Creation of Life in Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

1074 Words3 Pages

Many people may think that if someone were to create life as complex as humans it would beneficial to humans. In the story Frankenstein, Victor creates an intelligent new species of life. This “monster” is rejected by society and seeks revenge on humans and Victor. Throughout Frankenstein, Mary Shelley uses the theme of the creation and destruction of life to illustrate how the creation of life can be a threat to many other lives.
The book Frankenstein shows Victor’s god-like talent of creating life. For example, Victor’s imagination pushed him to be able to create an animal as complex as man. This is illustrated when Victor says, “But my imagination was too much exalted by my first success to permit me to doubt of my ability to give life to an animal as complex and as wonderful as man.”(32). Victor is composing an idea of how to create a being that is in the form of a human by using body parts from corpses. His recent success in college studying on how to create life leads him to believe he will be successful in creating this creature. The author added this quote to show Victor’s confidence in his intelligence and abilities. His knowledge of death can help him reverse that transition and create life. In addition, Victor demonstrated his genius mind when he created life for the first time. Victor says, “I saw the dull yellow eye of the creature open; it breathed hard, and a convulsive motion agitated its limbs” (35). Victor observes as his monster is starting to come to life. He is overwhelmed by him coming to life and how foul the creature looked. Once the monster was alive Victor fled in fear because it was a hideous sight. In the essay “Frankenstein: myths of scientific and medical knowledge and stories of human reactions,” S...

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...ng to life what he thinks will be a new form of humans. This ability was blessed upon but at a cost. He does not realize until later on that this creature will create serious problems for him.
The life that was created was the one who ended most of the lives in the book. The great accomplishment that Victor thought he had turned into a tragic ending for him. The creation of life and destruction of life were both related through one thing, the creature.

Works Cited

Griffith, George V. “An overview of Frankenstein.” Literature Resource Center. Detroit: Gale, 2
2014. Literature Resources from Gale. Web. 9 April 2014.
Marcus, Steven. “Frankenstein: myths of scientific and medical knowledge and stories of human reactions.” The Southern Review 38.1 (2002); 188+. Literature Resources from Gale.
Web. 9 April 2014.
Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. New York: Dover, 1994.

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