Frankenstein - A Moral Dilemma. Mary Shelley s Frankenstein is a story of moral obligations and scientific responsibility.

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1 Webb 1 Jessica Webb ENL3296-0W61 Kathleen Oliver April 24, 2013 Frankenstein - A Moral Dilemma Mary Shelley s Frankenstein is a story of moral obligations and scientific responsibility. Victor Frankenstein struggles throughout the novel with the dilemmas of what is scientifically possible and what is morally right. His duty to his creation is tested when the monster requests a female companion made in a similar way in which he was. Despite the noble words and promises of the monster, Victor must decide what the ultimate risk of another creation is and if his incredible feat in science is worth the lives of more innocent people beyond those he loves. When Victor Frankenstein first sets out to create life, it becomes quite obvious that he has not considered the consequences of such an endeavor. He works out of sheer inspiration and the hope of great success. After the sudden death of his beloved mother, Victor begins to crave the acquisition of knowledge (Shelley 30) with a dark desire to pioneer a new way, explore unknown powers, and unfold to the world the deepest mysteries of creation (Shelley 33). He has little concern for what might happen if he does indeed succeed at this. Victor acknowledges his intended work with an enthusiasm he has probably never felt before in his life. He says, Life and death appeared to me ideal bounds, which I should first break through, and pour a torrent of light into our dark world (Shelley 39). By this, we can see how excited he is by the mere idea of life and death, with the possibilities due to such work being unrivaled and invaluable. Before the actual experiment is complete, Victor s work seems to be full of promise and this gives him something to hope and strive for.

2 Webb 2 But after the creation of the unfortunate monster, Victor realizes the horror of his efforts. In fact, the majority of traumatic experiences that Victor faces occur after this moment. Paul Sherwin notes that Mary Shelley might well have titled her novel One Catastrophe after Another. For Frankenstein, who is dubiously in love with his own polymorphously disastrous history, the fateful event to which every other catastrophe is prelude or postscript is the creation (883). And at this point in the novel, although he is completely distraught and terrorized by the Creature s appearance and manner, Victor has not yet come to the conclusion that what he has done is immoral by the laws of nature. Life here is being made without a partner, without copulation, without sex. It certainly seems easier, but it is not right (Twitchell 59). So Victor simply chooses to ignore the matter entirely. Victor abandons his work, and the monster, and tries to act as if it had never occurred as he spends time at the college and accompanies Clerval. By the time that something terrible has happened due to the monster, it is too late and now Victor must finally confront his creation. After hearing the Creature s intriguing and sad childhood story, he blames Victor for the selfish manner in which he has treated him. Unfortunately for Victor, the Monster is right. He yells at Victor, Accursed creator! Why did you form a monster so hideous that even you turned from me in disgust? (Shelley 115) Victor, the parent of this creature, has abandoned his only child to fend for himself without proper guidance, leaving the Monster to come to the conclusion that he is different, that men are evil, and that Victor must hate him. He says, When I looked around I saw and heard of none like me. Was I, then, a monster, a blot upon the earth, from which all men fled and whom all men disowned? (Shelley 105) The Monster s sympathetic tale, along with Victor s shame and guilt, is most likely why Victor eventually agrees to the Monster s request for a female companion of the same species and [who has] the same defects (Shelley 129).

3 Webb 3 Thus begins a great debate between father and son, and within Victor himself, as to what is morally acceptable and what is not when it comes to human life. This moral dilemma brings Victor to a crossroads: Does he agree to the Monster s terms and create another being, or does he refuse and risk his own destruction? If he refuses, the Monster promises to make his life hell. He tells Victor, If I cannot inspire love, I will cause fear, and chiefly towards you my archenemy, because my creator, do I swear inextinguishable hatred I will work at your destruction, nor finish until I desolate your heart, so that you shall curse the hour of your birth (Shelley 131). Yet if he agrees, Victor will ultimately bring another monster into the world that has the potential to be worse than his original creation. Either way, Victor can only see death and destruction caused by these new life forms. The argument presented by the Monster is a just one, but also one out of pure desperation. His words are sympathetic to both Victor and us as readers because even if we may not fully understand his total isolation from the world, we as human beings understand the basic need to be with others of our own kind. We all crave love and acceptance from others. What the Monster wants is not so outrageous an idea but something that he says is reasonable and moderate (Shelley 131), and the fact that he goes to the one person who can accomplish this for him, his father and creator, proves that the Monster has at least some respect for Frankenstein and his work. By telling Victor of his observations of the De Lacey family, we become aware that this creature is more than just a horrible abomination of science. He has feelings and needs just like the rest of us. This appeals to Victor, the one person who could have helped guide him more steadily through life. Victor fears that the Monster s evilness will continue to live on, to which the Monster replies, I am malicious because I am miserable (Shelley 130). His words offer us insight into his sad world, and we recognize that his aggression is a byproduct of

