogue and kills Frankenstein's family (Haynes 188). Cowardice in modern society leads to child neglecting, poor decisions leading to loss of opportunities such as making peace with Frankenstein. The novel explores the theme of revenge and vengeance as Victor and his monster each seek to either hurt or kill the other for the large part of their feud. This makes them miserable and leads to their deaths due to the pursuits. Revenge harms all parties involved as it may lead to regret, psychological problems, and endless revenge actions that may ensue (Shelley 159).

Read More
Tags
Cite this document
  • APA
  • MLA
  • CHICAGO
(The Effects of Negative Societal Norms in Frankenstein by Mary Shelley Essay, n.d.)
The Effects of Negative Societal Norms in Frankenstein by Mary Shelley Essay. https://studentshare.org/literature/1892310-frankenstein-by-mary-shelley
(The Effects of Negative Societal Norms in Frankenstein by Mary Shelley Essay)
The Effects of Negative Societal Norms in Frankenstein by Mary Shelley Essay. https://studentshare.org/literature/1892310-frankenstein-by-mary-shelley.
“The Effects of Negative Societal Norms in Frankenstein by Mary Shelley Essay”. https://studentshare.org/literature/1892310-frankenstein-by-mary-shelley.
  • Cited: 0 times

CHECK THESE SAMPLES OF The Effects of Negative Societal Norms in Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

The Rise of the Age of Romanticism

There was a wide variety of literature written as well and gave a rise of writers like Jane Austen, Edgar Allan Poe, the brothers Grimm, Mary Wollstonecraft shelley, the Bronte sisters and Hans Christian Anderson whose works are still read today.... Even the poets like Walter Scott, William Wordsworth, John Keats, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Percy Bysshe shelley, Lord Byron and William Blake were given birth to during this time period, the same poets whose poetry the students read and analyze in school and even colleges1....
8 Pages (2000 words) Assignment

Dr Frankenstein and His Thoughts

No: from that moment I declared everlasting war against the species, and, more than all, against him who had formed me and sent me forth to this insupportable misery” (shelley 17).... Frankenstein, "I was seized by remorse and the sense of guilt, which hurried me away to a hell of intense tortures, such as no language can describe” (shelley 44).... Frankenstein, “Curiosity, earnest research to learn the hidden laws of nature, gladness akin to rapture, as they were unfolded to me, are among the earliest sensations I can remember” (shelley 80)....
4 Pages (1000 words) Essay

Frankenstein by Mary Shelly

mary Shelly (1791 – 1851) was born of scholarly parents mary Wellstonecraft who wrote “Vindication of Women's Rights” (1792) and William Godwin who was famous anarchist and political philosopher.... When a teenager she eloped with the famous poet Percy Bysshe Shelly whom… At the age of 19 mary won recognition for her world famous best seller “Frankenstein”.... onsidering that mary was a young girl, her “Frankenstein” received any a negative review such as – “the most enduring ghost story of all time” and “a precursor to the existential thriller....
7 Pages (1750 words) Essay

Art of Darkness

Darkness is a concept we don't even question, something that becomes a part of our inner psyche before we're even old enough to consider the source.... It is more than just the simple absence of light but is instead imbued with a myriad of meanings brought to us through the… Mythology is often thought of as being something that was made up a very long time ago by the Greeks or the Romans and then passed on through generations to become bedtime stories for young children today....
132 Pages (33000 words) Essay

Importance of Class System in Great Expectations, and North and South

The essay assert that In both novels, the characters relate the way in which the class system was not based on true quality, but on the circumstance of luck and of manipulation.... Wealth and status are not always given to the worthy - at least not until the end of the novel.... hellip; Gaskell uses geography to indicate the separation of the past to the future....
7 Pages (1750 words) Essay

The Parvenue-Mary Shelley (1797-1851)

The then position of woman in the English society has been portrayed in a manner by mary shelley, which is poignant, and alongside, it is realistic in reflecting the alterations a person experiences when her life transforms from poverty to richness.... The speaker in the story is Fanny herself,… The positive benefits and the negative consequences of having great wealth are neatly addressed in the short bibliographic story of Fanny, through the mary shelley's pen....
4 Pages (1000 words) Essay

Frankenstein and Conrads Heart of Darkness

The paper presents detailed information about the darkness.... The purpose of this study is to examine what the traditional roles of darkness have been as it is recognized in archetypal imagery and through its presentation in classic stories and fairy tales.... hellip; The concept of the myth is intrinsically linked to the concept of the archetype, which has grown out of Carl Jung's theories regarding the collective unconscious....
11 Pages (2750 words) Literature review

Frankenstein: The Art of Darkness

This work "Frankenstein: The Art of Darkness" describes the aspects of darkness that make for horrors in the realms of both facts and fiction using mary shelley's Frankenstein as a centerpiece.... From this work, it is clear about the peculiarities of this novel, its main aspects, the author's tragic background, the Gothic concept....
11 Pages (2750 words) Literature review
sponsored ads
We use cookies to create the best experience for you. Keep on browsing if you are OK with that, or find out how to manage cookies.
Contact Us