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Moral and ethical issue in frankenstein
Moral and ethical issue in frankenstein
Social responsibility and justice in frankenstein
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Mary Shelley’s book Frankenstein conceptualize several powerful ideas of moral responsibility particularly the duties of a creator. Sometimes a truly innovative creation or invention could result a devastating result causing havoc and suffering. Often, in history of mankind, human is blinded and consumed with the idea of creating or inventing something new and fails to consider the entire consequences it may have both in short and long term. Whether it is accidental or the creator is blinded by ambition, the full scope of effect is important to consider and should not be neglected. Similarly, Shelley asserts her opinion through the tale of Victor Frankenstein, proven with Victor’s creation and his subsequent neglect to the monster he created …show more content…
ambitiously. Victor desires to free mankind from the pain of disease and death; the death of his mother contributes in his ambition to his creation. The passage “I need not describe the feelings of those whose dearest ties are rent by that most irreparable evil; the void that presents itself to the soul; and the despair that is exhibited on the countenance”(24) describes Victor’s thought towards death. The death of his mother must have ignited the desire to create a being free from illness or death. After spending months on his creation, Victor is horrified of the creature he made and flee soon after. Both from the tale of Victor and his monster, Shelley presents one of her critical argument in the book, that a creator has responsibilities to its creation and is often neglected. The neglect of Victor Frankenstein towards his creation is apparent and sets the plot in the story in motion.
From the very beginning, Victor show no care to his creation, in contrary he completely abandons the creature. Victor forsakes his duties to his creation which essentially fabricates the creature’s malice. Shelley presents a very contrast situation in Victor’s childhood in a previous chapter before the creature is alive. Victor addresses his childhood through the following …show more content…
passage “No human being could have passed a happier childhood than myself. My parents were possessed by the very spirit of kindness and indulgence. We felt that they were not the tyrants to rule our lot according to their caprice, but the agents and creators of all the many delights which we enjoyed. When I mingled with other families, I distinctly discerned how peculiarly fortunate my lot was, and gratitude assisted the development of filial love” (19). Victor negligence could be seen clearly compared to his very own words of how he is raised by his parents. First, Victor’s description of his childhood depicts how his parents are present at his life, and that Victor is not neglected; while in contrary Victor abandons his creation from the very beginning. Secondly, not only that Victor’s parents are present for him, Victor’s childhood is nurtured with love compassion which he explicitly states he enjoyed. Regarding the creature, Victor fails to provide the nurture of compassion and love but rather the opposite; Victor curses and abhors upon his creation which he created himself. Not a single time have Victor shows compassion toward the hideous creature he is responsible of, instead he shuns his own creation. Victor develops with the nourishment of love compassion while he denied his creation of the same nourishment. Subsequently, the monster realizes that he is hideous and everyone is horrified of his appearance. Along the story, the creature murders several people close to Victor both directly and indirectly. The first victim, Victor’s younger brother William, is murdered accidentally by the creature trying to silence William who is terrified of the hideous creature. Victor, as the creator, do not intend for any slaughter his creature bring upon, but he neglects this possibility in the process of creating a hideous looking creature with enormous power. Victor’s fails to cease control of his own creation, the creature wreaks havoc because of Victor’s abandonment to his own creation which knows nothing at first. The lack of care and compassion builds anger and malice of the creature, which Victor forgets to ever existed when he flees from it until it brings destruction to the people around. Further in the story, Shelley takes a deeper look to the obligation of a creator to its creation. The creature realizes how everyone abhors him every time he is seen and that he is alone with none to share compassion even when he tries to confront people in kindness. The creature blame his creator, Victor, responsible for the misery he endured for he is created with such horror. The monster voices his anger when he reads Victor’s journal about the process of his creation. “I sickened as I read. `Hateful day when I received life!' I exclaimed in agony. `Accursed creator! Why did you form a monster so hideous that even you turned from me in disgust? God, in pity, made man beautiful and alluring, after his own image; but my form is a filthy type of yours, more horrid even from the very resemblance. Satan had his companions, fellow devils, to admire and encourage him, but I am solitary and abhorred'” (93). The analogy of human and satan as a creation accounts the responsibilities of the creator to also provide for them. The fact that he is created different from anything else infuriates him, which ultimately cause his loneliness. The illustration of satan and devils as companions shows the extend of the creatures anguish, that he is truly alone in the world he live in. As a creation, the creature hold Victor responsible for his suffering, because the creature is created in a form so hideous and is completely neglected. The creature is completely rejected in the world he is created in by his creator. For this reason, the creature later encourage Victor to create a companion for him, one that is equally hideous to live together. Because Victor is the creator, he has the obligation to also provide his creation; to relief the creature from its torment of being alone. Victor is paralleled to a god as a creator and for that he is responsible for the well being of the creature he created; Victor is ultimately responsible for the loneliness his creature has to suffer. Along the story, the one thing that the creature mostly desires is acceptance, he wants to feel the kindness that people shared among each other.
