The Role Of Ethical Decisions In Frankenstein

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, Frankenstein and his monster make many questionable decisions. It is controversial whether or not his decisions are moral. In one part of the book Frankenstein's monster informs Frankenstein about the events that followed his creation. The sorrowful tale, and threats of harming his loved ones convinced Frankenstein to agree to create a female monster companion, and in return the monsters would live isolated from humanity. Uneasiness about the monster following through with his promise, being unsure if the new monster would obey the promise, and in fear of them reproducing, Frankenstein broke his vow and did not create a female monster (Shelly 2014, P.104-107 & P.120-123). It was moral for Frankenstein to break

Utilitarianism is a moral theory that can be a guide in determining this. The theory explains that everyone is part of a larger social whole, and that when the whole benefits, so does each part of that whole. Each person values their own benefit, so therefore each person should do what benefits the whole (Singer 1972). It benefits each part of the whole because when all but one person in group of people are happy about a certain action, that one person is likely to become happy based on the others reactions, whereas if everyone was upset except one person, that one person is likely to become upset as well. This is shown in Frankenstein when people see the monster he created and get scared and act harshly towards it. This in turn makes the monster upset when he was just happy exploring, trying to ease his loneliness. The creation of a female monster would create a similar reaction of fear in those who witnessed the monster. Even though it may make the male monster happy for a short while if they ever came in contact with a person they would get bad reactions, which in turn would make them unhappy. This shows that when actions benefit one over the whole, it ends up not benefiting the one after