Contextual Disparities In Frankenstein And Blade Runner

Despite the temporal and contextual disparities between Mary Shelley’s Gothic novel Frankenstein (1818) and Ridley Scott’s science fiction film Blade Runner (1982), both didactic texts analyse man’s hubristic pursuit of knowledge and power at the expense of humanity. The catastrophic outcome of usurping the natural order underscores the composers’ emphasis on retribution as the means to create equilibrium in an unnatural world. Shelley scrutinises the morally chaotic pursuits of the Enlightenment era towards scientism and knowledge by overstepping the natural order idealised by the Romantics. She criticises the contextual attempts to control and subvert natural processes through the characterisation of a hubristic and overly ambitious Victor F’Stein. Inspired by Galvani’s experimentation, Victor likewise attempts to overpower natural boundaries by assuming God’s role as the creator enunciated in the metaphor “many excellent natures should owe their being to me”. In light of these ambitions, …show more content…
Whereas Victor lacks his moral compass and reasoning – hence his human qualities, the composer enunciates these qualities within the artificial creation. Through the quotation of Paradise Lost, Shelley draws a comparison between Adam and the creature where both question the abandonment from their creators. She makes the suggestion that one’s humanity is closely linked to their relationship with nature as she illustrates the creature’s reliance upon nature to survive; “the fire gave light.. useful”. The creature portrays essences of humanity – love, sympathy and the ability to reason, “am I not abhorred by all mankind?”. Aristotle stated that the highest and most satisfying form of human existence is that in which man exercises his rational faculties to the fullest extent. This showcases that the creature, although artificially created, encompasses human nature as a result of its increasing closeness and reliance upon