When the creature awakens, he is rejected by Victor and forced to fend for itself. As he wanders alone, he learns to read and notices that he is different from other man. As the creature observes a poor family, the deLacey’s, he grows fond of them, he wishes to be accepted by the family. When the creature finally confronts the family, he is rejected because by them upon seeing his distorted visage. Then, the creature vows to seek its creator to determine why is he so different from other man. Several times, the creature begs Victor to create another just like him; a companion the live together with. The creature promises to leave mankind if Victor would create a mate whom he can share his solitude. Rage and despair ignites after the creature is rejected several times by mankind, leading to a killing spree at the creatures hands. Primarily, the creature wants to be accepted by someone and to have a companion to share his life
with. By asserting opinions along the story, Shelley is presenting her perception of a creator’s obligation and responsibilities to its creation. Should Victor never abandon the creature from the beginning and takes responsibility as creator, several deaths might be avoided. The creature desires acceptance and is denied in every encounter with mankind. Because of the way the creature is created, he is forced to live in the world where he is constantly rejected and it is Victor’s responsibility for the havoc the creature brings upon. It is apparent that only Victor could end the creature’s suffering or even accept him from moment the creature awakens to prevent his torment of wandering alone rejected by everyone. While the story depicts Victor’s creation as a monster that unleash havoc in mankind, Victor as a creator is responsible for it and he is obligated to fulfill the creature’s desire of acceptance and companionship.
First, Before the monster is created Victor says that he hopes this creation would bless him as his creator, and that the creature would be excellent nature and would be beautiful. After the creature is created Shelley creates sympathy for him by Victor’s description of him in a unique yet horrific way, “he’s ‘gigantic,” “deformed,” “yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath” this makes the creature abhorrent to typical humans. When thinking of the descriptions together, Shelley has created a vivid, unnatural image of the monster in the mind’s eyes. The language Shelley uses is powerful and emotive “shall I create another like yourself, whose joints wickedness
Victor's gradual descent towards the dark side of the human psyche is clearly portrayed through Shelley's writing. As stated in previous discussions, Victor's original motivation in pursuing a career in the science field was purely out of love for the world of science and a true passion for acquiring knowledge. However, as the novel continues, we witness his motives go from authentic to impure. As such, we delve into the dark side. His pursuit of knowledge and his creation of the monster are all on the purer or perhaps lighter side of the psyche. It isn't until he abandons him that we begin to see him cross over. His choices to abandon the creature, to let someone else to die for its crimes, to create it a companion only to kill her, to allow the ones he loved to die at its hand, and to still refuse to claim it in the end are all acts
Shelley characterizes Victor in a way that he acts on his impulses and not with rationality. As a result, Victor does not take the time to teach or talk to his creation. This action leads to his downfall as his loved one’s are killed by the Creature taking revenge on Victor for leaving him to fend for himself. Victor’s actions have consequences, hence why all his loved one’s are murdered because of his instinct to leave out of fear and safety. Shelley proves that our id demands immediate gratification of needs and thus, is in control of our actions.
As a romantic, archetype and gothic novel, Victor is responsible for the monsters actions because Victor abandons his creation meaning the creature is dejected and ends up hideous and fiendish. It is unfair to create someone into this world and then just abandon it and not teach it how to survive. The quote from the creature “Why did you make such a hideous creature like me just to leave me in disgust” demonstrates how much agony the creature is in. He is neglected because of his creator. The monster says “The hateful day when I received life! I accurse my creator. Why did you form a monster so hideous that even you turned from me in disgust?” Victor is wholly at fault for his actions, image and evil.