4 Webb 4 disintegration, not an innate drive that has been cathartically unbound (Sherwin 890). Even while Victor has his reservations about a new creation, he can still feel compassion for his poor offspring, as he says, I was moved. I shuddered when I thought of the possible consequences of my consent, but I felt that there was some justice in his argument (Shelley 131). This justice to the Monster s argument is enough to make Victor forget the crimes the Monster has committed against William and Justine. Despite his appalling behavior and unnecessary murders, the Monster s case for a companion is valid, at least from his perspective and for a little while, even Victor s. Victor also has very valid reasons for not wanting to create another catastrophic being. He reflects on his conversation with the Monster, saying, I compassionated him and sometimes felt a wish to console him, but when I looked upon him, when I saw the filthy mass that moved and talked, my heart sickened and my feelings were altered to those of horror and hatred (Shelley 132). He is constantly torn by these feelings, although he does realize that he had no right to withhold from him the small portion of happiness which was yet in [Victor s] power to bestow (Shelley 132). Victor struggles between pity and hatred for the Monster, his inconsistency proving just how confused he is. He is angry over the Monster s unnatural and quick hatred towards others, his apparent evilness, and the fact that he turned out an ugly and horrific version of what he intended. He says to the Creature, Shall I create another like yourself, whose joint wickedness might desolate the world (Shelley 130). His primary fear of another monster is the very real potential that they might populate the world with a race of devils (Shelley 150). Victor s thoughts turn toward this female companion and the reasons for not making her particularly because of the potential threat she might be. As he remarks, She might become ten thousand times more malignant than her mate and delight, for its own sake, in

5 Webb 5 murder and wretchedness (Shelley 150). He also fears that she might turn with disgust from him to the superior beauty of man (Shelley 150), which in turn would provoke the Monster to destruction once again. Victor has strange relationships with women in this novel, particularly Elizabeth, his sister/cousin/wife who he rarely speaks to after he leaves for college until their wedding. Both Victor and the Monster show an avoidance of women and attempt to speculate how women will act and respond before they actually do (Davis 310). Victor seems to fear the female creation more than the male, which reveals much about Victor s character and explains the fact that he puts off his wedding with Elizabeth, yet clings to the friendship of Clerval. He also seems more distressed by Clerval s death than Elizabeth s. This strangeness towards women can be expressed through the Monster himself, as he embodies in giant and more explicit form the misogyny at the root of Victor s behavior (Davis 310). Victor assumes that the female creation will outdo its male counterpart, with a far greater capacity for evil than men (Davis 310), but it is the possibility that his female monster might reproduce [that] moves Victor to destroy her (Davis 311). Victor wonders to himself if he has the right to inflict this curse upon everlasting generations (Shelley ), although he barely remembers the basic rights that should be allowed to his creation. He believes that the monsters offspring would make the very existence of the species of man a condition precarious and full of terror (Shelley 150), assuming that the two could even have children. The Monster has promised to live far away from men, but Victor does not believe this will last and regrets the promise he has made to work on a companion. After much debate within himself, he tears the female apart in a rage before he finishes (Shelley 151). It is interesting to note how Frankenstein destroys the Monster s intended companion just at the moment she was to come to life; so, too, does the Monster murder Victor s fiancé, Elizabeth, on the evening their conjugal life together was to begin (Davis 310).

6 Webb 6 Before this happens, he reflects on his first experiment, where a kind of enthusiastic frenzy had blinded [him] to the horror of [his] employment (Shelley 149). But as he works on the second, he felt as if a film had been taken from before [his] eyes and for the first time saw clearly (Shelley 155). He calls his work an act of the basest and most atrocious selfishness (Shelley 155), and finally realizes that his work is not worth the risk of injustice that could potentially be inflicted upon innocent people. As noble as the Monster s words were intended to be, Victor cannot bring himself to complete his task, no matter the consequences to himself and his family. For the first time, Victor is taking responsibility for his actions and reckless endeavors in science. In the end, I believe that Victor s decision to destroy his second creation is the best option. Although it costs Victor everything, he has redeemed himself by realizing the mistake of defying nature to begin with. He knows that he runs the risk of terrorizing mankind and cannot bring himself to do that. Since Victor is already very much the victim of his own work, his fate has already been sealed as it is tied to his creature. The Monster s argument for a mate may be sympathetic and may in fact be more persuasive than Victor s reasons not to create it, but it does not make him right. Victor tells the Monster, Your threats cannot move me to do an act of wickedness; but they confirm me in a determination of not creating you a companion in vice (Shelley 152). By this vow, Victor has finally reasoned with himself what is morally right and has forever saved the world from more potential destruction. Although his incredible work will be forsaken, Victor has finally chosen the path to righteousness.

7 Webb 7 Works Cited Davis, James P. "Frankenstein And The Subversion Of The Masculine Voice." Women's Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal 21.3 (1992): MLA International Bibliography. Web. 17 Apr Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. New York, NY: Bantam Books, Print. Sherwin, Paul. "Frankenstein: Creation as Catastrophe." PMLA (1981): Web. 17 Apr < Twitchell, James B. ""Frankenstein" and the Anatomy of Horror." Georgia Review (1983): Web. 17 Apr <