Comparing Frankenstein And The Island Of Dr. Moreau

While complete power and control is desired by many, those who actually come to acquire this well sought after idea are corrupted by its intoxicating sense of limitlessness and invincibility. In both, “The Island of Dr. Moreau” and Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein”, the doctors abuse their creative powers while dismissing their moral responsibilities in order to gain ultimate control of their surroundings. In Frankenstein, the overall theme is developed in a number of ways that all focus around the self-centered and selfish Victor Frankenstein, who obsesses over maintaining control of all of those around him. Literary critic Harriet Hustis emphasizes that, “Frankenstein fails to exercise such moral responsibility for the single life he creates

Knowledge is an abstract yet powerful idea that seeks to immerse its victims in the pursuit of unattainable information. Victor wishes to discover more than any person before him has, and in return discards all moral and ethical obligations he previously held. In doing so, Victor inevitably wishes to obtain absolute control of the fate of his surroundings, leaving the barrier between life and death an opaque abstraction. After creating the monster and performing his numerous experiments, Frankenstein takes no responsibility for the being of life he has actually created and dehumanizes the monster as a “success”. While the creation of the monster in itself was an atrocity, the ultimate proof of Victor’s irresponsibility can be seen with how he dealt with the monster after its unnatural

Victor was left disappointed in the path that modern science has focused on, discarding the incredible goals that were the ground layer of his interest in science. Victor wishes to adopt these “grand views” himself and to stray away from the conservative and unexciting goals scientists have in modern day. Victor frustratedly expresses his remorse for choosing to follow this conservative path initially as he “was required to exchange chimeras of boundless grandeur for realities of little worth.” (Shelley 62) While he initially was forced to follow this path, Victor decided he would not allow this exchange to occur any further and that he would pursue his initial goals. Moreover, These goals include seeking to discover the secret to immortality and in turn play the role of god by controlling everything around him. In nearly every event in the novel, Victor Frankenstein wishes to achieve absolute control of all things thought to be out of a human’s reach. Frankenstein defies the boundary between life and death and redefines what a single man can achieve, despite his irresponsibility for that