Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein was greatly influenced by the Romantic Era and the science practiced during this time period. Occurring in the late 1700’s and the first half of the 1800’s, the Romantic Era was very diverse and robust in terms of interest in science and development of new theories and concepts. Romantic science emphasized a positive interaction between science and nature and criticized earlier Enlightenment efforts that exploited nature while searching for knowledge. Questioning the status quo in the scientific realm provoked controversies. Two major scientific movements are the concepts of Galvanism, which argued that electricity could cause an organism’s muscles to contract, and Vitalism, which argued that there was another force
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This obsession with manipulating death and life through science led to anatomy theaters becoming a source of entertainment, as death and gore became less shocking. There was also a significant increase in grave-robberies to satisfy the scientific demand for corpses. As a result of these exploitations, society debated scientific responsibility and the role of scientists. Such debates took place in works of literature. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is a negative commentary on the role of science and its cruel practices during the Romantic Era. During the Romantic Era, the theories of Galvanism and Vitalism played a prominent role in science. Whereas Galvanism is the concept that the application of electricity to the muscles can cause them to move, Vitalism views the human body as having more than the scientific forces. Luigi Galvani, an Italian man of science, proposed this revolutionary concept. He had entered the sciences as a “spiritual mission in the art of healing the sick” (Cajavilca 159). Later, Galvani participated in various dissections, which created a fascination for the body, and also learned about the Hallerian concept of irritability. …show more content…
Science became not an art or a respectable field, but rather an abuser of both human dignity and nature. Many scientists were blinded to the horrors and evilness of their experiments by their quest for knowledge. For example, Giovani Aldi, the nephew of Luigi Galvani, once sought to resuscitate the corpse of a recently executed prisoner. Not only did this experiment violate the dignity that any corpse deserves to be treated with, but it was also a very grotesque and frightening experiment. An eyewitness account stated that during the experiment, the “muscles were horribly contorted, and the left eye actually opened…fists clenched and beat violently the table” (Oakes 63). This was a direct intrusion by science into the sacredness of the human body. Similarly, yet to a lesser degree of inhumanity, various London doctors, especially William Hawes, experimented revival methods on recently drowned victims. These doctors had a substantial supply of fresh corpses as most resided by the river Thames. Without shame and without respect for the victim, these men of science attempted to resuscitate bodies by using techniques such as inserting tobacco smoke into the body from the posterior end. As more cruel experiments on the human body were performed, the demand for corpses increased exponentially. For instance, a scientist known as Bichat once admitted to having “used
This obsession with manipulating death and life through science led to anatomy theaters becoming a source of entertainment, as death and gore became less shocking. There was also a significant increase in grave-robberies to satisfy the scientific demand for corpses. As a result of these exploitations, society debated scientific responsibility and the role of scientists. Such debates took place in works of literature. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is a negative commentary on the role of science and its cruel practices during the Romantic Era. During the Romantic Era, the theories of Galvanism and Vitalism played a prominent role in science. Whereas Galvanism is the concept that the application of electricity to the muscles can cause them to move, Vitalism views the human body as having more than the scientific forces. Luigi Galvani, an Italian man of science, proposed this revolutionary concept. He had entered the sciences as a “spiritual mission in the art of healing the sick” (Cajavilca 159). Later, Galvani participated in various dissections, which created a fascination for the body, and also learned about the Hallerian concept of irritability. …show more content…
Science became not an art or a respectable field, but rather an abuser of both human dignity and nature. Many scientists were blinded to the horrors and evilness of their experiments by their quest for knowledge. For example, Giovani Aldi, the nephew of Luigi Galvani, once sought to resuscitate the corpse of a recently executed prisoner. Not only did this experiment violate the dignity that any corpse deserves to be treated with, but it was also a very grotesque and frightening experiment. An eyewitness account stated that during the experiment, the “muscles were horribly contorted, and the left eye actually opened…fists clenched and beat violently the table” (Oakes 63). This was a direct intrusion by science into the sacredness of the human body. Similarly, yet to a lesser degree of inhumanity, various London doctors, especially William Hawes, experimented revival methods on recently drowned victims. These doctors had a substantial supply of fresh corpses as most resided by the river Thames. Without shame and without respect for the victim, these men of science attempted to resuscitate bodies by using techniques such as inserting tobacco smoke into the body from the posterior end. As more cruel experiments on the human body were performed, the demand for corpses increased exponentially. For instance, a scientist known as Bichat once admitted to having “used