On page fifty-seven of the novel, the creation is first brought to life and Shelley describes the initial interaction of the two main characters, “…his eyes, if eyes they may be called, were fixed on me. His jaws opened, and he muttered some in articulate sounds, while a grin wrinkled his cheeks…rushed downstairs.” This particular quote depicts how Victor immediately shut out any connections with the creature due to his appearance. He decided to interpret the creature’s instant grin and stare to revolve around evil thoughts when, in fact, the creature was simply desiring acceptance and approval from his creator. So it was that from the commencement of his existence, the creature was shunned from Victor and ultimately from the entire society merely because of his appearance. In correlation to the song, his wings were broken from the beginning of time and it was up to his own free will if he decided to learn to fly.
Although humans have the tendency to set idealistic goals to better future generations, often the results can prove disastrous, even deadly. The tale of Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, focuses on the outcome of one man's idealistic motives and desires of dabbling with nature, which result in the creation of horrific creature. Victor Frankenstein was not doomed to failure from his initial desire to overstep the natural bounds of human knowledge. Rather, it was his poor parenting of his progeny that lead to his creation's thirst for the vindication of his unjust life. In his idealism, Victor is blinded, and so the creation accuses him for delivering him into a world where he could not ever be entirely received by the people who inhabit it. Not only failing to foresee his faulty idealism, nearing the end of the tale, he embarks upon a final journey, consciously choosing to pursue his creation in vengeance, while admitting he himself that it may result in his own doom. The creation of an unloved being and the quest for the elixir of life holds Victor Frankenstein more accountable for his own death than the creation himself.
As a tragic hero, Victor’s tragedies begin with his overly obsessive thirst for knowledge. Throughout his life, Victor has always been looking for new things to learn in the areas of science and philosophy. He goes so far with his knowledge that he ends up creating a living creature. Victor has extremely high expectations for his creation but is highly disappointed with the outcome. He says, “I had desired it with an ardour that far exceeded moderation; but now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart” (Shelley 35). Frankenstein neglects the creature because of his horrifying looks, which spark the beginning of numerous conflicts and tragedies. At this point, the creature becomes a monster because of Victor’s neglect and irresponsibility. The monster is forced to learn to survive on his own, without anyone or anything to guide him along the way. Plus, the monster’s ugly looks cause society to turn against him, ad...
To begin our analysis, I will look to how Mary Shelley positions Victor Frankenstein's motivations to create life against natural laws within the ideas of individualism, as Victor can correlate directly to the educated human at the center of Enlightenment, Industrialism, and Romanticism values. With the burgeoning interest in scientific discovery during the Industrial Revolution "transform[ing] British culture" and "changing the world"(Lipking 2065), many concepts of society were also changed, which Shelley looked to explore through Victor's actions. Rooted in the scientifically curious spirit of Industrial England, Victor's attempt to create life can show many examples of how an importance of the individual acquisition of knowledge and accomplishment can disrupt society. Victor's...
In today’s world of genetically engineered hearts and genetically altered glowing rats, the story of Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, seems as if it could be seen in the newspapers in our near future. The discoveries seen in modern science, as well as in the novel, often have controversy and negative consequences that follow them, the biggest of which being the responsibility the creator of life has to what has been created. Victor Frankenstein suffers from a variety of internal and external conflicts stemming from the creation of his monster, which in return also experiences similar problems. Shelley uses these tumultuous issues to portray the discrepancies between right and wrong, particularly through romanticism and the knowledge of science.
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is a nineteenth century literary work that delves into the world of science and the plausible outcomes of morally insensitive technological research. Although the novel brings to the forefront several issues about knowledge and sublime nature, the novel mostly explores the psychological and physical journey of two complex characters. While each character exhibits several interesting traits that range from passive and contemplative to rash and impulsive, their most attractive quality is their monstrosity. Their monstrosities, however, differ in the way each of the character’s act and respond to their environment. Throughout Frankenstein, one assumes that Frankenstein’s creation is the true monster. While the creation’s actions are indeed monstrous, one must also realize that his creator, Victor Frankenstein is also a villain. His inconsiderate and selfish acts as well as his passion for science result in the death of his friend and family members and ultimately in his own demise.
