Frankenstein by Mary Shelley Pursuit of Rationalism

¶ … Frankenstein" by Mary Shelley

Pursuit of rationalism and science at the expense of humanism: Analysis of "Frankenstein" by Mary Shelley

Since its inception in 1818, the novel "Frankenstein" had radically altered the horror genre of literature, for it introduced the horrors of humanity as a result of using science to attain power and control beyond humanity's capabilities -- that is, humans creating humans through scientific, not natural, production. Author Mary Shelley had introduced the theme of humanity's pursuit of rationalism and science to illustrate the state of society as she experienced it in 19th century: a society that was gradually becoming more rationalist, scientific, and objective to society's concerns and issues.

Evidently, "Frankenstein" is a novel that depicted the opposing nature of science and humanism. The characters of Victor Frankenstein and his creation, the Creature, represented science's objectiveness and detachment from human values and morals; however, Frankenstein's transition to being a humane individual once more towards the end of the novel showed Shelley's objective to illustrate humanism as most important to humanity. Cultivating a humane and moral society, for Shelley, was most important than the social and intellectual progresses associated with science.

It is thus this paper's objective to discuss and illustrate in the novel "Frankenstein" the theme of society's pursuit for science and objectivism at the expense of humanism (human-based morality). This paper reflects how objectivism resulted to the Creature, Frankenstein's creation made possible through science, and its wrath against humanity. In effect, the Creature's lack of morality and inability to experience emotions reflects science's limits in influencing and affecting human life, particularly humanity's standards of morality.

The theme of science vs. humanism was evident in the transitional phases that Frankenstein had in the novel. These two phases were identified as follows: (1) the first transitional phase was his change from being a humanist (lover of arts) to a man of science and (2) his eventual conversion to being humane again after realizing how morally wrong he had been in creating the Creature.

The first transitional phase showed Frankenstein as a lover of arts who became obsessed in attaining power over humanity by creating a human through scientific experiment. As a lover of arts, Frankenstein had displayed interest in the languages and various human cultures. As a student, he had shown aptitude for exploring cultures other than his own, and had shown delight in his discoveries of the different nature of other people's cultures, and this became evident in his admiration for Clerval (53-4):

The Persian, Arabic, and Sanskrit languages engaged his attention, and I was easily induced to enter on the same studies. Idleness had ever been irksome to me, and now that I wished to fly from reflection and hated my former studies ... Their melancholy is soothing, and their joy elevating, to a degree I never experienced in studying the authors of any other country ... How different from the manly and heroical poetry of Greece and Rome!

This passage reflects Frankenstein's outburst of emotion while expressing his admiration for the arts. At this stage, he still regarded the arts as the primary venue for human expression and attaining power, illustrating how, subsisting to the arts, his sense of morality and appreciation of human and nature remained intact.

However, his disillusionment about the inability of the arts to bring about a true sense of power and control made Frankenstein shift his studies on the sciences. Through science, he became a different individual, who favored isolation and detachment as opposed to his previous love for humanity and its natural creations. Influenced by the works and lectures of Waldman and Krempe, Frankenstein endeavored to further his studies on natural science, including its methods. More specifically interested in the study of human life, he tried to discover and determine the origin and cycle of human life, stating, " ... I often asked myself, did the principle of life proceed?...I determined thenceforth to apply myself more particularly to those branches of natural philosophy which relate to physiology" (36). This stage marked the accomplishment of Frankenstein's transition, for he had become detached to his society, in fact, to any creation that has to do with humanity and nature, and became engrossed with his experiment to bring about human life from sheer scientific experimentation.

Frankenstein's first transitional phase is best explicated as "Shelley's successful attempt to humanize the monster and demonize its creator ... By paralleling their emotional experiences" (Coleman, 1991:22). His creation of the Creature embodied humanity for it became able to experience loneliness and suffering despite Frankenstein's inability to create a monster who is capable of feeling like a human. The lack of acceptance that the Creature received not only from society, but also from his creator (Frankenstein) allowed it to feel suffering just like humanity does. Thus, Frankenstein became all the more an individual who has lost his sense of morality because he was able to create the Creature despite the reality that, as an unnatural product of science, he will not be accepted by human society at all. His inability to empathize with the Creature's loneliness and suffering showed his failure to become humane for its plight.