Frankenstein by Mary Shelley - Essay Example

?Frankenstein by Mary Shelley and the doctor assuming the role of God Human beings have perpetually been fascinated by the powers and strengths of God and the idea of playing God has occupied the minds of several men through the history of mankind. Man’s luring prospect of having power and control has led him to attempt to create life and assume the role of God, which several literary works have represented. Victor Frankenstein, in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein: Or, The Modern Prometheus (1818), reflects man’s never-ending endeavor to create life in an attempt to assume the role of God and he created life but in the form of a monster. Significantly, Victor assumes himself as God in an effort to gain the power and respect of God and he believes that his fate is to be divine creator in nature. “A new species would bless me as their creator and source: many happy and excellent natures would owe their being to me. No father could claim the gratitude of his child so completely as I should deserve theirs.” (Shelley, 58) Therefore, it is evident that there is an insatiable urge in Victor Frankenstein to assume the role of God and he is often criticized for crossing ethical and moral boundaries with the aim of achieving this goal. An understanding of his experiences with the monster in the novel confirms that his choice is executed with ill-intentions and questionable for ethical motives. This paper makes a reflective exploration of the idea that Victor was wrong in assuming the role of God. Assuming the role of God for the purpose of creating life is wrong, and such an endeavor led to the detriment of Dr. Frankenstein in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. A profound analysis of the theme of assuming the role of God in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein confirms that the major character, Dr. Frankenstein, has been highly obsessed the lure of creating life from his early childhood onwards. At his young age, Victor was fascinated by the wonders life offered him and he wanted to learn about all of them and he dedicated his time to exploring the realms of these wonders through the study of alchemy, chemistry, philosophy and human anatomy. As a youngster, Victor was obsessed with the power of knowledge and wished to find out the secrets of nature and its powers. “The most learned philosopher knew little more. He had partially unveiled the face of Nature, but her immortal lineaments were still a wonder and a mystery… I had gazed upon the fortifications and impediments that seemed to keep human beings from entering the citadel of nature, and rashly and ignorantly I had repined.” (47) Significantly, his obsession for knowledge led Victor to make a life-altering decision – the decision to create an animate being. After several years of labor – intensive work – stitching together different pieces of flesh into one being – Victor finally completed his task and created life. The outcome, however, was not the wonderful being he had hoped for, but rather a monstrous atrocity. He had created a fearsome and inhuman creature; he created a monster. Thus, Harold Bloom presents “Victor Frankenstein, in his act of creation, as being momentarily a moral idiot, like so many who have done his work after him… When the ‘dull yellow eye’ of his creature opens, this creator falls from the autonomy of a supreme artificer to the terror of a child of earth…” (Bloom, 6) Therefore, it is fundamental to maintain that Victor’s attempt to assume the role of God by creating a monster resulted in his ultimate detriment and tragedy in life. One of the essential factors about the character of Victor in the novel is that he is presented as a counterfeit of God and as a Faustian figure, rather than a Promethean one. Significantly, the intention of the protagonist in assuming the role of God in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein has not been one of serving the welfare of humanity, but rather to serve his egoistic motive of acquiring power and respect of his creation. In fact, the most fundamental irony of the novel Frankenstein: Or, The Modern Prometheus is that the author presents the protagonist not a Promethean figure, but as a Faustian one. As Joseph Arthur Soldati maintains, “despite the fact that the youthful Frankenstein aspired to benefit mankind through science… the more mature Frankenstein has none of the altruism of the mythic Prometheus. Indeed, Frankenstein is a counterfeit of god – his discovery of the secrets of life and, subsequently, his creation of an animate being are for the total enhancement of his ego.” (Soldati, 39) Therefore, it is essential to recognize that the protagonist of the novel was determined to pursue his evil motives with the assistance of science and discovery. In other words, Victor exhibits overbearing pride or presumption regarding his studies and work. Victor decides to go past the acceptable and morally correct human limits to obtain the secret of life – a secret