Existing Personality Traits Versus How A Person is Taught to Act (Essay Sample)

Existing Personality Traits Versus How A Person is Taught to Act

Introduction

Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein is one of the most celebrated fictitious novels of the decade. The author, Marry Shelley, addresses several significant issues, touching on death and suicide, feminism, personal perception, and nature versus nurture. In this paper, our primary focus will be on nature versus nurture. In this context, the aspect of nature primarily plays a vital role in determining an individual's behavior. In contrast, the nurture aspect argues that an individual's behavior is shaped by their surrounding environment and the people he interacts with.
"How and how well does Mary Shelley's Frankenstein address existing personality traits versus how a person is taught to act?"
In the novel Frankenstein, we find that the main character, Frankenstein, created a monster that later went rogue. The novel shows that the monster tries to kill his creator, Frankenstein, while he manages to kill the victors' younger brother, his best friend, and his wife. In his defense, the monster indicates that had someone properly guided him; he would not have ended up being the vengeful and murderous monster (Barnes-Holmes et al., 10). However, Frankenstein has a different option as he indicates that the creature is naturally evil and that it would still be useless to teach or nurture him. The two statements, from the creature and Frankenstein, form the basis of this paper. According to the author, both nature and nurture have an active role in developing an individual's behavior. As per research, it is evident that both nature and nurture have an active role in a person's behavior. However, one seems to outweigh the other.
At the outset, nature primarily describes how an individual is born and the traits he inherits. According to Frankenstein, the monster he had created was bound to be evil no matter what training it had undergone. According to the article 'Human Behavior: Nature or Nurture,' it is reported that, when one refers to nature, the main point of reference would be the genetic makeup inherited from the parents ("Human Behavior: Nature or Nurture?"). Similarly, a recent study in Pakistan confirms that the genetic makeup of relatives or family primarily has a huge role in how a child acts. However, the creature created by Frankenstein had no immediate parents or relatives, thus making it difficult to conclude that it had inherited traits from its parents. Therefore, it is wise to note that nature played a lesser role in making Frankenstein's monster wild. Similarly, the article refutes Frankenstein's theory that the creature was bound to be evil.
Nurture is also an aspect of great importance when it comes to the determination of an individual's behavior. Regarding nurture, it points to the environmental factors surrounding individuals ("Human Behavior: Nature or Nurture?").