In “Frankenstein,” by Mary Shelley, the concept of ethics unifies Victor Frankenstein and Asimov’s three laws. Mary Shelley invites the reader to question Victor’s ethics in a variety of ways. The concept of ethics and the idea of “playing God” seems to come up numerous times in the novel. One main idea that stems from this idea of ethics when creating a being is detailed in a thesis, “The Frankenstein Complex and Asimov’s Three Laws” by Lee McCauley. He explores the idea that whenever humans create artificial intelligence they must serve an ethical duty to protect people and follow Asimov’s Three Laws. “This fear of man broaching, through technology, into God’s realm and being unable to control his own creations is referred to as the “Frankenstein Complex” by Isaac Asimov” (McCauley). These …show more content…
Many of the choices that Victor makes throughout the novel can be viewed as unethical. Victor consistently breaks all of Asimov’s three laws, which are widely accepted throughout the study of artificial intelligence and human creation. Asimov’s three laws and “The Frankenstein Complex” have roots going as far back as the 1920’s. However, in 1942 Isaac Asimov clearly outlined these laws in his short story “Runaround”. (Jones) Asimov’s first law states “A [creation] may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.” (Three laws of Robotics) Victor consistently breaks this law throughout the novel. He initially abandons his creation without any knowledge of the outside world, and lets it roam freely. He does not even think about finding the creation or taking accountability for its actions. He was solely infatuated with the idea of creating this being and never thought of the repercussions his actions would have. “Nor could I consider the magnitude and complexity of my plan as any argument of its impracticability. It was with these feelings that I began the creation of a human
In the novel, Frankenstein, written by Mary Shelley, Victor and the Creature are the main references when it comes to the issues of morality. Several themes such as good versus evil, prejudice, and ambition & fallibility, the importance of friendship along with references to other famous texts like the Christian bible are manifested through the use of Victor and the Creature as they interact with each other allowing readers to construe examples of morality. Many debaters may argue the Creature is “evil” since a majority of his actions harm others while Victor is good because he was the victim and seeks to destroy his creation. However, one may counter this argument if they accentuate Victor is evil since he was the Creature’s creator,
In Chapters 5-10, Victor Frankenstein has just finished his “creation” and is bringing the monster to life. In the beginning of chapter five he is horrified and disgusted by what he has created that he storms out of the room and collapses in his bed room. He tries for a few moments to sleep and eventually he does, but he has a nightmare where he kisses Elizabeth and when he pulls aways he sees the corpse of his dead mother and the worms inside of her body. “I had worked hard for nearly two years, for the sole purpose of infusing life into an inanimate body.
In the novel, Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, the two main characters, Victor Frankenstein and his creature, both display a sense of moral ambiguity. Each character has committed both good and evil alike, and neither knew the consequences of what they had done. However, Victor Frankenstein is generally the morally ambiguous character by his treatment of his creation and his own imperious personality. He wanted to be able to help science by recreating life or bringing it back, but at the same time, he did not want to consider the consequences of doing so. Victor tries to prove himself as a good moral character in the relationship between his creation and himself.
In Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, it scrutinizes the punishments when a man creates life, and plays the role of God. Victor Frankenstein, is at fault for the creature’s actions. Victor was looking for some honor and triumph, but when he accomplished his experiment, not only did it bring terror to Victor, but to the whole world. The monster never learned right from wrong and was never raised correctly, his first moment of life, all he experienced was the fear in Victor's emotion, and was abandoned right from the start. Victor selfishly isolated himself from society and ran away from his responsibilities which caused destruction to the people Victor cared for and loved deeply.
Frankenstein: From Benevolent to Feind “I was benevolent and good; misery made me a fiend.” (Shelley 69) Said by Frankenstein’s monster, this quote truly defines him: initially an affectionate, love-seeking creature, he transformed into an enraged killer, angry at humanity for the undeservedly poor way he was treated. Victor Frankenstein is an unique, complex individual who encounters a similar change of nature for similar reasons. The quote—though spoken by the monster—encapsulates the evolution of Victor Frankenstein’s personality; misery—a product of isolation and loneliness—aroused a deterioration of temperament from an initially benevolent Frankenstein.
In reality, he is disgusted by the sight of his creation so he abandons it leaving it all alone in the world without any guidance and runs away to the next room. Victor himself suffered from being a social outcast and now he bestowed the same feeling onto the creature by abandoning him. By treating the creature as an outcast, “he will become wicked … divide him, a social being, from society, and you impose upon him the irresistible obligations—malevolence and selfishness” (Caldwell). Not only is Victor selfish for abandoning his creature but he is shallow as well. Instead of realizing that he achieved his goal of bringing life to an inanimate body he runs way because of how hideous it is.
