Loss Of Humanity In Frankenstein

In order to properly determine whether or not characters or parties in multiple works are “Human”, it is first necessary to attempt to define what it is to be “Human”. Humanity, or being human can be interpreted as many things, such as possessing empathy, like in Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, or a characteristic found in the genes, as Oryx and Crake implies. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein suggests a more absolute definition, one where any deviation from the natural process of birth creates a being that is referred to as “monster” and “devil” - “human” is out of the question.(Shelley, 68) I argue, however, that humanity is best characterized by not what traits it has, but what traits it does not. Humanity, as a whole, is not immortal,

The creature, which physically and mentally appears to be human or close to it, does not at any point want more than to be accepted by someone. When this fails, he lowers his expectations, and demands Victor to create him a mate. (Shelley,) Victor at first agrees to create a bride for him, but stops when he realizes the possibility that the creature will procreate, and fears the offspring will be the destruction of the human race. (Shelley, ) Victor is contradicting himself here, if the creature was truly the beast that Victor claimed it was it would not desire any more than what it needed to survive and procreate. Victor fears that he has created something with humanity that could be stronger than himself and his people. Whether or not the creature’s nature would lead it to struggle towards something greater is never revealed, but the fact that the creature had forfeited - in desperation - to be a part of society shows that it can have higher goals. Ironically, in the end Victor desired what the creature did, to settle down and live happily. This is because Victors struggle had been completed, he had created something that had humanity, and at the same time, left his own behind. Soon after his achievement however, he is killed by his own creation.( Shelley,

The Rosen Corporation creates androids to be what are essentially slaves, helping the colonization effort on Mars. (Dick, ) The Rosen Corp however, is notably located on Earth, where androids are prohibited. While they are in fact machines at core, but they appear to become more than that. The Voight-Kompff test used to determine whether or not a person is and android or not tests a person’s empathy, a trait the androids supposedly lack, was created because occasionally an android will escape from Mars and try to live amongst men on Earth. This behavior is remarkable similar to Mary Shelley’s creature, who also desires to join society. The androids have drive, they want to be more than humanities slaves, they want to be greater than they are. Yet every android that comes to Earth is killed, for no real reason other than they do not belong there, in the same place as the Rosen Corp, where they are