The Argument Against Cloning In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

The word clone is derived from the Greek word klon meaning twig. Ancient greeks already knew that planting a twig from a tree or bush would result in a new organism very similar to the parent tree (encyclopedia.com). Technology has evolved through time and so has cloning. There have been many scientific breakthroughs with cloning and technology. Mary Shelley makes wrote a book about cloning in 1818 called Frankenstein. Some scholars have used Frankenstein as a central piece in their argument against the development of cloning technology, but others argue that the problem was not with Victor Frankenstein’s scientific methods. Mary Shelley makes it very clear that she is against the process of cloning throughout the book by her language,

Which is in contrary to identical twins who look the same but have a different DNA structure. There are two types of cloning that could be performed naturally and scientifically in a lab. The first method is Artificial Embryo Twinning which is describes as a “low tech” way to make clones. This process mimics the the natural process that created identical twins. Naturally, twinning after the egg and sperm join, while the embryo is made of a smaller number of cells. Then each half of the embryo continues to divide on its own developing into separate individuals. After all, they developed from the same fertilized egg, the individuals are identical (What is Cloning?). The artificial process uses the same approach the natural way, but the whole process is performed in a lab in a Petri dish, instead of natural conception in the mother. The way this works is, an early embryo is separated into individual cells, which allows the division and development for a short time in the Petri dish. Then, the

In the book Frankenstein, Mary Shelley creates a creature from other dead body parts of other people. The creature’s creator, Victor Frankenstein thinks that he will make a beautiful creature when he is finished, but his mind is quickly changed when the creature awakes. “How can I describe my emotions at this catastrophe, or how delineate the wretch whom with such infinite pains and care I had endeavored to form?” (Shelley, 58) This quote from chapter 5 describes that Victor immediately starts to regret his decision on creating the creature and immediately starts to spite the creature. This is the beginning Shelley’s verbal attack against the creature through Victor slowly showing the reader how much much she dislikes the creature. Throughout the book we later see that Shelley starts to reference the creature as a “monster”. Typically a monster is a creature that is referenced to a dark scary creature. In one situation Shelley shows us human reaction to the outside world, the monster says, “One of the best of these huts I entered, but I had hardly placed my foot within the door before the children shrieked and one of the women fainted” (Shelley,123)(LeAnn,1). Again this shows how the creatures appearance affects everyone around him, but it also dictates how lonely he is and the creature tells us how