In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein brings his creation to life and has to endure the repercussions of his actions. While Victor is in fact human, the question of whether the creature or Victor is more human still stands. Humanity is demonstrated as compassionate in the book and monstrosity is the opposite. The creature is more human because of his developed personality and desire to be human. Victor, although born into a humane family, evolved into everything bad about humanity; he developed obsession, resentment, and manipulated life to conform to his idealities.
The moment Victor Frankenstein successfully infuses life into his creation he is overcome with horror and disgust. Without further examination he is certain to have created a monster, not a human being (Shelley 35-36). However, despite his grotesque appearance, Frankenstein’s creature was not born malicious. During the first stages of his existence, unbeknownst to Frankenstein himself, his acts are motivated by innocence and virtue, which even earns him the title “good spirit” (79). Frankenstein did not create a monster.
Victor would stop at nothing to finish his project and became so obsessed that he was isolated from his family and friends. His way of collecting lifeless matter for his creation is unethical and morally wrong. Eventually, he is punished for his actions: “I had worked hard for nearly two years, for the sole purpose of infusing life into an inanimate body.” (pg.56) Additionally, extreme devotion to the building of his creation caused Victor mental distress due to the fact that he neglected his own needs in order to work exclusively on the creature: “I had deprived myself of rest and health.”
Dr. Frankenstein is the clear example of men playing with nature and then terrible consequences came into place. Dr. Frankenstein’s creation is a monster that looks hideous, ignorant, but at least knows what scares him and what makes him feel joy and blissful. The creature expresses horror just by looking at him and his arbitrary actions, but behind what his actions, the spectators know the real truth of why the creature acts like that. The creature inspires sympathy, since his creator abandons him, and society would never accept him. In that way, mankind shows themselves as the ones who treat those who are different in a poor way.
Responsibility is the state or fact of having a duty to deal with something or of having control over someone. In the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, the reader finds many examples of the importance, need, and especially lack of responsibility with characters like Victor and the monster. A reader of Frankenstein sees multifarious examples of Shelley’s theme of the dangers in not taking responsibility even today in the real world. In the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, Shelley’s portrayal of Victor as selfish suggests that not taking responsibility can lead to pain, death, and the suffering of others as we see in the novel which relates to today's society of powerful countries not taking responsibility for the weapons that they create, and the damage that is revealed as a result. Characters in Frankenstein not taking responsibility show the reader the potential dangers of pain and death in numerous situations in the novel.
This much is true for Victor’s failure to take responsibility for not only teaching his creation about life but also failure to take responsibility for the actions of his creation. “Frankenstein! You belong then to my enemy… you shall be my first victim” (153). Victor’s knows that he is responsible for the death of William because he abandoned his creation and made the monster learn the hard way that he would not be accepted into society. But he has no choice but to let Justine take the fall for the death of his brother because he fears being seen as a madman.
The misuse of knowlege he gains is trying to create life. Victor should not interefere with nature. Creating life from Victor leads to a tragedy, due to the abomination le let choose on the world. Interefering with nature always tries to create balance, in this case Victor's creation led to the fall of lis family. Victor's knowledge was dangerous because the outcome led to mejor destructions.
The adaption from book to film is a hard fraught translation, in which many themes and fundamental ideas can be lost. This is apparent in the adaption of Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein into the 1931 film directed by James Whale of the same title. While the two stories are of the same premise, they are fundamentally different in later story elements, ideas, and themes. Even though the film inspires horror and intrigue like its novel counterpart, it lacks the complex moral arguments and depth of the book it is based upon. Whale’s Frankenstein ultimately fails as an adaptation of Mary Shelly’s work, because the removal of the narration and moral conflict present in the novel, which causes the film to lack overall emotional depth.
The basis of the article includes the two opposing attitudes in the characters, Walton and Victor, in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. The differing beliefs are Free Will and Fate; Walton believing in free will and Victor in fate. John Reed’s article, “Will and Fate in Frankenstein”, argues the true theme of the novel, not just being of human will, but rather about self-enslavement. Reed believes that “while its ostensible subject is the pursuit of knowledge, its real concern is human ignorance and folly”, meaning that Frankenstein is full of oblivious human impulses. Through Walton, Victor, and the Monster Reed explains his thesis not through mere plot summary, but uses of allusions made, evidence, and character analysis producing his argument thoroughly.