Dr. Frankenstein “gave birth” to Being in the Princeton Advanced Study Lab through a process similar to in vitro fertilization (Hypothetical). After Being’s birth, Dr. Frankenstein begins to stalk Being in an attempt to murder him. Being filed a complaint on September 1, 2015 calling for Dr. Frankenstein’s arrest on the grounds of attempted murder. “Dr. Frankenstein’s counsel counterclaims for the dismissal of all charges on the grounds that the murder statute affords no protection to Being, who does not rise to the level of “human being” but constitutes simply a form of artificial intelligence that Victor Frankenstein has every right to shut down”(Hypothetical). Being is afforded the protection of the federal murder statute because he fulfills
Frankenstein, the creator of Being, brings a “human” to life. Before creating Being, Dr. Frankenstein reflects on the impending task. He says, “I doubted whether I should attempt the creation of a being like myself… It was with these feelings that I began the creation of a human being” (Shelley 158-159). He clearly states that he intends to create a human being in his laboratory. Being Frankenstein fulfills what it means to be human because in the aforementioned definition of a “human being” from legal sources, the individual must be able to survive outside of the body of another and is “born alive” at any point of their development. Dr. Frankenstein refers to Being as a human and Being is both able to survive independently and is “born alive”. Artificial intelligence is not sentient or animated from within; programming develops artificial intelligence to perform specific tasks that cannot replace creativity, emotions and desires (Smith 1). Being possesses an instinct to survive that comes from within and helps him learn to sustain his life. Being’s feelings of loneliness come from
During his isolation, Being Frankenstein grapples with acquiring language and communication skills. He understands that humans communicate with one another by way of sounds and characters written on paper, but his isolation limits him. Since Being has enough contact with others to observe them, he acquires the aptitude to learn speech and writing. Being Frankenstein watches his neighbors’ everyday to learn the skills needed to live and function in society, and he associates their words and actions with human emotion. “I perceived that the words they spoke sometimes produced pleasure or pain, smiles or sadness… and I ardently desired to become acquainted with it…”(Shelley 270). When Being finds Dr. Frankenstein, he approaches him in an effort to ask him why he keeps stalking him. Dr Frankenstein says “I suddenly beheld a figure of a man, at some distance, advancing towards me...” (Shelley 342). Legally, Being’s actions and behavior confirm his humanity because of his ability to survive with communication skills that he acquires on his own. Machine intelligence can only operate and communicate under human command. Being understands expressions of human emotion in a way that machines cannot and communicates through a combination of feelings and language to share the experiences of others.
Dr. Frankenstein reported several complaints to the police stating that Being appears hideous, devil-like, and performs differently
We first view Frankenstein’s ignorance while he is busy in his work. He had not visited his family for two straight years. These are the people that love and care about him, yet he does not go home. Not even to visit his own father, the man who pays for his schooling and necessities.
“I now hasten to the more moving part of my story. I shall relate events that impressed me with feelings which, from what I was, have made me what I am” (Shelley 92). Frankenstein’s Creature presents these lines as it transitions from a being that merely observes its surroundings to something that gains knowledge from the occurrences around it. The Creature learns about humanity from “the perfect forms of [his] cottagers” (90). Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein offers compelling insights into the everlasting nature versus nurture argument. Her husband, Percy Bysshe Shelley wrote, “Treat a person ill, and he will become wicked.” Shelley believes that the nurture of someone, or something, in the Creature’s case, forms them into who they become and what actions they take. While this is true for Frankenstein’s Creature, the same cannot be said about Victor Frankenstein.
In gothic novels tragic figures are symbols of pain to the characters. Victor Frankenstein brings misfortune to his loved ones, which concludes to his overall tragedy. Ironically the monster in this novel is Frankenstein the creator not the creature. He has seven victims including himself and his fall is due to his ambition to be superior.
a human being has been contemplated for centuries. Numerous philosophers have read and debated this significant question and it is still reflected upon today. Frankenstein, written by Mary Shelley plumbs the depth of this question with the example of a creature who is spurned by humanity despite being human in character. The discernment of creature from man is still misconstrued as shown in this tale, but its importance lies in the message Frankenstein that appearances matter very little when it comes to being human. The creature’s human qualities of its emotions, desire for companionship, and intelligence set it apart as uniquely human from simply a base and barbaric monster
Life is a gift – and that is the key philosophy of the novel. If you give life to somebody as a parent or produce a life like Victor Frankenstein you have to know earlier what to do with it and be able to take full responsibility for giving the best to your creation. The creature was Victor’s toy and Victor was the doll of his parents. Everything occurred in a chain reaction. One good deed makes another good deed and vice versa – one evil generates
Freud and Frankenstein Psychologist Sigmund Freud once said that “the mind is like an iceberg, it floats with one-seventh of its bulk above water” (Sigmund Freud). This simple sentence summarizes one of the greatest contributions ever made to psychology--Freud’s theory of the primal id, the reasonable ego, and the moral superego. According to this theory, the majority of the factors that impact a human’s decisions making are subconscious and that the three parts of the psyche work together in order to create a rational and socially acceptable decision. But what if the parts are unchecked and a person is allowed to function based solely on the primal desires without any moral compass?
Artificial Intelligence is very similar to Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein in that the underlying themes, questions asked, and moral issues raised are the same.
