Frankenstein Nature Of Consciousness Analysis

Frankenstein and the Nature of Consciousness

The question of what true nature may underlie humanity has sparked discussion amongst philosophers and thinkers across millennia. The human experience—the sensation of consciousness, memory, and forethought, the perception of qualia like color and taste, and our species’ remarkable language and tool-making abilities—is an enigma that has proved near-impossible to untangle, as we are constantly ensconced in it. With the advent of objectivity, the release from our inherently subjective perceptions, we might be able to chart the path between inert matter and a fully realized human being. However, trapped in our minds and bodies as we are, we remain lost in the labyrinth. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein

In a letter to his sister Mary, Arctic explorer Robert Walton muses, “Even broken in spirit as he is, no one can feel more deeply than he does the beauties of nature. The starry sky, the sea, and every sight afforded by these wonderful regions, seems still to have the power of elevating his soul from earth. Such a man has a double existence: he may suffer misery, and be overwhelmed by disappointments; yet, when he has retired into himself, he will be like a celestial spirit that has a halo around him, within whose circle no grief or folly ventures.” Walton, like Frankenstein, possesses an intense desire to survey the unknown and open up new realms of human knowledge. His passion, however, is rooted in a sense of reverie and awe at the wonder of the world and the beatific spirituality of mankind. Walton’s invocation of the haloed “celestial spirit” is evidence for his romantic and reverent outlook on humanity. To him, we are fundamentally divine, much more than flesh and blood. Later, he writes that, “There is something at work in my soul, which I do not understand” (Shelley). The ways of God and the functioning of the mind are thus left inscrutable to Walton; however, he is not paralyzed by existential dread. Rather, he accepts on faith that there is a divide order in the world, and that he is part of something