Examples Of Hubris In Frankenstein

Tresa Mappalakayil

Humanities 20

Jamie Good, Adrianne Dueck

21 February 2023

Hubris in Creation: A Study of Frankenstein Comparable to a buffalo running blindly towards a cliff, Victor Frankenstein pursues scientific discovery without realising that achieving it would lead to incomparable horror. Frankenstein is a testament to how quickly ambition can be corrupted. Through ventures into hubris and nemesis, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstien propounds the only legacy of pride and vicious ambition in the name of prestige is a miserable fragmentation into fear. When Victor Frankenstein attempts to attain academic glory by surpassing the known boundaries of science, he creates his nemesis, eventually leading to his downfall. In this way, Frankenstein

As Othello is plagued by jealousy and Prometheus by compassion, Victor Frankenstien is crippled by his own hamartia: hubris. Frankenstein’s hamartia lead the young scientist to “ become greater than his nature will allow”(Shelley 52). He dives into his studies, and quickly becomes enamoured with chemistry, a newly evolved form of alchemy. Alchemy is an primordial science which strives to obtain the elixir of life and the sorcerer’s stone. In the intermediary stages of its transition into what is now recognized as chemistry, questions of artificial or prolonged life became popular with the educated public. Frankenstein himself was fascinated with this concept, which may have provoked him into being the first to exploit its power. During his time as a young adult, he consistently dismissed the warnings of his father and his professors, and continued on his path to synthesise life in a textbook case of

The earliest mentions of hubris invoke “presumption toward the gods” (Hubris 1). Prometheus, the Greek Titan that sculpted humanity out of clay and gifted it with the power of fire, was punished for his hamartia by being chained to a rock with an eagle feasting on his liver day by day. Many parallels can be drawn between Prometheus and Victor Frankenstien, hence the alternative title of the novel, “The Modern Prometheus''. The key difference between these two endeavours is the motivation behind them. While Prometheus stole a lightning bolt from Zeus out of compassion for the struggling humans below, young Frankenstein strives to “[bestow] animation upon lifeless matter.” (Shelley 52) As he explored natural sciences at university, he quickly realised that he possessed the ability to synthesise his own version of humanity, and the opportunity became impossible to surrender. His hubris became blinding, causing him to charge towards the accomplishment of his dreams, whose true nature is revealed to be the subject of his