Mary Shelley believes when a person attempts to create or discover a scientific advancement, the creator must fulfill their responsibilities, if they fail to do so, terrific events will ensue, as seen in her novel Frankenstein. Curious people interested in the sciences are responsible to consider the outcome of their experiments. An inventor has a duty to share their discovery with the scientific world. In the case that the experiment concludes with a living being, the creator must provide it with a quality upbringing.. If any of the responsibilities are overlooked by the creator, the consequences are somber. The gloomy effects of disregarding the results of an experiment are apparent throughout the novel. As Victor Frankenstein decides …show more content…
The monster’s existence could be shared with the world, but Victor chooses to conceal his accomplishment. Following Victor’s decision, society tended to end in turmoil with the monster. As he approaches DeLacey, his family sees him as a threat, “Felix darted forward” and tore the monster from DeLacey (Shelley 122). Frankenstein fails his responsibility to educate the populous on the monster’s existence. If he succeeded, the monster may have not had such a negative reception with society. Also, the science and theories of natural philosophy are taught to Victor because the person who discovered electricity and how it works reported it to the scientific community. The knowledge of electricity trickles down from scientists to people, and eventually young Victor is exposed to this new knowledge. Frankenstein is given an “explanation of the theory… on the subject of electricity” which broaden his horizons and brings him to enjoy studying natural philosophy (Shelley 27). The person who discovered the laws of electricity fulfilled his responsibility to the scientific community. The knowledge is spread throughout the population and also helps people decide what path of life they will choose. Although man can easily report their findings, it is not possible for humans to control nature without
The most frightening horror story can only be called such if it is believable. Nothing is so unnerving as lying awake at night with very real fears. No monster can harm you, unless the monster was genetically engineered by a mad scientist. The theme of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein - scientific investigation without consideration of morality and responsibility - is a very relevant topic in today's world. This theme, along with the less obvious themes of revenge, prejudice against deviation from the norm, and fate all make Frankenstein one of the most unique and terrifying horror novels ever.
It is Frankenstein's discovery of creating life that introduces the duality of science, of electricity, of even Victor Frankenstein himself. Scientific experiments are performed for a purpose, yet a reverse, commonly negative, affect is nearly always introduced. Just as science can end up creating dual reactions, electricity holds this same power. Electricity holds the power of magnetism -- the negative and positive forces pulling away from each other. This example of electricity's duality can be applied to many aspects of Frankenstein, including good versus evil, and even to Dr. Victor Frankenstein himself. He understands the power he possesses; yet he acts anyway. He has all the control and the knowledge in the beginning, but is left powerless in the end. Victor creates life because of his own greed, and the monster haunts him to the end because of it. The very monster to which he gives life strives to
His father then explained it to him - electricity. Victor's interest was again sparked, this time literally. Victor turned seventeen and went to attend the University of Ingolstadt in Germany, studying Natural Philosophy. At Ingolstadt, Victor met with a professor who said, "The ancient teachers of this science promised impossibilities, and performed nothing. The modern masters ... have acquired new and almost unlimited powers; they can command the thunders of heaven, mimic the earthquake, and even mock the invisible world with its own shadows."(Shelley) This quote, which could indeed be interpreted as man "playing god", very much intrigued Victor. He was fascinated - spending every waking moment in the presence of his professors and his science. Victor read and absorbed as much information as he possibly could.
Throughout Frankenstein, Victor proves to be quite an egotistical person. Victor’s actions will sometimes be selfish and not as noble as he would like others to believe. He creates the monster with a desire to obtain awe and fame and to make sure that his name will be remembered throughout history. “… a light so brilliant and wondrous… that I alone should be reserved to discover so astonishing a secret” (Shelley 37). While this discovery of Victor’s may be groundbreaking, he fails to think of the negative consequences, only thinking of himself and what this could potentially
Within the book, Dr. Victor Frankenstein expresses the way in which knowledge has blessed him in the beginning of the story but in turn ends up resulting in his downfall.
Mary Shelley is one of the most well-known women writers from the Romantic Era. Her most famous novel Frankenstein, has become one of the most popular gothic novels of our time. While Shelley’s writing is a product of the time in which she wrote, it also showed another style as well. Frankenstein was written in a time in which literature was changing and shaping into a new era, the Gothic Era. Frankenstein is a compilation of Romantic and Gothic elements to form a single masterpiece.
Victor Frankenstein in the book Frankenstein faces many terrible situations and has to face many consequences for trying to play God’s role in creating life. Victor seen and dealt with many situations as a young boy that will lead to his madness and obsession with science. Victor has always been intrigued with science and life ever since he was a boy. He studied natural science endlessly trying to master how to create a creature that could sustained life. When Victor finally creates his creature, he becomes disgusted with how it turns out. Victor runs from his creation failing to teach him any social or moral qualities. The creature haunts Victor killing many of his family and friends. Victor will try to run from the many problems he has caused. This causes Victor’s misery throughout the book. Victor becomes the true murderer in the book for trying to play God and create life with science.
