by Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein was way ahead of its time regarding the boundaries and crises in the scientific world it addresses. Although the book was published in the early 1800’s, many of the experiences and lessons displayed in Frankenstein still apply to the handling modern-day pioneering ideas and discoveries. The mistake that Dr. Victor Frankenstein made in completely abandoning and not taking any responsibility for the creature he created seems to be a warning directed at the future generations of science. Especially as science and technology continue to advance at a rapid pace, the value of responsibility for scientists and other progressors of innovation is ever so high in today’s society. Frankenstein conveys this point and shows how impactful Dr. Victor Frankenstein’s lack of ethics are on his society and life. Frankenstein is a book and lesson providing signs of caution towards future scientists.
Although Dr. Victor Frankenstein was a brilliant scientist who achieved a generational invention, he was not a good scientist in the large scheme of things. Mary Shelley uses Victor as an example to her audience of not to handle scientific discoveries. The thought process when it came to the interest of discovery was Victor’s first mistake. Victor was so excited and interested in getting to a final product that he did not think twice about the negative impact that a human-like being could inflict on himself or society. While the creature was originally benevolent and had a good heart, it could have ended up being an uncontrollable, lethal force. The message that Mary Shelley is showing with this mistake reflects the revolutionary scientific ideas that were wide-spread during this same time period. One of the core principles of the Scientific Revolution was the concept of the scientific method, which is a carefully designed, step by step process of experimentation. One can only assume that Mary Shelley, who wrote Frankenstein in the early 18th century, was influenced by the back-half of the Scientific Revolution period. Shelley applied this experimental logic to her story of Frankenstein to show that Victor was very careless in this process. Following Victor’s reckless process of invention where he gave little thought of the consequences of a successful experiment, he became afraid of his own creation and left the creature to be lonely. This was the second mistake that Victor made in his invention process. By abandoning the creature, Victor failed to take responsibility for what he thought was a dangerous invention and did not tell others about a possible dangerous creature roaming around. Victor is punished for this action by the creature, who kills his family members. The creature tells Victor he did so because Victor refused to build him a female companion and kept him miserable and lonely. While this punishment is extreme, it conveys a message to the audience that ethics and responsibility are vital in science in order to avoid disaster.
Looking at today’s society, ethics and responsibility seem to be a priority for scientists and innovators. However, the stakes are only getting higher as new technology, such as AI, is starting to be developed across the globe. For example, there are plenty of science fiction movies that play out a situation where everything goes wrong with AI, and the inventor/creator can not do much to stop it. This is why Shelley’s message of careful experimentation and planning in the process of invention is so important and strongly applies to today’s society. The lessons conveyed in Frankenstein will only get more significant as society advances and increases its involvement with technology.
Source:
Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. London: Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mayor, & Jones, 1818.