The wise Uncle Ben once told Peter Parker, “remember, with great power. Comes great responsibility.” There is no greater power than that acquired by the infamous Victor Frankenstein in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein when he discovers the secret to creating life. Shelley’s Frankenstein is a tale of creation that depicts acts of human conception and discovery. The Oxford English Dictionary defines creation as “the action or process of bringing something into existence from nothing by divine or natural agency; the fact of being so created.” It defies the natural order of things and creates a world of its own. The multiple acts of creation and discovery bring upon a certain set of responsibilities and implications as depicted by David Collings who analyzes the responsibilities that come as a result of these acts in his essay “The Monster and the Maternal Thing: Mary Shelley’s Critique of Ideology”. The main act of creation is evident through Victor Frankenstein’s creation of the Being which is depicted most prominently in the novel. However, there are multiple other acts of creation and discovery that may not be apparent at first sight. One of the most important being, Victor’s discovery of the knowledge required to create life. Apart from initially creating the Being, Victor also plays a critical role in the Being’s evolution into a raging and vengeful creature. Perhaps above all other acts of creation and discovery is Victor’s personal creation of himself into a monster. As stated by Collings most of these acts of creation on Victor’s part are subconsciously brought upon because of their lack of a maternal figure but also in part because of his desire for fame and glory. However, he is blinded by his motives and forgets that with his...
In Frankenstein, Shelley creates two very complex characters. They embody the moral dilemmas that arise from the corruption and disturbance of the natural order of the world. When Victor Frankenstein is attending school, he becomes infatuated with creating a living being and starts stealing body parts from morgues around the university. After many months of hard work, he finishes one stormy night bringing his creation to life. However, “now that [Victor] had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled [his] heart” (Chambers). Right after Victor realizes what he has done, he falls into deep depression and must be nursed back to health by his friend. Victor spends the rest of the story facing consequences and moral problems from creating unnatural life. When he realizes that the ‘monster’ has killed his brother, even though no one believes him, he feels responsible for his brother’s murder because he was responsible for the existence of the ‘monster’. Also feeling responsible, Victor...
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus, explores the monstrous and destructive affects of obsession, guilt, fate, and man’s attempt to control nature. Victor Frankenstein, the novel’s protagonist and antihero, attempts to transcend the barriers of scientific knowledge and application in creating a life. His determination in bringing to life a dead body consequently renders him ill, both mentally and physically. His endeavors alone consume all his time and effort until he becomes fixated on his success. The reason for his success is perhaps to be considered the greatest scientist ever known, but in his obsessive toil, he loses sight of the ethical motivation of science. His production would ultimately grieve him throughout his life, and the consequences of his undertaking would prove disastrous and deadly. Frankenstein illustrates the creation of a monster both literally and figuratively, and sheds light on the dangers of man’s desire to play God.
Mary Shelley expresses various ethical issues by creating a mythical monster called Frankenstein. There is some controversy on how Mary Shelley defines human nature in the novel, there are many features of the way humans react in situations. Shelley uses a relationship between morality and science, she brings the two subjects together when writing Frankenstein, and she shows the amount of controversy with the advancement of science. There are said to be some limits to the scientific inquiry that could have restrained the quantity of scientific implications that Mary Shelley was able to make, along with the types of scientific restraints. Mary Shelley wrote this classic novel in such a way that it depicted some amounts foreshadowing of the world today. This paper will concentrate on the definition of human nature, the controversy of morality and science, the limits to scientific inquiry and how this novel ties in with today’s world.
I believe that Victor and the creature are both right about what they want and yet monstrous in their reactions. Victor is right about what he wants; one reason is because he is very committed to his work and in creating life for his creature. On the other hand he is evil because he abandoned the creature and left him on his own: "I escaped and rushed downstairs. I took refuge in the courtyard belonging to the house which I inhabited" (Shelley 57). Shelley shows Victor's monstrous reaction to the creature in the way that he abandoned the creature to his own luck and he shows no responsibility for him.