Playing God

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Many scientific pursuits have advanced throughout time lacking any catastrophic events. However, defying natural laws of life/death and violating the sanctity of human life crosses a line in the great chain of being, as a human utilizes godly powers. Violating this hierarchy causes dire consequences for the violator. Just as Prometheus stole fire from the gods and gifted it to man, Victor Frankenstein also transgressed the boundaries between the mortal and divine worlds and pursued the dangerous knowledge of reanimation, which ultimately lead to his demise.
Shelly communicates to the readers that powers belonging to a higher deity should remain with it and that science should not equal or surpass these powers. When Victor first sought animation, he believed that he could, “[…] renew life where death had apparently devoted the body to corruption” (Shelley 39), thus playing god and creating a new “Adam”. Victor’s first blunder was to leave to Creation to be in solitude. By putting himself in the role of the creator, Frankenstein assumed the responsibility to care for and enlighten the Creation, so the Creation thought. However, Victor was disgusted by it and he fled from his lab and abandons the Creation. Nevertheless, one must tend to their investigations, or consequences will occur. After reading John Milton’s Paradise Lost and viewing how Adam was guarded by the special care of his creator, the Creation loathed Frankenstein for the lack of paternalism he showed his Creation. God provided Adam with Eve, and the Creation wished the same, for a female companion. When Victor destroyed the almost created companion, the Creation vowed revenge and stated, “[…] you, my tyrant and tormentor, shall curse the sun that gazes on your miser...

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...humans in eluding natural processes like death, but it can cause calamitous events if proper precautions aren’t taken. Also, creatures subject to science can also be discriminated against, like the Creation was by Felix, who assumed it was grotesque, while it was actually nice and caring, as it brought wood to the family. An example of where Shelley’s warning isn’t heeded is in the film Gattaca, where in vitro fertilization partitions society into 2 groups, the “valids” (in vitro) and the “invalids” (natural birth). The consequences ensued are segregated classes, with the superior class receiving professional employment while the lower class receives menial jobs. The repercussion of the eugenics in the film reflect Shelley’s premonition about the advancement of science in the future: that attempting to go above one’s own power will cause complications in humanity.

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