Frankienstien Analysis

Mary Shelly's Frankenstein is a work of fiction that helped change the perceptions of her, and our, eras. I chose to analyze the position of playing God that Shelly's Victor does in this book. There are two sides to this coin. Victor felt that it was ok to bring a monster to life. Then, out of revenge, he felt justified to take the life of the monster he created. Throughout the book he is torn between the life he made, taking that life, and if he should create life again. Victor created life from death and thus brings up many questions about life from death. Do we as humans have the right to create life using science? There are several ways one can do it; be it through dead bodies like in the book, or stem cell research and cloning today.

Civilization has always had trouble accepting change on a large scare. Shelly presents us with a new and unique thought of what science could do in her time. Only 20 years before the book was written it was found that electricity can cause the muscles of the dead to move. Much like todays cloning, there was the idea that humans can create humans. Today's science looks at what can be done with cloning and DNA, whereas Shelly's time was looking at what could be done with electricity. Today they are looking at changing the DNA of a human fertilized egg. The thought in the 1800's had been that you could take body parts and reanimate them through electricity.

Then if you decide that creating life is acceptable, can you then kill your creation? If you do kill your creation what is it considered? In Victor's case it was revenge he was seeking, for Victor's brother and Victor's bride. Because he created this life, is he justified in taking that life as well? Where is the line drawn? Who do you consider to be the monster? Is the created being Victor's son or his property? Is it considered human or animal?

Shelly forces the reader to think beyond black and white and into the "what if." Is the monster considered human because it was once human, is it an animal or something else because it was made? The monster wanted Victor to create it a mate. Procreation and social needs are a basic human desire. Victor played God by deciding, at first, he would give the monster what he was asking for. Victor then changed his mind and chose not to give the monster a mate. He thus cemented his place as God by positioning himself into the role of being able to pick and choose when life is created.

The line that has been drawn into these muddy waters hasn't been clarified since the 1800's,