Frankenstein Essay #5

Pity can be taken in the wrong way many times. Pity is a sympathetic sorrow for one's suffering. This can be taken in the wrong way because many people see pity as looking down on someone. That at least whatever they just went through, did not quite happen to you. In a way Mary Shelley makes it so you want to pity the monster because it wasn't like he chose the life that he had lived. 

To a certain extent, the monster should have been pitied. The monster lived a life that he did not ask for. He was abandoned by everyone and left on his own. When he tried to interact with humans, they feared him and would not accept him. When he tried to ask Frankenstein for another companion, he was again shut down and received no companion. He was lonely and had no one to care for and no one to care for him either. The monster had to teach himself how to talk, and had to fend for himself in order to eat. He was never taught how to interact with others so you can say the monster did deserve a form of pity.

The monster that Frankenstein had created also deserved no pity at the same time. Even though he had lacked social skills and interactions with people, he did some unforgivable things. The monster killed everyone that Victor had loved from his family, to wife, to best friend. Even though he had gave Victor a warning about his wife, that is not the way to be accepted and get what you want. In that way, the monster deserved no pity from anyone. Killing people who did nothing wrong to you is wrong and even though the monster was dealt a tough hand, it was still wrong to do it.

The monster may not have deserved the treatment he had been given. Being abandoned with no one and being shunned from society is an awful thing but the monster also did some awful things himself. When asked if you feel pity for Victor's creation what would you say? I know my answer would be that I feel pity for him because he never got a chance but towards the end when he was mourning Victor's death, I felt no pity because ultimately, he was the reason that Victor was no longer living. 

Frankenstein Essay #4

The biological makeup of someone or something has been researched for years by philosophers and scientists. One big question that is always considered is, does evil come from the actions and surroundings of a person, or are they just born that way? This question may never be able to be answered but research is done on it anyway.  Victor Frankenstein's creation was mainly composed of evil because of the lack of attention and the abandonment that Frankenstein gave to the creation. 

Actions are one cause of evil. Evil is considered to be malicious and most people tend to look at something evil as a bad thing. The actions that one takes can determine whether or not someone or something is evil. The actions that the creation takes by killing people that Frankenstein had loved makes most readers come to the conclusion that the monster is evil. However, if it wasn't for Victor abandoning the monster and not cooperating and making a female companion the monster may have turned out differently.

The environment is another thing that can influence the behavior of a person or thing to either becoming evil, or not. In the novel, the monster was basically shunned from Victor Frankenstein and the family that the monster had met did not accept him either. The people did not accept him because of how ugly he was. People are part of the environment and being shunned from society and having no interactions with others can make a person become evil even if they wish not to be.

Victor Frankenstein's monster believed that he could be caring and loving if he had another companion. He also believed that if Victor had not abandoned him, the outcome could have been different. He believed he had no other way of surviving because he was forced to fend for himself. He became evil because of the rejection he had faced. If Victor had accepted or even tried to accept his creation, the monster may not have been evil. He was created ugly too, which only led to more rejection.

Actions, environment, and biological makeup can all influence if one is evil or not. I believe that everyone is born with a chance of hope. Even though the monster was created, he may have had a chance to be able to be compassionate if society had accepted him. Maybe not even society, but just one person could have changed the outcome of the monster who was considered evil.

Frankenstein Essay #2

Myths are used by authors to create novels all the time because most authors need the background of something else in order to write their own novel. Most of these myths are from Ancient Greek and Ancient Roman literature because they were thought to be the best developed in the area of art and literature. Mary Shelley took the idea of "Prometheus" and the idea from "Dr. Faustus" to create her novel. 

Like most myths, "Prometheus" has changed many times through the course of history but all of them have the same moral to it. The myth is about a Titan which is a form of god in Greece who defies the other gods by making man from clay and lighting the fire in human growth. In order to punish this Titan named, Prometheus, Zeus who is the king of all gods turns him into a stone and sends an eagle every day to eat his liver because the liver is thought to hold all human emotions. The liver grows back everyday just to be destroyed again which shows the striving for struggle that humans can have.

