Rousseau

In Rousseau’s quote, we are given a worldview that highlights the turn to modernity.
This worldview, however, is not one that praises modernity and industrialization at the peak
of the scientific revolution. Rather, it criticizes our turning away from the “natural state” that
Rousseau greatly highlights. With the rise of the so-called “scientists” and “artists,” a
dominant rationality is starting to take hold of society that sets aside those who Rousseau
considers to be true citizens. These citizens are much more rooted in the state of nature, as
compared to the specialists who become, in themselves, bound to the civil state. Recalling
Rousseau’s quote from The Social Contract, he posits that “Man is born free, yet everywhere
he is in chains.1” This, in relation with the quote, highlights the worldview of Rousseau that
he is trying to express. We are born into a world as free beings, yet the constraints of society
are what chains us and drags us away from the state of nature. In a very romantic sense, this
also expresses how modernity dampens and leaves out the raw emotions that capture the
romantic sensibility. Furthermore, modernity also turns us away from the natural state, and
this new dominant rationality sets aside those who are still rooted in the romantic sensibility
found within the state of nature.

Moving forward, this is most evident in Frankenstein, as the story of Victor’s pursuits
is what drives him away from the natural in order to go beyond what nature has intended.
This can be seen in Chapter 4 of Frankenstein, wherein Victor shuts himself in for a long
period of time, in order to focus on his craft. . In his pursuit of science, Victor grew further
and further away from his humanity, to a point that what he focused solely on science,
isolating himself from others in pursuit of something he deems greater. He even says that
“Life and death appeared to me ideal bounds, which I should first break through, and pour a
torrent of light into our dark world.2” This shows Victor’s obsession with science, and how he
believes that something as natural as life and death are mere hindrances for him to overcome,
in order to produce something greater. This strengthens the point that Rousseau is trying to
make by showing that the dominant rationality that persists within the civil state is what
drives us further away from the state of nature. In his pursuits, Victor finds himself exactly
within this civil state.

Another example that highlights Rousseau’s point is in chapter 4, wherein Victor says
to Walton “Learn from me, if not by my precepts, at least by my example, how dangerous is
1
Rousseau, The Social Contract.
2
Shelley, Frankenstein, 33.
the acquirement of knowledge and how much happier that man is who believes his native
town to be the world, than he who aspires to become greater than his nature will allow.3” This
quote exemplifies what it means for Rousseau to be within the state of nature. It is through
our attempts to go beyond nature that we find ourselves unhappy, as the binding of society
leaves us greatly dissatisfied.

The solution that the novel offers is found in the last few chapters, in Walton’s change
of heart to return home and end his exploration, learning from Victor’s hubris. What the
novel’s ending offers is that no matter what, we will always be at nature’s mercy, and that we
can never control it. Moreover, we come to realize that in the end, the civil state is what ruins
us completely.

3
Shelley, 33.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. The Social Contract, n.d.
Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. Barnes and Noble, n.d.