Scientific discoveries follow prolonged periods of experimentation with all manner of things. In the early twentieth century, ethical considerations were not strictly enforced, leading to experiments that would be considered illegal today. For example, Nazi German scientists conducted multiple human experiments that involved the mutilation of live human beings. The extent and horrific nature of the experiments encouraged the international community to prohibit scientific and medical experiments that cause harm to people in a treaty that would be called the Geneva Convention. Decades after many countries ratified the convention, debate on the implications of unsanctioned research occupies the academic discourse. This essay will analyze Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein to understand the ethical implications of scientific discovery.
The pursuit of scientific knowledge is seen as a noble cause as academicians and researchers push possibilities and knowledge boundaries. However, despite the positive connotations, evidence of abuse of subjects means that the pursuit of knowledge through scientific discovery is not inherently good. Scientific discoveries alone pose no real threat to human beings or the world in general. Instead, the application of scientific discoveries to the development of technology has the potential to fundamentally impact humanity in a negative way. A fine line exists between the application of some scientific knowledge and playing God. Scientific discoveries are the foundations of technological breakthroughs and their overall implications should be considered before their physical application. Unfortunately, because of greed, parochial personal interests, and outright negligence, the implications of scientific discoveries are not considered before they are recklessly applied. This short-sighted mentality that the purpose of scientific pursuit is to expand what is known is the mentality that characterized Mary Shelly’s thinking when creating the Frankenstein monster.
Frankenstein invariably demonstrates that the blind pursuit of scientific knowledge without regard to societal and ethical considerations results in disastrous consequences. In Frankenstein, the main protagonist (Victor) sets his sight on creating a superior being by using different parts of a body from different people. His quest is an embodiment of the unrestrained and unethical pursuit of scientific knowledge and its application. Victor is string drawn to alchemy which emphasizes the pursuit of scientific knowledge for personal and parochial interests. After learning how to animate non-living materials, he develops an insatiable urge to apply that knowledge to play God and create his own creature. He fails the first ethical test of considering the societal implications of his experimentation. He recklessly pursues his objective of applying recently discovered knowledge to create Frankenstein, who he hopes would be superior to human beings. The kind of indifference to ethics characterized many scientific discoveries and their application in the early 20th century.
The events that follow the creation of the creature show the direct relationship between science and ethics. The lack of ethical thought that characterized Victor’s work when making his creature manifest itself as soon as Victor is done with his work. Unlike the glorious thing he had imagined creating, his creature is hideous. His dissatisfaction with its look is reflected by his abandonment of the creature and its reference to the name “creature” (Shelley, 68) Had his invention gone according to plan, he would have given it a name. However, like a bad father, Victor abandons his creature to its devices. This abandonment shapes the creature’s behavior as it randomly kills people. While the initial reaction might be to blame the creature for its murderous behavior, Victor is ultimately responsible for the creature’s actions as he failed to consider the ethical implications and societal consequences of continuing with work on his scientific discovery.
Victor’s work also raises the ethical question of playing God. While it is the inherent nature of science to push through the boundaries of knowledge, engaging in experimentation that could alter what it is to be human without serious consideration of the consequences is unethical (Cambra-Badii et al.). To be able to continue his work, Victor does not share his finding and his intent to expand his experiments by creating a real-life animated human being. Naturally, scientific experimentation, findings, recommendations, and conclusions undergo a thorough peer-review process that mitigates the ethical violations apparent in Frankenstein. Additionally, scientists commit to following ethical principles in their experiments. These rules exist to inhibit what Mary Shelly described in her book Frankenstein as “allowing desires and passion to disturb the tranquility” (Shelly, 60). Thus, while it is the nature of human beings to push knowledge boundaries, they should do so within the confines of ethical principles and moral and societal considerations.
The simple definition of ethics is knowing the difference between the good and the bad. However, in academics and research, in particular, ethics has a deeper meaning and is guided by rules of what is allowable and what is not. Such rules are not referenced anywhere in Frankenstein. However, from Mary Shelley’s writing, one can infer a debate between the good and the bad when Victor was considering creating a companion for the monster. Ultimately, he chose not to because he believed the monster was inherently evil for killing his close friends to make Victor as miserable as the creature was. However, Victor’s assessment of the monster was ironic and a reflection of his nature. He had conducted unsanctioned and unethical experiments, implemented their finding, and abandoned his creature leaving it to terrorize the people close to him. Thus, in the grand scheme of things, Mary’s portrayal of Victor in Frankenstein is one of a mad scientist who fails to calm his desires and pursues a destructive experiment but later failed to take responsibility for it, leading to death and destruction. In the end, Victor’s ethical violations turn him into the same monster that he despised.
The negative results of the experimentation that occur in Frankenstein are squarely Victor’s fault. In breach of ethical standards, he experimented with mutilated human organs with the set intent of expanding his experiments once his hypothesis was proven. He went ahead with his experiment because he knew he could. However, perhaps it is not fair to judge Victor by today’s standards. By the time the book (Frankenstein) was written, the scientific method had not taken root, and ethics were loosely applied. In addition, it was only after the end of the Second World War that international guidelines and ethics in scientific research were seriously considered and incorporated into an international convention. This does not however negate the possibility that using common sense would have prevented the destruction that was meted out by the Frankenstein monster. Victor let his desires control him and failed at the most basic test of considering all the implications of continuing with the experiment. It was a failure of judgment that, when analyzed from a 21st-century perspective, smells of ethical violations, illegal experimentation, abandonment, and a god-like complex.
Works Cited
Cambra-Badii, Irene, et al. “Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus: A Classic Novel to Stimulate the Analysis of Complex Contemporary Issues in Biomedical Sciences.” BMC Medical Ethics, vol. 22, no. 1, 2021.
Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein or The Modern Prometheus. e-book, First Avenue Editions, 2014.