Theme Of Warnings In Frankenstein

In the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, Victor Frankenstein puts together different body parts of the dead to create a monster and bring him to life. Although this story was set in the eighteenth century and we are unable to create life from dead tissue, the story still contains relevant themes and warnings. Such themes and warnings include: dangerous knowledge, influence of nature, and difference from man and monstrosity. Today there are many practices such as creating Artificial Intelligence, undergoing plastic surgery, and genetically modifying humans that relate to these themes and warnings that are under exploration and debate of morals. In the novel, Victor Frankenstein had the dangerous knowledge of how to create life. ¨...I felt …show more content…
After the deaths of William and Justine, Victor goes to the mountains to get away from it all and to brighten his mood. ¨Sometimes I could cope with the sullen despair that overwhelmed me, but sometimes the whirlwind passions of my soul drove me to seek, by bodily exercise and by change of place, some relief from my intolerable sensations. It was during an access of this kind that I suddenly left my home, and bending my steps towards the near Alpine valleys, sought in the magnificence, the eternity of such scenes, to forget myself and my ephemeral, because human, sorrows¨ (Chapter 9: pages 75-76). Victor went to the mountains to get away from the emotional stress of the loss of his brother and friend. This theme can be compared to the current practice of plastic surgery that has been around as far back as 2000 B.C. and is still in some controversy. Plastic surgery is a branch of medicine that reconstructs and repairs defects in the body. There are different uses for this surgery such as for people who are born with defects and or need it after a bike crash, but there is one use that some people do and do not like, cosmetic plastic surgery. This is when someone wants to enhance their appearance. Getting cosmetic plastic surgery relates to the theme of influence of nature in that when certain people undergo this surgery, they feel happier because they like their new change in …show more content…
For example, the monster in the novel is eight feet tall and ugly from the stitching and different body parts, making other villagers, and even his own creator fear him. ¨Oh! No mortal could support the horror of that countenance. A mummy again endued with animation could not be so hideous as that wretch. I had gazed on him while unfinished; he was ugly then, but when those muscles and joints were rendered capable of motion, it became a thing such as even Dante could not have conceived¨ (Chapter 5: page 43). Everyone saw the creature, who was suppose to resemble man, as a monster.(?) Presently, there is the controversy of creating designer babies. After the successful creation of GMO's (Genetically Modified Organisms) which changed the genetic makeup of plants and animals, scientist have been trying to figure out how to change the genetic makeup of humans (or GMHś). This may help those who are born with genetic defects, such as born with blindness, the scientists can fix their DNA to allow them to see. However the negative of this is that scientists can then create designer babies. A designer baby is a baby whose genetic makeup has been selected in order to eradicate a particular defect, or to ensure that a certain gene is present. This would allow parents to choose what their baby looks like and if they are resistant to certain diseases and therefore creates a difference from natural man that