When compassion is lost natural man moves out of the state of nature and looses his fundamental natural goodness. (Discourse101).
Shelley's concurrence is clearly represented through her illustration of the monster after he escapes Victor's apartment. He takes up residence near the cottage of the De Lacey family, he has not yet learned to speak and does not understand human customs. Through his observation of the DeLacey family he discovers concept of compassion (pitty). Initially, the monster had been stealing some of the family's food and firewood as a way to secure his own self-preservation, he states "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, which I gathered from a neighboring wood" (Frankenstein, 77). Observing how his actions were causing the family pain and suffering he sacrifices his own self-preservation out of compassion, and tries to ease the family's suffering by "during the night, I often took his tools, the use of which I quickly discovered, and brought home firing sufficient for the consumption of several days" (Frankenstein, 77). The monster's compassion and love for the family is illustrated with these gestures. .
Like Rousseau, Shelley also believes that civilization and knowledge can corrupt men and take away their innate goodness because of the loss of compassion. This can be seen as the creature continues to observe the DeLacey family from afar. As the creature learns more of the history of the world's violence and bloodshed through his studies, he first feels "ardor for virtue" and "abhorrence for vice" (Frankenstein 84). Although he despises war and violence, the creature is now cognizant of the evils of the world; some of his natural goodness is usurped with his newly discoverd knowledge of evil.