Frankenstein and Science
Frankenstein and Science
Frankenstein: or The Modern Prometheus is an 1818 novel written by English author Mary Shelley. Frankenstein tells the story of Victor Frankenstein, a young scientist who creates a sapient creature in an unorthodox scientific experiment. Shelley started writing the story when she was 18, and the first edition was published anonymously in London on 1 January 1818, when she was 20. Her name first appeared in the second edition, which was published in Paris in 1821.
The title Frankenstein creates confusion because people start to think that Victor Frankenstein is the Monster. People who have read R. L. Stevenson’s Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886). Something like the multiple personalities that happens with the main character Dr Jekyll who also is the scientist in The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by R.L. Stevenson. Victor Frankenstein is a scientist who was experimenting to create life. His creation of the character is known as The Creature in the novel and later at the end came to known as the Monster.
Victor Frankenstein was living a normal life but suddenly his mother died while giving birth. This becomes the turning point of his life. He was devastated by the death of his mother and child. He promises that from now on he will not let anyone die. His curiosity in science led him to Ingolstadt where he was experimenting on his dream project, The Creature. Instantly after creating him Victor abandoned him because of his hideous appearance. We the people of society would not accept easily who eight feet tall and covered in scars we will see him as a monster. The behaviour of society and Victor forces him to become the monster that they have imagined.
The role of science in the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley has been disputed by many scholars. Critics tried to consider the problem from different perspectives stressing nature, science, and human being. It should be mentioned that much research of the novel is based on the contemporary knowledge of the end of the 20th century. The scientists were interested in the possibility of the relation of the novel to the real scientific issues even though much time has passed from the time of the novel writing and many discoveries were made.
In Marvel’s Avengers: Age of Ultron, an AI was created by Tony Stark (Iron Man) and Bruce Banner (Hulk) to protect the world but the same AI Tried to destroy the world to bring peace. He learned all the things from Tony Stark’s unconscious mind. Ultron failed to understand the difference between protecting and saving. The same is shown in the movie Enthiran (Robot) (2010) Directed by S. Shankar. In this movie, K. Vaseegaran made an AI and the Robot but the same robot tried to kill him.
One of the main reasons for considering the connection between Frankenstein with science remains emergence of the synthetic biology along with life and non-life, the natural and the artificial, and even the material and the informational (Belt 257). All these aspects impacted the desire to reconsider the novel from a new perspective which could not be dwelt upon before the real signs of the problems have not emerged.
Much attention is paid to the problem in the modern world and many scientists who want to succeed in the sphere refer to Mary Shelley’s gothic novel Frankenstein; or The Modern Prometheus. The introduction to the novel sounds as follows,
“Frightful must it be; for supremely frightful would be the effect of any human endeavour to mock the stupendous mechanism of the Creator of the world” (Shelley).
Van den Belt (2009) is sure that the discussion of Frankenstein within the scientific light began possible when people developed a desire to play the role of God through creating a life synthetically. Cloning is one of the departments of the scientific ideas which may be also considered within the novel. The contemporary advances in the life sciences allow critics to view Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein from another perspective, analysing each thought and idea developed in the novel (McCall).
The connection of Frankenstein with science may be considered from different perspectives, however, the problem of gender and the ability to give birth as the scientific aspects are closely interconnected with the problem of feminism in the novel. Many scientists and scholars tried to view the problem of the connection between Frankenstein and science from the perspective of the feminist vision as the novel is written by a woman.
Banerjee states that
“Frankenstein does bring into play the theme of reproductive creation through images that evoke female reproductive experiences”.
Reading the episode when Frankenstein emerges, the process of “gestation and birthing on the scientist” may be considered who undergoes “midnight labours,” faints, grows “pale” and “emaciated with confinement,” and suffers from “nervous fever,” “anxiety and mental agitation”
“Now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart”
(Shelley)
This is the phrase that was the starting one for the discussion about the scientific nature of the novel. Trying to justify the scientific idea in the novel and its positive impact on the world of science, Bizony provided many arguments. It should be stated that the consideration of Frankenstein as something unnatural is a usual vision of this hero. Still, Bizony stated that medicine has always been considered as something unnatural as only due to drugs and neither medical intrusion many people continue living and enjoy life. Frankenstein cannot be compared with the medical effect; however, he should not be considered as someone unnatural. Therefore, this is one more argument in favour of connecting Frankenstein and science.
Many scientists are dreaming of creating a person without a man and a woman as the main participants in the process of birth. Such scientific ideas are numerous, and Mary Shelley tried to show what is going to happen if such a monster is going to be created in the scientific world. Nowadays, it is possible to see a lot of medical equipment which applies to the use of electricity for supporting human bodies living. It is impossible to say that the novel was the central factor in developing the research, there were other circumstances and arguments, however, the fact should not be rejected as well.
The research on electricity and its application continues until now. The time when the novel was written coincides with the time when the research began. Much attention was paid to the novel as to the source of inspiration; however, the scientists did not consider it as science fiction seriously being aware of the author and her age. However, some ideas described in the novel had scientific value, and who knows maybe some other aspects may become a part of the scientific world (King & Knellwolf).
Frankenstein by Shelley is an example of the attitude of society to scientific research. Even though the research is necessary, and it must be present as the contemporary world is constantly developing and changing and innovation is a part of this process, social opinion is to be considered as the cultural and other vision of the world may cause the contradiction to scientific discovery.
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and many other science fictions prove that we still lack the technology and knowledge to gain the kind of dream projects that will lead us, where we can’t think of. This can be seen in Marvel’s Iron Man (2008) Movie, where Iron man (Tony Stark) built the arc reactor which powers his suit. This was his father project, but he could not finish it because of a lack of technology. Tony Stark finished his father’s dream project because he had the required technology. We are not putting this into use because we are afraid that we can’t control it.
Works Cited:
Banerjee, Suparna. "Home is Where Mamma Is: Reframing the Science Question in Frankenstein." Women's Studies 40.1 (2010): 1-22.
Bizony, P. "Frankenstein reclaimed." Engineering & Technology 4.5 (2009): 82-85.
"Frankenstein and Science." IvyPanda, 12 Nov. 2021, ivypanda.com/essays/frankenstein-and-science/. Accessed 19 Dec. 2021.
Hogsette, David S. "Metaphysical Intersections in Frankenstein: Mary Shelley’s Theistic Investigation of Scientific Materialism and Transgressive Autonomy." Christianity & Literature 60.4 (2011): 531-559.
Hammond, Kim. “Monsters of Modernity: Frankenstein and Modern Environmentalism.” Cultural Geographies, vol. 11, no. 2, Sage Publications, Ltd., 2004, pp. 181–98, http://www.jstor.org/stable/44250971.
Knellwolf, Christa and CK King. Frankenstein’s Science: Experimentation and Discovery in Romantic Culture, 1780-1830. New York: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd, 2008.
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