Victor Frankenstein, a complex character created by Mary Shelley, experienced a complete change in attitude and perspective on the scientific world as he knew it. Between the deaths of his close family and friends, to the constant fight for survival as his own creation stalked him, Victor was under straining circumstances that allowed for his evolution as a character. Pre monster, Victor had strong morals and close relationships with his family. His family was his priority. Victor’s dedication to science was always a constant nagging in the back of his mind, but it did not mean more to him than his family dead. During the formation of his creation, he began to block off his family, especially his fiancee, Elizabeth. His dedication to science was his only priority, above food and hygiene. He was driven by the creation of his monster. After creation, his family members were killed off, eliminating any type of relationship he had with them, he rejected all science and moral values.
Throughout the creation of the monster, there are several hints that can support a reader’s judgment that the degree of comprehension that Victor has in the palm of his hands is, in fact, treacherous. In chapter two of, Frankenstein, Victor says, “The raising of ghosts or devils was a promise liberally accorded by my favorite authors,
Science is the knowledge gained by a systematic study, knowledge which then becomes facts or principles. In the systematic study; the first step is observation, the second step hypothesis, the third step experimentation to test the hypothesis, and lastly the conclusion whether or not the hypothesis holds true. These steps have been ingrained into every student of science, as the basic pathway to scientific discovery. This pathway holds not decision as to good or evil intention of the experiment. Though, there are always repercussions of scientific experiments. They range from the most simplistic realizations of the difference between acid and water to the principle that Earth is not the center of
Sure, we see Victor Frankenstein first attempting to learn the secrets of nature by consulting classic works of the occult in Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley's Frankenstein. The truth is, he is curious about a real-world science by observing his professors. Which annex the idea of how magic can be considered as a science since every element can affect a human by our 5 senses. To support the thesis, on pages 34 and 35 “If, instead of this remark, my father had taken the pains to explain to me that the principles of Agrippa had been entirely exploded and that a modern system of science had been introduced which possessed much greater powers than the ancient, because the powers of the latter were chimerical, while those of the former were real and practical, under such circumstances I should certainly have thrown Agrippa aside and have contented my imagination, warmed as it was, by returning with greater ardour to my former studies.This is the moment where science becomes more empirical”(Shelley 34,35). This is the main cause of what made Victor Frankenstein fulfill his curiosity of modern science because the modern science has taken some ideas from medieval science and feels creative of doing this action.
Throughout the novel Frankenstein written by Mary Shelley, the creature is subjected to countless acts of violence and rejection. For a monster to develop, one must have been formerly exploited either by an individual or their society. The creature is not only a physical product of science, but his atrocious behavior is also an explicit result of Victor’s actions toward him. The creature was not born a monster, but slowly morphed into one as he experiences violence and rejection from his society.
The idea of pursuing knowledge clouded Victor’s mind and when his creature is born he is shocked to discover that what he has created is far off his own expectations. Not only did the monster destroy his expectations of developing a creature that went beyond human knowledge, but it also affected his life, dignity, and fears. Victor himself admits to his own mistake when he says, “The different accidents of life are not so changeable as the feelings of human nature...but now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless honor and disgust filled my heart ” (36). Victor Frankenstein realizes what his obsession with pursuing an extensive amount of knowledge has brought him. His destiny to achieve the impossible with no regard for anyone or anything but himself shows that he is blinded by knowledge when creating the monster and is incapable to foresee the outcome of his creation. Victor’s goal was meant to improve and help humanity, but instead it leads to
In her novel Frankenstein, Mary Shelley is trying to convey the message that science and technology can be dangerous in the wrong hands. She affirms this idea through the character of Victor, a cautionary tale, but dispels the idea that all pursuit of knowledge is bad through more traditionally romantic characters such as Henry Clerval. Shelley is complicit in her understanding that curiosity and experimentation are unbreakably tied to the human condition, and tries to warn the world of the evil that can come from this. However, the effects of the interpretation of this book can vary: it is an exemplary cautionary tale, and a much needed reminder of ethics in an increasingly technology-dependent world, but one could easily take these warnings too far and use her novel as a means to quell innovation or incite censorship. In a world of technology that would be unbelievable to Shelley, her work still remains relevant, notably in the field of genetic engineering. Frankenstein raises important questions about ethics, responsibility and censorship, and is applicable to modern technological issues such as genetic engineering.
Nature has a mostly positive effect on Victor, as he describes it as “happy”, “calm” and “lovely” (Shelley 7, 45, 92). Every time Victor comes into contact with natural phenomena such as the sun, the moon or a sea, it immediately takes him back to the past where he was a “happy creature” and had no worries (45). Already at a young age, Victor develops his passion for science when he witnesses a lightning. Fascinated by its power, he does his own experiments and even attends lectures of natural philosophy and other sciences such as mathematics and chemistry. Slowly, Victor realizes his interest in science and in the human life which lead him to the anatomy of the human body (31). This development of interest hints at the upcoming clash of science and nature. Victor’s improving abilities in scientific experiments make him believe in even severing the boundaries between life and death and thus connecting science and nature (33). When Victor is uncertain about the recreation of life, he again refers to the scientific abilities that have improved and offer a wide range of possibilities (33). This improvement of science goes back to the actual achievements in times of romanticism when people like Davy imposed significant ideas of natural philosophy and other scientific fields such as electrochemistry. (Cunningham & Jardine