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Playing God In Mary Shelly's Frankenstein

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In today’s world science and technology has caused a big concern over the topic of people playing God and the negative results from it. Bio-Engineering, Cloning, and Genetically modified organisms are examples of fields in which humans are exponentially accelerating in. This is causing humans to lose faith in religion and turn towards science for answers. Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein is about a mad scientist that creates a grotesque monster who is full of life and shares human traits. Over time the monster learns how to think abstractly and speaks English fluently. This proves too much for Victor Frankenstein when the monster kills three of his family members, and two of his dear friends. After this, Frankenstein swears revenge on the monster and spends his life trying to kill him. Despite his flaws Shelly gives the reader an insight of Frankenstein’s …show more content…

This is similar to how God delivers divine retribution to his creation. This is all in vain when Victor dies after a miserable life of guilt, shame, paranoia, and tragedy. After spending so much time learning the secret to life, Victor spends a lot of time trying to destroy the very thing that he creates. Shelly does this to inform the reader that some mysteries are not worth pursuing.
Frankenstein punishes himself, his family and his consciousness suffered because of his arrogance of trying to have the power of God. The consequences of playing God is the cost of human life, even though Victor gave life to one creature, he is responsible for the deaths of five. Victor’s fruitless attempt at being God cost him his family, happiness, and himself. Even though Victor had not planned for it to happen this way, the results speak for themselves. Playing God leads to destruction and has consequences. Shelly’s purpose of writing the novel is to show that the mystery of life should be a left

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734 Words | 3 Pages

The creature toughly discovers the world on his own and declares war on humanity. Frankenstein’s act as God conducts his life and his creation’s into a series of terrific events. As the novel progresses, Victor and his monster vie for the role or protagonist. At simple site, readers think the monster and Victor are two completely different people, but in fact they share the same desires. The creature ironically becomes Victor’s doppelganger by both wanting affection, their miseries and hate for each other.

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680 Words | 3 Pages

“... weren’t exactly moral objections to scientists acting as God. Instead, they echoed those of the secular public; namely, they feared possible negative effects from creating new human traits or new species. In other words, the religious leaders who called recombinant DNA tools “playing God” wanted precautions taken against bad consequences” (Venkataraman). Analysis: The only resemblance between God and Dr. Frankenstein is that they are both creators, other than that we see Frankenstein's failure which warns anyone attempting to be God and its consequences.

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814 Words | 4 Pages

Nobody denies that Victor has been harboring an obvious hatred toward the creation since the very beginning of its’ short life. He curses and abandons this new being that has absolutely no moral compass whatsoever; he should have expected that the creation would do something without fully understanding the moral wrongness of his actions. When Victor becomes face to face with his monster again he states: “Begone! I will not hear you.

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738 Words | 3 Pages

Moments, when characters have a sudden change in attitude, can be found often throughout Frankenstein, but it is prominent during Walton’s last letter to his sister as he tells of meeting the monster. The monster mentions his past concerning Victor Frankenstein and that his feelings were “forever ardent and craving; still [it] desired love and fellowship, and [it] was spurned…” (Shelley 211). While the monster recognizes his desire for love, he then contradicts that desire by stating that “[Frankenstein’s] abhorrence cannot equal that with which [it regarded itself]” (Shelley 212). The monster’s growing internal conflict through the novel between his desire to be accepted and his knowledge of being different is what causes him to be a dynamic character.

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533 Words | 3 Pages

This decision is the first reason Victor should be held responsible for the murders of his family and friends. On page 35, the text says, “I saw the dull yellow eye of the creature open; it breathed hard, and a convulsive motion agitated its limbs.” (Shelley) If Victor had not given the creature life, then it would not have been able to murder anyone. He let his ambition impede his common sense.

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596 Words | 3 Pages

Finally, Victor shatters his life when he ultimately causes his own death. As a result of his mind being consumed with grief and revenge, he becomes morose, melancholy, and eventually lifeless. Victor allows the monster to rummage his head, and he permits his creation to drive him crazy; consequently, he slowly kills

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1134 Words | 5 Pages

He failed his parental duty to take care of his child and his needs and as a result he got Elizabeth killed. Finally, Victor learns that he has been in the wrong the entire time so he pledges to end his creation even if its the death of him. “I, who irretrievably destroyed thee by destroying all thou lovedst. Alas! He is cold, he cannot answer me” (237).

