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Frankenstein And The Birthmark Analysis

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As Maya Angelou once said “In diversity there is beauty and there is strength.” Though diversity exists in the world today, that could diminish due to the downfalls caused by human cloning. There may be controversy surrounding human cloning, but the consequences will desolate society if the issues with it are not addressed. In Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, a scientist obsessed with life animates a creature who becomes evil from society treatment. Moreover, in “The Birthmark,” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, a newly married scientist becomes obsessed with a hand shaped birthmark on his wife’s cheek, which leads him to attempt to remove it but to no avail, as he ends up killing her. Both works emphasize how certain unregulated science can end in misery. …show more content…

Many believe cloning is a perversion of science, and some are even concerned with a real life Frankenstein situation: “Reproductive cloning… could lead to a Dr. Frankenstein’s vision of lab manufactured humans. To me this is a perversion of science” (Ford 1). Furthermore, in Frankenstein, Dr. Frankenstein detached from the world as he became obsessed with his studies, diminishing his health. A similar thing could happen to scientists who clone if they decide that they are “playing god,” which can be dangerous for the scientists and the clones. Cloning is so controversial and causes an overbearing amount of stress for it to be befitting to the human mind, as Victor Frankenstein puts it, “If the study to which you apply yourself has a tendency to weaken your affections, and to destroy… those simple pleasures in which no alloy can possibly mix, then that study is certainly unlawful… not befitting of the human minds” (Shelley 50). That power trip in humans can lead to an unhealthy obsession. Scientist who create clones will have too much power, which will lead to them becoming so obsessed with their work that that is all they care about. In “The Birthmark,” Aylmer became obsessed with just the slightest flaw in a perfect woman, to the point where “when they sat together at the evening hearth his eyes wandered stealthily to her cheek…” (Hawthorne 2). Even when Aylmer was sitting, enjoying time with his wife, he was thinking about the birthmark. Also, the consequences of these obsessions can be fatal, like in “The Birthmark,” proving once again that some science can be unbefitting of

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