Frankenstein Nature Vs. Science
1 Introduction
Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein; Or The Modern Prometheus.” is critically acclaimed for its science fiction genre and for developing the style. The progression of the literary assumptions on the tenets that the novel has created has made a tremendous effect on the concern of two different concepts: Science versus nature.
Shelley’s exploration of science and scientific knowledge acts as a warning to nature, which in this case was developed through addressing the different natures of both Victor and the Monster. Thus, the representation of Victor Frankenstein as science, and the Monster as nature, becomes more apparent to the concept of human nature for Victor, and the desire to be human by taking in natural human elements for the Monster.
Life and death is a very significant theme in the novel and is often put together or combined in a situation. Furthermore, both, Victor Frankenstein and his creation can be understood as educated characters, or at least as characters that undergo a process of education. But instead of embodying progress the two characters become involved in a life and death struggle. The issue of human nature is highly relevant in the novel as it puts science and nature as significantly dependent on each other, possessing one another, and provides the cradle which holds the indication about the powers of science against nature. However, science will not exist without nature, thus making the relationship interdependent. Shelley defined in the story that science and nature depend on each other in the way that it has a life and death relationship.
2 Science versus Nature
In the novel, Victor represents science as it relates to machinery and the use of technology to create a new being. The Monsters which he has created represents nature, wherein the natural elements of a person become more significant and more apparent. Victor in the novel works in a mechanical way, and thinks that science can provide the progression of humankind (Holmes 490). On the other hand, the Monster has become more human in the aspect that he relates well to human behavior by having feelings and emotions about his status not only in the society but by his being. In this representation found in Shelley’s novel, it becomes apparent that the human Victor has become the mechanical technology which is science, while the Monster has become the natural element of behavior, which indicates nature.
3 Victor Frankenstein: Misdirected Science
In this representation, it is readily defined that Shelley pursued the meaning of science and its disastrous effects when given too much priority rather than giving way to what is natural. Victor was a man of science, but he was so consumed with the concept of creating a live being through the means of science – through technology. The symbol of lightning, which gave the first spark of life to the Monster, has developed into something more sinister about Victor (Holmes 491).
As Victor represents science, his determination and will to improve a being which is not made through natural means make a forewarning about the events that will happen as the story progresses. As Richard Holmes (2016) asserted, the tone of the story has grown darker as Victor becomes more passionate and ambitious about his creation, and it points the misdirection of science (491).
The Monster, which has come to life, realized that the life he will is agonizing; he will become alienated because he is not the same as ordinary people. He is nature per se, knowing that the need to reach out to people is necessary to live a fulfilling life. It is through Victor’s misdirected ambition of using science that has led to the suffering of the Monster, which has become more compassionate to humans because he understood so well the difference he has with them (Holmes 491).
The idea of human nature is also defined in the novel through Victor’s behavior and his desire to challenge death by making life artificially. It is this competition against death that has misdirected science in Victor’s aim. He wanted to overtake God’s power by creating life. His nature then represents possession, anxiety, greed and supremacy against the natural law (Dominy & Yeakel 1). The rather tacit decision to create a Monster was Victor’s ultimate desire for sovereignty and thus contradicts nature itself. Ultimately Frankenstein creates a Monster that falls outside nature’s categories.
It is through this notion that Shelley seems to provide a warning about man’s ambition in relation to the use of science and scientific knowledge: That greed and the desire to be supreme are very significant nature of man that should be avoided when given the ability to have ultimate knowledge of science and the creation of life (Dominy & Yeakel 5; Holmes 492).
As an alchemist, Victor finds himself engulfed in the desire to challenge death by making a life. His ultimate weapon is science and his greed fed with the deaths of his parents and Elizabeth. From this perspective, it becomes apparent that Shelley wants to make sense of how human nature can use science to destroy the most significant natural laws as life and death (Chatelain & Slusser 169).