Moral Development in Shelley's FrankensteinMary Shelley's Frankenstein is a commentary on the natural disposition of man. By personifying his vision of a natural character for everyone in the form of Victor Frankenstein's creation, The Creature, Shelley explores the natural state as well as the moral development of man and develops conclusions regarding both. But before Shelley could create her commentary on man's natural dispositions, she needed a character to represent her "natural man." The character she needed had to possess the same qualities as that of a man in his most natural state. The most common character to represent man in his most natural state is that of a newborn. A newborn is, of course, a new human being in every respect, and he has no past experiences that could taint his role as a natural man. However, a newborn is subject to the elements of the outside world without having the ability to freely interact with these elements. A newborn cannot defend itself against alien environments that bring new ideas, new friends, new enemies and new challenges. Shelley's character must be able to always act according to free will (or be "freely" influenced by deterministic processes, depending on his school or thought). However, a newborn is not capable of accomplishing this; there is too much ambiguity in what determines and develops a newborn's state of mind. Shelley needed something “better” than a newborn. The creation of Victor Frankenstein is the answer to his dilemma. The creature does not possess any of the flaws mentioned above. He is brought into the world as a fully mobile human, capable of acting as he pleases, without depending on other human beings for survival. In The Creature, Shelley...... middle of paper....... Chapter 15.4. Shelley. Chapter 16.5. Shelley. Letter 2.6. Shelley. Chapter 21. Works cited and consultedBloom, Harold. Mary Shelly's Frankenstein. New York: Chelsea, 1987. Garber, Frederick. Self-autonomy from Richardson to Huysmans. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1982. Marder, Daniel. Exiled at Home: A History of Literature in Nineteenth-Century America. Lanham: University Press of America, Inc., 1984. Patterson, Arthur Paul. A Frankenstein study. http://www.watershed.winnipeg.mb.ca/Frankenstein.htmlSmith, Christopher. Frankenstein as Prometheus. http://www.umich.edu/~umfandsf/class/sf/books/frank/papers/FrankCS.htmlSpark, Muriel. Mary Shelly. New York: Dutton, 1987. Williams, Bill. On Shelley's use of nature imagery. http://www.umich.edu/~umfandsf/class/sf/books/frank/papers/FrankWJW.html