Frankenstein is a novel that starts with the main character Victor starting his normal life in Geneva. He is lucky to have an adopted sister Elizabeth, and this makes him feel secure and happy. He is a determined person to be a great scholar, and he says, “I will pioneer a new way, explore unknown powers, and unfold to the world the deepest mysteries of creation.” (Shelley 27). On this note, Victor wants to be an education monster because he feels he can do so much that has not been done before. He has this feeling that his whole life is dependent on education, and he is so determined that nothing on earth can stop him. With Elizabeth on his side, he enjoys his education without struggle, and this leads him to doing philosophy and chemistry after his father forces him to. In my opinion, it is not ethically correct to force someone to do what they do not want to do because that transfers their destinies.
The professor could have been right on saying that Victor wasted his time studying alchemy (Christensen 22), because he had a future in science. He ends up creating a monster which is good, but the question is, is it ethically right. Whatever he does is all about dark science, and we are left in dilemma on whether it violates natural law or not. Perhaps it can be argued in either way according to the ethical consideration, but the truth will always remain to be the truth.
Victor’s ambition to study anatomy is acceptable, and the fact that he wants to create something new is a vision that everyone has. Therefore, regardless of natural science, it is ethical for him to do what he thinks is good for the society, because he wants to bring a new face on earth. He is determined to bring something, and innovate on what nobody has invented before. He wants to be the first person that can create a monster with same behavior as human beings. Again, if he considers natural law, he cannot do it, meaning that nothing in the world can be created if people must observe natural law. This would also mean that people will be tired of seeing the same things on the universe every day, just because natural law does not allow the invention of new things.
On the other hand, the after viewing the consequences of what the monster did, it is clear that its not ethical to pursue dark science if at all it violates natural law. The monster that Victor creates does more harm than good, not only to the society but also to him that created it. It kills his younger brother and other family members, and leads to Victor’s death. If perhaps Victor would have followed strictly the natural law, whatever that happened to him and his family would not have happened. Therefore, it is true that he did something unethical to neglect the natural law on creating the monster, and the same monster created takes away every bit of happiness that Victor was meant to enjoy. Also to speak, doing something against natural law does not please him and neither does it make him happy for his achievement. He also neglected even those people dear to him to pursue his education that later takes away all his happiness, and no wonder he says, “No human being could have passed a happier childhood than myself. My parents were possessed by the very spirit of kindness and indulgence” (Shelley 20). It is unethical to neglect ones parent for the quench of education.
Generally, the Novel Frankenstein shows how dangerous knowledge is as people try to quench its thirst. Victor ends up creating a monster that kills everyone dear to him, and his obsessive hatred towards the monster leads to his death. Again, Walton’s quest for knowledge leads him to stick in the ice as he tries to reach North Pole (Elsäßer 35). Therefore, even though education is meant to brighten people’s lives, by making them better people in the society, the contrary happens in the novel Frankenstein, and those that work hard to get education end up frustrated, and this is unethical.
Again, it is ethical that people should go towards their destiny. Victor abandoned alchemy to study science, and most probably, his destiny was in alchemy. Whatever he had toiled for to achieve in sciences does not bring the joy he had always wanted. This means that people would view education as unethical, if those that strive to achieve what they want cannot get the happiness and the peace of mind they have always wanted.
My thought changes after reading this novel. My original thought was pretty clear that one can pursue science as long as they want, if in any case want to discover something that has never been discovered before. It is also creativity to give the universe something new, or disclose something that has not been disclosed before. I also liked the fact that Victor tries to give the universe something new by creating a monster that had never been created before. However, after finishing reading the novel, my perception changes because it turns out that everything should follow the natural law. If perhaps Victor followed the natural law, all that happened to him would not have happened. it is therefore ethical to do things according to natural law.
Works Cited
Christensen, Andrew. "From the Instructor." Education BS Huron University (2008).
Elsäßer, Anneli. The Romantic Frankenstein. GRIN Verlag, 2007.Print.
Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft. frankenstein. Vol. 149. Ediciones Colihue SRL, 2003. Print.
