Morrow 1
Ja’Bryia Morrow
12 February 2010
AP English Literature
Frankenstein Essay
A Product of Society
Jean-Jacques Rousseau has a very specific idea about society and the way a person
develops because of it. Society is a corrupting force. A man in nature is a happy man. His ideas
are widely known and reflected in many works of modern philosophy. One great work of
literature that expresses his ideas is Frankenstein by Mary Shelly. Harsh interactions and
constant rejections turned Mary Shelly’s monster into a true wretch, a very specific and
recognizable product of society. The once noble savage that he was, naturally good,
understanding of right and wrong and willing to do the right thing, became a victim of society’s
shallow and superficial standards. The noble savage or “Wretch” as he is referred to in Mary
Shelly’s Frankenstein gives a perfect example of society as a corrupting force as told by JeanJacques Rousseau but also proves otherwise to Rousseau’s ideas of development.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau believes all people are or can be noble savages. However that
only applies when said person is in nature. According to Rousseau’s ideas it is impossible to be a
noble savage within society because of all the temptations it holds. This doesn’t mean that a
person cannot be corrupt in nature; the term noble savage simply implies that a person doesn’t
start out bad. Rousseau says, “human beings are naturally good” (Class Handout). Whether it’s
the belief that a person is born with a blank slate or not, people don’t have any past sins to atone
Morrow 2
for when they are first born, or in Mary Shelly’s monsters’ case, created. Rousseau takes the idea
of nature as this sort of safe haven in which to develop and protect one’s self against the
destructive antics of society. As incorruptible as it may seem there are actually many loopholes
in which wisps of society’s corruption can seep in. For example shelter from over the top
material objects and desires is what keeps a person happy according to Rousseau. “In nature
[people’s] desires do not exceed their capacity to fulfill those desires and so [they] are happy,”
(Class Handout). Society creates desires. People strive for things no matter how simplistic and
small or ridiculously extravagant. With Rousseau’s idea a person in nature would never want
anything that is too big or outside the realm of possibility for them to obtain. “Nature provides
for them and does not fill them with tempting and corrupting illusions,” (Class Handout).
Rousseau’s philosophy creates a way for people to live happily and not have to suffer for
wanting things they can’t have. Mary Shelly’s Wretch does live in a way similar to Rousseau’s
ideas for a while, a noble savage who sadly ends up suffering from the exact faults of society that
Rousseau states.
The Wretch in Mary Shelly’s novel was in fact a noble savage. He responded to kindness
and rudeness. He only became violent because he was betrayed but just like Rousseau’s theories
on the state of people, he started out good. For instances if he realized he was doing something
wrong that hurt others, he stopped. “I had been accustomed, during the night to steal a part of
their store for my own consumption, but when I found that in doing this I inflicted pain on the
cottagers, I abstained and satisfied myself with berries, nuts, and roots…”(Shelly 209). This
proves that the Wretch was not the monster everyone was making him out to be. He understood
that he was hurting the cottagers so he found other means to support himself. He was a perfect
example of a true good and noble savage. In the same manner the Wretch proved himself to be
Morrow 3
striving to hold onto his goodness as society continued to shoot him down. “I rushed from my
hiding place and with the extreme labour, from the force of the current, saved her and dragged
her to shore,” (Shelly 142). How could he be a monster when he strived to be seen as good? The
Wretch saved a complete stranger after twice now suffering rejection from other people. He even
tried to wake her up and was thanked by being shot at. No one taught him to do the right thing,
he just did. In any event he understood right and wrong but how long would his continuation of
doing the right thing last when he kept getting attacked and hurt for his acts of kindness.
Through Rousseau’s ideas society is seen as a corrupting force by turning a person’s
desires into the very thing that make them unhappy. Society destroys the noble savage. It makes
a person want things they can’t have in turn making them miserable. Society has this profound
hold on a person that is unexplainable. Rousseau tries to examine this when he explains how he
sees society. “First, it creates the laws of property which are the base of all inequality,” (Class
Handout). Through Rousseau’s eyes society creates the standards for all living. It creates the
standards for what it seen as human and as a monster, what is classy and what is disgusting,
what’s right and what’s wrong. The laws that society creates to ensure equality actually set
everyone apart. Different classes and standards of living, the things that are suppose to help and
do good are what rank people and cause hidden anger and desire among everyone. People desire
to be richer, to have more than they do. Similarly Rousseau believes that taking out all of the
desires that cause people unhappiness and jealousy would help to reform the society into a better
place. Another chief controller of society is looks. Vanity is second to wealth on what society
uses to define a person. The very things that define a person are what anger them. Beautiful
people are happy people, ugly people are miserable wanting to be beautiful. In other words its
society’s own laws for happiness that causes misery. There’s hardly another way to explain
Morrow 4
Rousseau’s belief of society than that. After all, it’s the exact belief that turn the Wretch into the
monster the world sees him as today.
