Main Themes in Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein” Essay

One of the most original prose works of the epoch of European romanticism was Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein. Written in the XIX century, it wonderfully combined the traditions of the classical philosophical novel of the Enlightenment with the philosophical and aesthetic discoveries of the two subsequent epochs – pre-romanticism and romanticism. The purpose of the presented study is to discuss the perception of moral and ethical aspects in the field of scientific discoveries by Frankenstein.

Background

Victor Frankenstein is the main character of the story who desires to create life but results in creating Monster with which he does not know how to deal. Most of the works of Frankenstein discuss several subjects at a time. However, they are not considered as separate goals for the survey. One of the focus ideas is a narration of the novel by three different speakers dealing with each other or separately.

Some researches are focused on the narrators’ voices that seemed too similar to each other. Consideration of characters’ voices leads to the characters’ intentions and desires observation. It is considered that different verbal strategies of the characters are used to reveal their either good or bad sides. The most popular topic in Frankenstein is the consideration of the concept of evil. What is the personification of evil in the novel, the character of the Monster, who appears as a cold-blooded killer to achieve his desires. Either the embodiment of evil is the world around him, the fruit of which is his creation (Lunsford 175; Eliasson 4; Kabir).

Frankenstein’s Perception of Moral and Ethical Aspects in the Field of Scientific Discoveries

Viktor Frankenstein does not appreciate life. He puts reputation and fame above all. His main goal is a new scientific society to which he wants to belong. Unfortunately, knowledge has overshadowed the mind that drives human actions in social life. Victor does not consider himself morally responsible for creating the creature because he does not think about the real consequences and is concerned only with his ego. He says: “no one can conceive the variety of feelings which bore me onwards, like a hurricane, in the first enthusiasm of success… a resistless, and almost frantic impulse, urged me forward” (Shelley 80, 81). Ambitions are the main discovery engine of Victor’s scientific research. He wants to transcend mankind and his nature, which has confirmation by his words: “I pursued nature to her hiding places” (Shelley 81). Frankenstein wants to get the key to the power and superiority over humanity under the influence of his ambitions (Eliasson 5; Jager).

Frankenstein does not think about the moral consequences of his actions. Unfortunately, only the consequences of actions compel Victor to realize his mistakes and suffer from the yoke of moral responsibility, for the thoughtless desire of superiority over mankind. At the moment of the extinction of his life, Victor calls “seek happiness in tranquility, and avoid ambition” (Shelley 216). Awareness of the consequences of fame makes him condemn his actions that caused the early death in complete isolation. Clarity of thinking appears only through the prism of life’s consequences, and not at the moment of fateful actions and decisions (Taylor).

The obsession with a desire of power, in the end, causes the loss of the characters’ place in the society with subsequent loneliness instead of recognition. Often, ambitions are an incredible engine of new discoveries, unfortunately, received through loss of connection with reasonability. In the end, the purpose of the presented study was to discuss the novel Frankenstein with a focus on the perception of moral and ethical aspects in the field of scientific discoveries by Frankenstein. It appears the neglect of the ethical side of human actions in the life cycle will confront the human consciousness with the consequences of life and the rethinking of the moral consequences of his or her actions.

Works Cited

Eliasson, Albin. “Monstrous Truths and Hidden Lies: A Reading of Frankenstein’s Narrative Structure and its Effects.” Örebro University, 2016.

Jager, Bernd. “Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and the Fate of Modern Scientific Psychology.” The Humanistic Psychologist, vol. 42, no. 3, 2014, pp. 268-282.

Kabir, Alia. “Greatness is Overrated by Sometimes We Just Can’t Help Ourselves: An Analysis of Frankenstein by Mary Shelley.” Writing Excellence Award Winners, 2015.

Lunsford, Lars. “The Devaluing of Life in Shelley’s Frankenstein.” The Explicator, vol. 68, no. 3, 2010, pp. 174-176.

Taylor, Shelby E. “The Mortality of Maternity: A Defense for Victor Frankenstein.” Journal of Undergraduate Research and Creative Works, 2015, pp. 1-12.

Shelley, M. W., & de Gans, R. Frankenstein. Books, Incorporated, 2017.