The Problems with Science

The Problems with Science

In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, the creature that Victor Frankenstein creates runs rampant and out of control, causing the deaths of six characters. The creation can be seen as a romantic rejection to the industrial revolution and multiple scientific innovations. The romantics were opposed to the idea of industrialization and the new direction the world was taking. Mary Shelley, who was a member of this ideology, was using the monster as a way to warn the rest of the world of the potential problems with the rapid advancement of science, and the pursuit of knowledge.

As a romantic, Mary Shelley dislikes the new need to learn as much as possible in a single lifetime. She believes that science should take a back seat to literature and art, so she devises the creature, to prove the major evils with science. As Frankenstein warns Robert Walton, “Or to what do your questions tend? Peace, peace! Learn my miseries, and do not seek to increase your own.” (146). After Frankenstein has narrated his tale to Walton, he learns about Walton’s reasons for being in the Arctic. When finding out they are for scientific reasons, Frankenstein adamantly says that he should not proceed. He realizes how dangerous knowledge pursuit can be, not only for the person in search, but all people in the world. His creature has become a murderous demon that is dangerous to all of mankind; he has gone above and beyond human control. Shelley, uses Victor’s handiwork to show that science is much too dangerous to be meddled with, and the knowledge that humans already posses is enough, there is no need for mores.

Science, though a major part of life in Mary Shelley’s time period, is something that Mary Shelley believes to be evil and unimportant in everyday life. “It was already one in the morning; the rain pattered dismally against the panes, my candle was nearly burnt out, when, by the glimmer of the half-extinguished light, I saw the dull yellow eye of the creature open; it breathed hard, and a convulsive motion agitated its limbs.” (34). Victor Frankenstein has completed the greatest scientific discovery; he has found the secret to creating and maintaining life. Along with this discovery he has created a tremendous evil, one that would murder someone without second thoughts. Though the achievement is so revolutionary, with it comes a great baggage that is not worth the breakthrough. Shelley uses the creature to show her dislike of science and everything that has been created. She feels as though science will be the end of human society, as she knows it, with so many things being thought of and designed, the world is being completely changed, and she is opposed.

As the creature tells his story, the reader sees how science can intrigue and