Frankenstien All Behavior Is Learned Essay, Research Paper
The monster s behavior was directly related to, his experiences with society and its treatment of him. All behavior is learned, therefore if the monster was to be good or evil depended on societies reaction to him. Even though the monster had a fully matured body, he was like a child because he had no memories or experiences of his own. When the monster was given life he had no concept of good or evil. Everything that he did or
experienced was something new to him. All of the monster s behaviors would have to be
learned
The monster s first encounter with another being occurred the night that he was born. Shortly after the monster was given life, he was feared and hated. From the moment of the monster s birth Victor hated and despised it, rather than embracing and loving it. In the monster s crucial moments of development, he got his first experience of hate and fear. The monster had the same needs that a child would. Like a child at birth, the monster should have received love and care. Instead Victor, his father, hated the monster and ran from it.
The monster later encountered a poor farming family. The monster watched the way that the different family members interacted with one another. In his observation of them he learned the lessons that his father had neglected to teach him. The monster learned the concepts of love and affection. When the monster watched the family he felt feelings of happiness, instead of feelings of loneliness. Eventually the monster had learned the family s customs and understood their way of life. He realized that even though the family was not rich by their standards, they were rich by his standards because
they knew happiness, instead of fear and loneliness like himself.
The monster tried to meet the family that he had grown to care for so much. He went to talk to the blind father. Since the father had no sight he did not judge the monster by its appearance, instead he listened to what the monster had to say. When the other members of the family saw the monster they acted in the same manner as all the other people that the monster had encountered. They feared and hated the monster. When Felix was beating the monster, the monster was capable of ripping Felix in half, but could
not because of his affection for him. While the monster loved the family, they feared him because of his appearance. Because of the encounter with the family the monster learned, the one emotion that would later govern his life, the monster learned to hate. The monster hated his creator for making him so hideous. By giving him this appearance; Victor forced his creation to live a life of loneliness, with an absence of love or
happiness.
The monster learned fear and loneliness when his father abandoned him. From observing the farm family, he learned the concepts of love and happiness. Because of the encounter with Felix and the stick, the monster learned to hate his maker. When the monster was talking to Victor he said, My evil passions will have fled, for I shall meet with sympathy! Because of his mistreatment by society, the monster turned to a life of death and destruction. The monster had a place inside of it that was empty, society forced him to fill that void with hate instead of love. The monster said it himself; if he had the sympathy of others, then his evil passions would flee. The monster s behavior was directly related to how he was received by others.