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650 Words | 3 Pages

learning language at a young age is crucial for social development and learning and becomes vital later on in terms of forming romantic bonds. In Shelly’s Frankenstein, the value of language and communication is emphasized through the storytelling of the monstrous creation. Frankenstein’s monster is forced through the motions of childhood quite rapidly and is required to adapt to the hostile environment that he was thrust in. The monster’s first interaction with mankind occurs without the ability to communicate and results in physical violence. The monster then encounters a family which he observes in secret and deduces the humans method of verbal communication.

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757 Words | 4 Pages

To fear and respect God is one of the foundational outcomes we strive to acquire by the time we graduate. In Frankenstein by Marry Shelley one of the aspects of the “portrait of a PCA graduate” is to fear and respect God. This characteristic is how not how Frankenstein thinks he needs to fear and respect God. In my readings of Frankenstein he never really grasps the concept of God and he only wants to emulate God. I’ve realized that we need to fear God in a manner of reverence and we should have total and complete respect for God.

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797 Words | 4 Pages

It is another liability that he brought onto himself. First, Victor, being a scientist, should have been aware of the precautions of creating a new life. He did not think of the aftermath that the monster might create. For example, it is stated, “The death of William, the execution of Justine, the murder of Clerval, and lastly of my wife… my father… he died in my arms” (87). Additionally, everyone that Victor ever cared about or loved died because of the creature murdering them.

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545 Words | 3 Pages

One might believe, Mary Shelley is casting doubt on God and the power of religion, in her novel, Frankenstein. That by showing a man creating life, automatically eliminates the existence of God. However, there are contents in the novel, in which she gives credence to the existence of a God. Therefore, Mary Shelley is not casting doubt on God or the power of religion but rather supports it.

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1921 Words | 8 Pages

Such passion is seen in Victor’s ‘noble intent’ to design a being that could contribute to society, but he had overextended himself, falling under the spell of playing ‘God,’ further digging his grave as he is blinded by glory. His creation – aptly called monstrous being due to its stature, appearance, and strength – proved to be more of a pure and intellectually disposed ‘child’ that moves throughout the novel as a mere oddity, given the short end of the stick in relation to a lack of familial figures within his life, especially that of parents. Clearly, Victor Frankenstein had sealed his fate: by playing God he was losing his humanity, ultimately becoming the manifestation of Mary Shelley’s hidden desires, deteriorating into The Lucifer Principle by which the author Howard Bloom notes social groups, not individuals, as the primary “unit of selection” in human psychological

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656 Words | 3 Pages

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley is a gothic novel that tells the story of scientist, Victor Frankenstein, and his obsession with creating human life. This leads him to creating a gruesome monster made of body-parts stolen from grave yards, whom upon discovering his hideousness, the monster seeks revenge against his creator, causing Victor to regret the creation of his monster for the rest of his life. Shelley uses the literary elements of personification, imagery, and similes to give a vivid sense and visualization of Victor Frankenstein’s thoughts and feelings as well as to allow us to delve deeper into the monster’s actions and emotions. Throughout the novel, Shelley uses personification of various forces and objects to reflect the effect in Victor’s actions.

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790 Words | 4 Pages

In this, Victor brought up things that no mortal should know about, such as: cloning, stem cell research, and IVFs. Examples of these were shown when the author states, “It was the secrets of heaven and earth that I desired to learn… my inquiries were directed to the metaphysical… the physical secrets of the world” (43). Victor is knowingly tampering with knowledge that is essentially too great for man. He is also essentially trying to be like God, which is the original sin, and as a result, he is put in eternal despair.

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883 Words | 4 Pages

The knowledge possessed by human beings is the one that is destroying them. The incorporation of science and technology has recently led to inventions that and creation of robots and genetically modified animals. Some of the animals created to turn out to be hazardous, and they attack and even kill their creators and other innocent creatures. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein story had covered all these evils and their possible

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