that should only be known by God. He overestimated his intelligence and assumed that he could play the role of God and successfully create life. However, this did not turn out to be the case and his embarrassment about his creation is evident from the following words: “The form of the monster on whom I had bestowed existence was for ever before my eyes, and I raved incessantly concerning him.” (64) In a profound investigation of the themes of assuming the role of God in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, it becomes lucid that Victor Frankenstein has been in the effort of assuming the mantle of God, capturing the concept of ‘scientist as God’. Thus, he engages in an effort to mold a living being from inanimate things, especially the body parts of the dead. Here, he is closely assuming the biblical God as presented in Genesis who creates man out of clay. It may be maintained that Victor’s intention of creating a new species out of dead is to excel the role of God. Whereas the biblical God in Genesis created man from inanimate things like clay or mud, Victor Frankenstein purposefully attempts to excel the original creation of God, by renewing life from the dead bodies of human beings. Therefore, it is fundamental to recognize that Victor’s endeavor is not merely to enjoy the contentment of being creator, but also to outshine the biblical God by creating life out of the dead. “A new species would bless me as its creator and source; many happy and excellent natures would owe their being to me… Pursuing these reflections, I thought, that if I could bestow animation upon lifeless matter, I might in process of time (although I now found it impossible) renew life where death had apparently devoted the body to corruption.” (58) Therefore, it is essential to recognize that Victor Frankenstein was too ambitious and egotistic in attempting to create life out of dead and to excel even the biblical God of Genesis. Assuming the role of God for the purpose of creating life is wrong, but it becomes even more erroneous and untenable when one assumes it in order to be equal or excel the God, the creator of one’s own self. Any such attempt to assume the role of God should naturally bring about one’s own ultimate disaster and it is relatable here that such an endeavor led to the detriment of Dr. Frankenstein in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. It becomes especially comprehensible that life has become one of endless torment to Victor because he assumed the role of God without realizing the real greatness of the creator of humankind. It is due to his lack of knowledge about the true eminence of the creator of humankind that he deserts his creation, i.e. the monster. By attempting to assume and excel the role of God, Victor brought about his own downfall and the monster is able to make the distinction between the real God and the counterfeit role of God. “Victor’s creation learns about the greatness of the creator of humankind and that he never deserted his children, and he wonders why his own creator is so uncaring and absolutely not like the God the creation read about.” (Wolf, 14) Significantly, the ultimate tragedy and irony of the novel is presented by the novelist at the scene where the creation mourns over the dead-body of the creator. The novelist emphasizes the view that assuming the role of God for the purpose of creating life is wrong when she presents the monster standing close to the “lifeless form of his creator.” (186) It is also notable that the creature who survives his creator knows that Victor is his own victim. “‘That is also my victim!’ he exclaimed: ‘in his murder my crimes are consummated; the miserable series of my being is wound to its close! Oh, Frankenstein! generous and self-devoted being!” (186) In conclusion, a reflective analysis of Marry Shelley’s Frankenstein confirms the idea that Victor was wrong in assuming the role of God. Therefore, it is essential to emphasize that assuming the role of God for the purpose of creating life is wrong, and such an attempt led to the detriment of Dr. Frankenstein in the novel. The textual evidences from Shelley’s Frankenstein as well as the critical judgment from the review of scholarly literature on the topic support this claim. Through the protagonist’s life of endless torment, the novelist also underlies the fact it is wrong to assume the role of God and it remains one of the fundamental messages of the novel by Marry Shelley. Works Cited Bloom, Harold. “Introduction.” Bloom’s Modern Critical Interpretations: Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. New York: Infobase Publishing. 2006. P 6. Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft. Frankenstein, or, The modern Prometheus. Johanna M. Smith. (Ed). Boston: Palgrave Macmillan. 2000. P 58. Soldati, Joseph Arthur. Configurations of Faust: three studies in the Gothic (1798-1820). Ayer Publishing. 1980. P 39. Wolf, Nadine. Nature and Civilization in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. GRIN Verlag. 2007. P 14. Read More