I will not hear you. There can be no communicate between you and me; we are enemies. Begone, or let us try our strength in a fight, in which one must fall” (68). At this point in the novel, I sympathize with the monster even though he has become a terrible person. As his creator, Victor Frankenstein should have cared for the monster despite his disgusting appearance, but Victor ran away from his responsibilities toward creature, he did not give the creature what he wanted in his life, because he was feared of being killed by the creature. Frankenstein made the creature to murder the living humans, because the creature was very isolated and he did not had no one to talk to:” I was benevolent; my soul glow with love and humanity: but am I not alone, miserably alone? You, my creator, abhor me; what hope can I gather from your fellow creatures, who owe me nothing?” (68). If Frankenstein would have guided and nurtured the creature then the creature would have never sought revenge on Frankenstein and his family: I was benevolent and good; misery made me a fiend” (68). The creature demonstrated his true personality, due to the abandonation of his creator. However, the creature perceive Frankenstein of being the omnipotent God: “Remember, that I am thy creature: I ought to be thy Adam; but I am rather the fallen angel, whom thou divest from joy for no misdeed” (68). Which demonstrates the melancholy part of the creature that was filled with loneliness and
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is a nineteenth century literary work that delves into the world of science and the plausible outcomes of morally insensitive technological research. Although the novel brings to the forefront several issues about knowledge and sublime nature, the novel mostly explores the psychological and physical journey of two complex characters. While each character exhibits several interesting traits that range from passive and contemplative to rash and impulsive, their most attractive quality is their monstrosity. Their monstrosities, however, differ in the way each of the character’s act and respond to their environment. Throughout Frankenstein, one assumes that Frankenstein’s creation is the true monster. While the creation’s actions are indeed monstrous, one must also realize that his creator, Victor Frankenstein is also a villain. His inconsiderate and selfish acts as well as his passion for science result in the death of his friend and family members and ultimately in his own demise.
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein was a literary piece that touched on many different issues, not only in her time, but also today. The creation of life in Frankenstein was Shelley’s symbolic warning to the new industrialized era. “It also [can] be seen to be warning about the dangers of uncontrolled application of technology and its use without proper morality” (Brachneos). The warning in Frankenstein applies today more than ever because of the creation of AI (Artificial Intelligence) and computers that “think for themselves” The two are connected in a sense. Some would argue that Victor, the character that created the monster wanting to play od, is like the programmers of AI computers today.
In the nineteenth century, the idea of creating life was thought to be science fiction. A nineteenth century writing, Mary Shelly's novel Frankenstein, portrays Victor (the creator) as innocent and the creation as evil at the beginning of the novel. Later, it becomes evident that the monster was not evil when created, rather that the creature was made evil by the surrounding environment. Victor's immediate response was, as Shelly writes, "Great God! His yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath" (??). The monster soon understood that he was in fact hideous. Shelly writes, "Knowing social opinion, the monster explained after his agonizing shock of self-discovery, 'All men hate the wretched'" (??). Whereas the cloning of humans may not produce a being like Victor's creation, there is little doubt that society may react harshly to this new type of being. The expectations would be enlarged for the creation, which may lead to negative consequences for both the creation and society.
...luding intelligence, compassion, and emotions. The monster attempts to make friends with his peer humans, despite his continuous rejection. His efforts show that even the monster experiences vulnerability and desire for companionship. The monster proves his intelligence as he devises a plan to learn the English language by observing his neighbors. Meanwhile, Doctor Frankenstein lacks the human quality of intelligence as he fails to foresee the effects of taking creation of life into his own hands. The doctor also lacks compassion when he abandons his creation, the equivalent of a parent leaving his child. Frankenstein flees from his monster because he actually fears the monster as much as the rest of society due to its frightening stature. Doctor Frankenstein and his creation exemplify the qualities people should exude to consider themselves members of the human race.
Philosophers and scientists alike have debated for centuries whether a person’s character is the result of nature or nurture. In the writings of Thomas Hobbes, it is expressed that humans are endowed with character from birth, and that they are innately evil in nature. John Locke’s response to this theory is that everyone is born with a tabula rasa, or blank slate, and then develops character after a series of formative experiences. The idea that true character is the result of experiences and societal interaction is a theme deeply explored throughout Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Through different interactions with the monster, Shelley attempts to express that it is because of Victor’s failings as a parent and creator, because of the monster’s isolation, and because of society’s reaction to the monster that the monster has become evil. The monster’s character is a direct result of how he was nurtured, based on his experiences and circumstances, rather than his being innately evil from “birth.”
Frankenstein, speaking of himself as a young man in his father’s home, points out that he is unlike Elizabeth, who would rather follow “the aerial creations of the poets”. Instead he pursues knowledge of the “world” though investigation. As the novel progresses, it becomes clear that the meaning of the word “world” is for Frankenstein, very much biased or limited. He thirsts for knowledge of the tangible world and if he perceives an idea to be as yet unrealised in the material world, he then attempts to work on the idea in order to give it, as it were, a worldly existence. Hence, he creates the creature that he rejects because its worldly form did not reflect the glory and magnificence of his original idea. Thrown, unaided and ignorant, into the world, the creature begins his own journey into the discovery of the strange and hidden meanings encoded in human language and society. In this essay, I will discuss how the creature can be regarded as a foil to Frankenstein through an examination of the schooling, formal and informal, that both of them go through. In some ways, the creature’s gain in knowledge can be seen to parallel Frankenstein’s, such as, when the creature begins to learn from books. Yet, in other ways, their experiences differ greatly, and one of the factors that contribute to these differences is a structured and systematic method of learning, based on philosophical tenets, that is available to Frankenstein but not to the creature.
As Frankenstein explains, he declares that he deliberately neglects to communicate with his creation, based on its shockingly hideous appearance. Had Frankenstein taken the time to communicate and care for his creation, with all the knowledge that he possesses of the responsibility of a good parent, the creation would have never developed the sense of vindication and reprisal that lead him to murdering Victor's loved one's. The creation would henceforth account Frankenstein for all his sufferings succeeding his birth.