Comparing Frankenstein And The Island Of Dr. Moreau

While complete power and control is desired by many, those who actually come to acquire this well sought after idea are corrupted by its intoxicating sense of limitlessness and invincibility. In both, “The Island of Dr. Moreau” and Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein”, the doctors abuse their creative powers while dismissing their moral responsibilities in order to gain ultimate control of their surroundings.

In Frankenstein, the overall theme is developed in a number of ways that all focus around the self-centered and selfish Victor Frankenstein, who obsesses over maintaining control of all of those around him. Literary critic Harriet Hustis emphasizes that, “Frankenstein fails to exercise such moral responsibility for the single life he creates

because he regards creativity as an abstraction” (847). Moreover, Frankenstein has no concern over his moral responsibilities due to his choice to objectify his creation in order to maintain control over it. Through maintaining a deliberate distance from his monster, Frankenstein attempts to relieve himself of all responsibilities associated with the creation of the monster and the devastation it results in. Frankenstein’s actions throughout the novel reveal a constant need for control which may actually be fueled by his feelings of helplessness and lack of power. Accordingly, Victor’s obsessive compulsion to track down the monster throughout the novel is entirely driven by selfish and controlling motives, despite the slight sense of remorse he expresses at William’s funeral.
Throughout the novel, “Mary Shelley emphasizes the fact that the responsibilities of a creator for his progeny cannot be conceived as a debt to be paid or an obligation to be fulfilled” (Hustis 847). Victor Frankenstein attempts to track and down his creation long after it has already explored the world and inflicted harm upon others. Consequently, Victor pursues his progeny relentlessly driven by ulterior motives of feelings of guilt and remorse. Frankenstein fails to recognize the need for him to accept his monster as a living being, not just a destructive monster that he is responsible for. Nevertheless, while he blames himself for the deaths the monster causes, Victor can’t comprehend the full extent to which his irresponsible creativity has affected those around him.
In addition to his abuse of power, Literary critic George Griffith insists that, “Frankenstein's moral failure is his heedless pursuit to know all that he might about life without taking any responsibility for his acts.” Victor Frankenstein embarks on a path from which no person can return by attempting to pursue scientific knowledge never before observed.

Knowledge is an abstract yet powerful idea that seeks to immerse its victims in the pursuit of unattainable information. Victor wishes to discover more than any person before him has, and in return discards all moral and ethical obligations he previously held. In doing so, Victor inevitably wishes to obtain absolute control of the fate of his surroundings, leaving the barrier between life and death an opaque abstraction. After creating the monster and performing his numerous experiments, Frankenstein takes no responsibility for the being of life he has actually created and dehumanizes the monster as a “success”. While the creation of the monster in itself was an atrocity, the ultimate proof of Victor’s irresponsibility can be seen with how he dealt with the monster after its unnatural

birth.
“Frankenstein’s “sin” is not solely in creating the monster, but in abandoning him to orphanhood at his birth” (Griffith). Abandoning his creation proves victor’s lack of accountability for his action of creating the monster. This not only shows his irresponsibility, but also how he never intended to care for the monster, only wishing to test the full extent of his scientific ability. Victor paid no attention to the implications his experiment would have on the living being he had just created, leaving the monster to explore his new surroundings confused about his purpose, and lacking the parent figure Frankenstein should have been.
Alone in his study, “Victor Frankenstein reflects on the past when the masters of the science sought immortality and power; such views, although futile, were grand; but now the scene was changed” (Shelley 62).

Victor was left disappointed in the path that modern science has focused on, discarding the incredible goals that were the ground layer of his interest in science. Victor wishes to adopt these “grand views” himself and to stray away from the conservative and unexciting goals scientists have in modern day. Victor frustratedly expresses his remorse for choosing to follow this conservative path initially as he “was required to exchange chimeras of boundless grandeur for realities of little worth.” (Shelley 62) While he initially was forced to follow this path, Victor decided he would not allow this exchange to occur any further and that he would pursue his initial goals. Moreover, These goals include seeking to discover the secret to immortality and in turn play the role of god by controlling everything around him. In nearly every event in the novel, Victor Frankenstein wishes to achieve absolute control of all things thought to be out of a human’s reach. Frankenstein defies the boundary between life and death and redefines what a single man can achieve, despite his irresponsibility for that

creation.
What can be worse than a narcissistic and control seeking doctor such as Frankenstein who created a single horrifyingly unnatural lifeform? An egocentric evil genius who unrightfully mutilates not one but hundreds of humans for the sake of creation. Accordingly, theme is developed in, “The Island of Dr. Moreau” through the experiences of the protagonist Prendick, and his observations of what occurs on the peculiar yet iniquitous island.
Initially, with the utilization of cutting-edge gene-splicing technology, “Moreau's island beasts are translated, or partially so, to a higher level of creation by the deific Moreau, as man was created by God” (Bowen 320). Moreover, this comparison of Moreau to god essentially represents how Dr. Moreau views himself as well as behaves throughout the entire novel. Dr. Moreau has managed to develop a procedure in which he can alter a human being’s physical and genetic makeup in order to fabricate an inhuman hybrid life form. Moreau performed these experiments at will in order to showcase the full extent of his abilities to himself and achieve a feeling of absolute power and control. Moreau’s creations are an unnatural mix and match of human and animal, which are then cast off into the island’s complex labyrinth of vegetation. After creating these beings, Moreau abandons them just as Victor Frankenstein had to fend for themselves and discover their purpose for existence in a strange new world.
Moreau consistently “reduces the condition of mankind and the creation of the so-called order of the natural world to the indulgent whim of an amoral magician who has fallen under "the overmastering spell of research" (Bowen 327). The men involved in Moreau’s experiments have been reduced to less than man and in a sense, dehumanized to creatures of Moreau’s will. Moreau wishes to redefine the boundaries of what classifies a human being as he dreams of fashioning the perfect lifeform that jettisons all human weaknesses from existence. In doing so, Moreau conducts horrifying experiments with no sense of regret as he has effectively blinded himself with the justification of research. The doctor wishes to achieve his goal and ultimate control no matter the costs and discards all sense of humanity and morality that he possesses.
Consequently and unfortunately for Moreau, “Moreau's infringement on divine creative power with increasingly relentless obsession and cruelty leads eventually to the destruction of his macabre home and family” (Lehman 52). Moreau’s obsession with creating whatever he desires and maintaining control over all specimens on the island impedes his ability to make definite scientific progress, and causes him to abide by his own obsessive and twisted moral code. By failing to recognize his cruel and unjust acts, Moreau continues his experiments as a corrupt deity who will stop at nothing until he achieves what he desires which can just simply not be attained. This compulsive obsession to pursue his unachievable goals and control his own fate as well as hundreds of others eventually leads to Moreau’s own death. Ironically, one of Moreau’s own creations, a half man half puma hybrid, ends up ending the life of its creator out of sheer rage, resentment, and confusion. Inevitably, Moreau was met with justice that he was inevitably forced upon due to the atrocious acts that he committed while disregarding any moral or ethical responsibility.