In her novel, Mary Shelley does an excellent job in portraying the concept of human struggle and striving. Victor Frankenstein devotes all his time in order to understand the concept and the secret to life. He ignores his family and everyone he loves and distances himself from everyone. This backfires on him because once he made his creation, it goes wrong because his creation becomes evil and starts to kill everyone that he had once ignored but had still loved. Since his creation was shunned from everyone, people, monsters, and even Victor Frankenstein himself, the monster became bitter and did kill everyone so Frankenstein was the cause of every death that had taken place including his own.

The myth of "Dr Faustus" was also an influence on Mary Shelley's novel. The story was about a man who sold his sole to the devil in order to achieve knowledge which means he gave up everything he cared and loved about in order to learn more than he already knew. Victor Frankenstein portrayed this myth perfectly because he stopped talking to his family and stopped talking to his friends in order to learn what the secret of life was. Once he thought he had figured it out and was ready to return to his family, he thought wrong because the knowledge he had gained would end up killing what had been important to him even when he forgot it was. 

The two myths of Prometheus and Dr. Faustus have a lot of parallels with the story of Frankenstein. All three characters wanted to gain something and were punished because of it. They all lost what they once thought to be important. Greek and Roman myths are very alive in novels because most artists look towards them in order to expand the myth or create their novel off of it.

Frankenstein Essay #1

Man should pursue science to the best he can. Science can be a very controversial topic in today's day in age but it doesn't mean that we should not try to expand our knowledge. There will always be the fear of how society will take the stance about the topic but we cannot base our future on guessing what is going to happen. Back in time such as the Age of the Enlightenment or during the Renaissance, scientists argued against the church and the scientists were eventually seen as the accurate ones. this would never have happened if they were afraid to pursue what they had believed in. It is better to see what would happen as we pursue science more and more.

Chemists and philosophers played a very important role in Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein because Victor had studied people such as Agrippa, Magnus, Paracelsus, and Darwin. These people were not considered modern scientists and their work was thought to be old and no longer accurate. He became so obsessed with learning and studying these scientific ideas that he wanted to make life out of non-living things. This was good in the fact that he was trying to pursue science to the best a person could but life is not something someone can alter. He tried to find the secret to life but then his creation was shunned and ended up being what we would call a "monster." 

Some say that science is something to be afraid of because it can bring unwanted news or discoveries into our world. However, those discoveries would come whether you were trying to find them or not. Science is not something people should be afraid of. They should embrace it and try to discover new things because even if the discovery is negative, someone can come up with a way to fix it, leading to more discoveries. Some discoveries such as nanotechnology could be considered negative because you are manipulating atoms and molecules that should not be manipulated. Everything that scientists attempt to discover can go either way, positive or negative impact. That impact can also change but it doesn't mean we should stop trying to research and learn new things. The more we discover, the better prepared the next generation will be and the more likely they will be able to fix the problems within our society.

Mans morals can also play a very large role in discovering new things. It is said that knowledge and learning are the best thing someone can have because no one can take that away from them. As man's knowledge becomes more expanded, it makes him want to only learn more and expand even further. The only problem is that sometimes a person's beliefs can get in the way of what they have discovered which can cause an internal conflict for that person. This is a decision that almost everyone will find themselves making at one point, whether to believe facts, or to follow what you believe to be true. This morality could keep people sane and not compare themselves to a godlike figure which no man should think they are.

When asked the questions should man pursue science to its limits, even to the point where man can create life from non-life, essentially becoming a god or should man fear the powers of science and the reach of his own intellect most would tell man to not stop researching and expanding their knowledge. It is an instinct to want to know more than you already do and keep learning. No man should overlook how much they know though. Do something with the knowledge they have and keep your morals in tact. Don't let it get the best of you and assume that you are a god when in reality you are just another person on this Earth.