Ambition In Frankenstein Research Paper

The Representation of Ambition and its Consequences in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus (1818). What could go wrong if we put together science and ambition? According to Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus, a lot. Its main character, Victor Frankenstein, is a brilliant but arrogant and ambitious young man. The conflict in the novel is unleashed precisely because he decides to use the scientific knowledge acquired at university in a brilliant but irresponsible way, by manufacturing a humanoid body from fragments of dead humans and bringing it to life. This way, he creates a creature of human appearance but of monstrous and unnatural origins, with terrible consequences for himself and others. The

Secondly, Frankenstein’s ambition leads him to pretend to behave as God, that is, to use his scientific knowledge to imitate God in regards to the possibility of creating living beings. This comparison between God and Victor Frankenstein as creators of living beings is mentioned many times by the monster himself, who refers to him as “his creator” and to himself as an “Adam”: “Remember that I am thy creature; I ought to be thy Adam, but I am rather the fallen angel, whom thou drivest from joy for no misdeed.” (Shelley, 2008, p. 69). Frankenstein also had envisioned himself as a creator and source of life: “A new species would bless me as its creator and source; many happy and excellent natures would owe their being to me. No father could claim the gratitude of his child so completely as I should deserve theirs.” (Shelley, 2008, p. 35). Also in connection with the biblical story of Genesis, the monster implores Frankenstein to create a female companion for him, in the same way that God created Eve to keep Adam company: You must create a female for me with whom I can live in the interchange of those sympathies necessary for my

143) In the case of Prometheus, his impulsive and irresponsible actions brought disastrous consequences for himself, as Zeus sent him to the Caucasus, where he was deemed to be forever chained to a rock. An eagle would then approach him to eat his liver during the day, which would grow back overnight, only for the eagle to come eat it the following day. Frankenstein, by defying the laws of nature, also suffered consequences that made his life miserable: he was subject to the punishment of the monster, who was determined to deprive him from his loved ones in retaliation for denying him a companion. In sum, it is possible to conclude that the references in the novel to alchemy, the idea of God in the Genesis, and the myth of Prometheus serve the purpose of depicting Victor Frankenstein’s ambitious character, and ultimately, to prove that science can lead to disastrous results when driven by ambition and not by the attempt of making a constructive contribution to humanity. Both Frankenstein and the alchemists were enthusiastic and ambitious about the possibility of transforming certain matter into something else through scientific experimentation. Also driven by ambition, Frankenstein used science to “play God” by creating a monstrous