Mary Shelly’s Wretch is a product of society. He is the way he is because of societies
rules. Even in today’s world, although the story of Frankenstein is a little altered, the creature
created from disfigured body parts is seen as monster and devilish simply because of the way he
looks. One of the chief traits of society that corrupts is vanity. Looks are next in line to wealth to
defining a person. The creature himself knows this as he asks, “Why did you for a monster so
hideous that even you turned in disgust? ...my form is a filthy type of yours, more horrid even
from the very resemblance,” (Shelly 131). The Wretch understands that it is his outward
appearance that frightens people so and is responsible for his loneliness. Here you can see the
effects of society changing him as he desires not only to look different but to be accepted. More
importantly he is questioning Victor Frankenstein, his creator, as to why he would create a
monster that would be rejected like so. Likewise the Wretch has an altercation that proves
everything he believed good about people and society wrong. “Felix darted forward, and with
supernatural force tore me from his father, to whose knees I clung; in a transport of fury, he
dashed me to the ground and struck me violently with a stick,”(Shelly 136). Here proves to be
the turning point within the Wretch. From living nearby the cottagers he developed the sense that
if a person is good, honesty, helpful and friendly then they will be accepted. He believed that
despite his looks if he proved not to be a threat and a decent person inward he would be accepted
by the family he desired to have. He was wrong. The rules of society had once again left him
hurt and alone. These interactions are what caused him to become what he is. If someone attacks
you enough times, calling you a monster, it’s only a matter of time before you become one. The
Wretch became one.
Morrow 5
Jean Jacque Rousseau not only influenced Mary Shelly’s novel through his ideas of
corruption in society, but also in the development of people. He believed that taking a child into
nature and raising them in a particular fashion would ensure them to not fall victim to the harsh
feelings and effects of society. For example, Rousseau thought too much literature was a bad
thing. “The child must not be seduced by too much learning, too much imaginative literature or
art,” (Class Handout). Through his perspective learning was essential but putting too much
imagination and literature of the same sort would create desires that a child or person would
never be able to fulfill. In the same manner Rousseau says “the child must learn always through
direct experience, never through lectures or commands or books,” (Class Handout). Books
although helpful, give too much thought through which imaginative thoughts develop. The
Wretch however did read Paradise Lost which educated him in a way. But he greatly learned
from the cottagers, direct observation. Rousseau’s ideas of development are like experiments in
which you teach a child to learn and do things they can achieve for themselves and not think
about meaningless trinkets. His idea is that children could grow into prosperous adults, educated
and moral but they get sidetracked by pointless desires and fail to do so. In the Wretch’s case he
failed to develop the way Rousseau believed because he had desire from early on. He connected
to parts but not all. He fell victim to society.
The Wretch, although he seemed to mirror Rousseau’s ideas of development and support
his theories of society as a corrupting force, he also proved Rousseau wrong. The Wretch
became unable to interact with other people, desiring what he could not provide for himself, a
monster, a product of society. The Wretch learned all that he did from observing the cottagers
but he never had an actual teacher. Frankenstein, the man who created him, who should have
Morrow 6
taught and helped him, shunned him from the moment he opened his eyes beginning the process
that would lead him to develop the way he did. Frankenstein’s rejection is what sparked a tiny
desire for acceptation. However, after his terrible interactions with society the Wretch reached a
breaking point, a point at which any traces of Rousseau’s ideas of development were all taken
away. The Wretch said himself, “All men hate the wretched!” (Shelly 145). The creature came to
the realization that society would never accept him. What then set him apart from Rousseau’s
ideas were his own personal thoughts. Although Rousseau made valid points on human
development what he does not take into account is the person as an individual, how they respond
and take things. Generally speaking studies can be made but who really knows how a person will
personally react to a situation. “I am malicious because I am miserable. Am I not shunned and
hated by mankind? You, my creator, would tear me to pieces and triumph; remember that, and
tell me why I should pity man more than he pities me?” (Shelly 147-148).The Wretch was more
than deeply hurt by his constant rejection by society. Those feelings didn’t just go away; they
sort of festered and in doing so intensified his desire to be accepted by society, by Frankenstein
who started it all. He desired to be accepted but he also hated them for their treatment. The
Wretch now had his desire but he also had his anger. He was becoming what society had deemed
him to be. Even though he became a true wretch his human like qualities still existed. He proves
this in confessing, “My heart was poisoned with remorse. Think you that the groans of Clerval
were music to my ears? My heart was fashioned to be susceptible of love and sympathy, and
when wrenched by misery to vice and hatred, it did not endure the violence of the change
without torture such as you cannot even imagine,” (Shelly 229). Society kept telling him he was
a horrible wretch and so he became one. He wasn’t a monster because he felt remorse but he was
Morrow 7
a wretch for the things he had done. His individual feelings toward everything that happened are
what cancel out Rousseau’s ideas in him. After all he is human…in parts.
Mary Shelly’s Wretch never had a chance. Not because he wasn’t a good person or a
person at all. Society is a great force of corruption and one of its strongest dictations of a person
is based on appearance. This creature, yellow in skin, formed from different decomposing and
dead body parts would never be able to prove itself good in the eyes of society because of the
way it was created. The Wretch could be the nicest, noblest, most gracious person the world
would ever see but because of his physical appearance he would never be accepted. Even his
development proved him wrong. If developed the right way the Wretch could have been able to
withstand society as Jean Jacque Rousseau explained. He is a great example of some of
Rousseau’s ideas and philosophy but by incorporating his own individual feelings toward society
and its people he proved Rousseau’s idea of development wrong. Society made Shelly’s creature
mean, cruel, and vile. Society made him a revenge seeker and murderer. He is no more than a
product of what society can do to a person if they don’t meet its standards.
Morrow 8
Works Cited
Rousseau State of Nature and Noble Savage." Suite101. 5 Apr. 2010. Web. 26 Feb. 2011.
<http://www.suite101.com/content/rousseaus-state-of-nature-and-noble-savage-a221878>.
“The Philosophy of Jean Jacques Rousseau,” -Class Handout
Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. Tom Doherty Associates, 1988. Print.
"Jean-Jacques Rousseau | Philosopher." Lucidcafé Interactive Café and Information
Resource. Web. 24 Feb. 2011. <http://www.lucidcafe.com/library/96jun/rousseau.html>.