Frankenstein Essay
In Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein, it is not just a horrifying gothic novel about a mysterious creature it also contains the authors ethical outlook on scientific and moral issues. Issues that Mary Shelly discussed were natural vs. unnatural or biotechnology, social expectance, and homosexuality. The moral topics that the author used foreshadowed on issues today and issues that were just beginning to be controversial topics at the time that Mary Shelly wrote her novel.
In Webster’s medical dictionary biotechnology is defined “as the manipulation (as through genetic engineering) of living organisms or their components to produce useful usually commercial products (as novel pharmaceuticals); also: any of various applications of biological science used in such manipulation.” In Frankenstein biotechnology was the bases of the novel since the process of creating the monster was exactly that. In the novel Mary Shelly’s character Victor created a being from pieces of corpses and put them together and used electricity to put “life” into the new product. So he manipulated once living organisms to create a new organism that was new and unique to the study of science.
“I had worked hard for nearly two years, for the sole purpose of infusing life into an inanimate body” said Victor. (58) In this statement Walton was saying he dedicated two years of his life to the idea of biotechnology. Mary Shelly’s was also very consumed with the idea of biotechnology since her fictional novel contained all of her ideas and thoughts on the topic and other scientific studies that were advance for the time period.
Though the making of the creature was part of the characters passion for the studies of science. Many people interpret it as playing god. Man tweaking life into something that isn’t natural and then you have the concept of nature vs. science. Which could perhaps be the stand that Mary Shelly has on the topic, that things should stay natural.
Secondly, a theme in the novel is social acceptance which is never given to the creature at any point. The monster may have looked different and like he was capable of harming people but the monster didn’t have that desire. Instead he wished to be loved and not lonely but where ever he went he was not accepted but society. Which is much like in modern times when if you’re different or if you may not look the same as everyone else you are treated differently. In the novel the monster was an outcast and separated himself for humans after he realized how the reacted to him. Even though the monster did nothing he was immediately a threatening outsider just by his appearance. Which shows the vainness of society and that people ae more focused on the outside of a person then