Write, Erase, and Revise

Locke and Rousseaus combined arguments for the nature of people is

that we are all created blank slates and outside forces corrupt and shape our
personalities and actions. Locke believes in the idea of Tabula Rasa, which
states that people are born blank slates and are then shaped by experience,
while Rousseau believes that people are born completely blank and are then
corrupted by their society and surroundings. The opposing argument to these
two philosophes is Hobbes, who believes that people are born already
corrupted. Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein, takes the side of Locke
and Rousseaus argument, as exampled by how she develops the Creature
personality and actions.
Shelley shows that the creature is born a blank slate through the direct
and indirect effects of events on the creatures psyche. The Creatures first
experiences in life was his creator who, Unable to endure the aspect of the
being [he] had created, [he] rushed out of the room (58). While the creature
consciously has no recollection of this event, it would have impressed itself
into the creatures subconscious helping to shape his depression, loneliness,
and feelings of rejection later on. Many studies have been conducted that
say that a human is at its most impressionable as a young child, with many
of their early experiences shaping how they will act later in. One of most
important examples of experience shaping the Creature, is his relationship
and interactions with the Delacey family. While spending a large amount of
time viewing the family, he developed morally good choices from doing

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things that made the family happy as well as learning language which would
allow him to gain a complete moral compass from reading his found books.
These newfound morals would thus lead to the later event of him saving the
little girls life at the river. Believing himself to be doing a good deed, he was
surprised, when the [girls father] saw [the creature] draw near, he aimed a
gun, which he carried, at my body, and fired (143). This specific event
would lead him to believing that good deeds and bad deeds would all result
in the same outcome of hurt and violence, which would develop into his lack
of sympathy and morals when it came to killing humans. Through all these
experiences of the creature and its direct and indirect effect on the mind,
Shelley shows her belief in the theory of Tabula Rasa.
We also see the Rousseaus side of the blank slate argument when
Shelley shows how society directly made the creature the evil thing he was
to become. On four separate occasions, society shunned the creature and
returned his very presence with violence. The most devastating being his
beloved Delacey familys reaction to him, Felix dashed forward, and with
supernatural force tore me from his father in a transport of fury, he dashed
me to the ground and struck me violently with a stick (137). This
unprovoked violence would lead to the creatures strong sense of injustice
that would lead to his lack of mercy when it came to returning the favor to
humans. When the creature tried his best to commit moral decisions, he was
met again with violence instead of the expected congratulations and
welcome. This would lead to the creature not feeling the need to have a

moral compass which leads of course to his merciless evil actions of murder.
After the killing of William and the framing of Justine, the creature begs his
creator for a wife and companion of his own. When Frankenstein agrees but
destroys it in the end, the creature takes the belief of not getting the prize
obligated and deserved to him do to his sufferings created by society, he
wreaks havoc upon Frankensteins life. Through societys actions committed
against the creature, we see his mind become corrupted to the point of
killing, showing Shelleys belief in Rousseaus belief of corruption by society.
While this evidence should prove Shelleys beliefs, there are arguments
against this that believe she believe the creature is inherently evil. One
argument that contradicts the argument of blank slate is that if the creature
really possessed morals then what could possess him to murder if not his
inherent evilness? As explained in the earlier paragraphs, he does posses
morals, but after society tells him that morals are worthless through the
incident with the drowning girl he then begins to commit evil acts, not
before. This proves that he cannot be inherently evil. Another distinction
made by the opposing side is that the creature must be inherently evil for
him to mindlessly kill victors family. This is false as the creature does have
motive and reason behind these attacks. These murders are a result of his
strong want of revenge against the creator due to his feeling of loneliness,
which also proves that Shelley believed that the creatures actions were
directly effected by society. Shelley does not in any way believe in inherent

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evil, she believes in the blank state theory as proved throughout the book of
Frankenstein.
Through Frankensteins creature, Shelley shows her belief in the idea of
a human being created a blank slate and being shaped by experience and
society. This idea can further be expanded to the entire human population as
we are shaped and morphed by our surroundings and events in our lives. As
we are bombarded with popular culture, we are increasingly conforming to
the beliefs and morals of the society surrounding us. Specific events and
experiences in our lives, whether it be exposure to a violent society at a
young age or an instance of , all these events shape who we are. Humans
are not born evil but are constantly having the their blank slates being
written on, erased, and revised, creating those that are considered good and
those that are considered evil.