Consequences of Mans Attempt to Master Life In Mary Shelleys Novel Frankenstein

Mary Shelleys novel Frankenstein is a piece of work in which the author reveals the attempt of Victor Frankenstein to master the secret of life. The young scientist gives life to a creature without taking in mind the eventual consequences which might follow. Because of his thoughtlessness and irresponsibility his creature becomes a threat for him and the ones he loves. From the moment on Frankenstein gives life to his creature his life turns upside down. Instead of bliss and happily ever after life his existence becomes filled with remorse, sadness and rejection. In the first pages of the novel Victor says: Life and death appeared to me ideal bounds, which I should first break through, and pour a torrent of light into our dark world. A new species would bless me as its creator and source; many happy and excellent natures would owe their being to me (Shelley 43). His declaration clearly shows his thirst to play the role of God. And soon after that he decides to bestow life to a human-like creature in his laboratory, but at the sight of it His yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath; his hair was of a lustrous black, and flowing; his teeth of a pearly whiteness; but these luxuriances only formed a more horrid contrast with his watery eyes, that seemed almost of the same colour as the dun white sockets in which they were set, his shrivelled complexion and straight black lips (Shelley 45) he is shocked, runs scared away and abandons it. It is from that moment on when his life becomes hell. Without any kind of parental care, support and love the creature turns into his worst foe. It begins to follow his creator as a shadow and to mess in his life. And if Victor hadnt abandoned his being, the things might have worked in another way. Frankenstein fails to be a father and thats the main reason for his misfortune. He is only one of the victims of the creature. His life becomes a constant search for the creature that begins to harm his beloved ones by declaring: From that moment I declared everlasting war against the species, and, more than all, against him who had formed me, and sent me forth to this insupportable misery. (Shelley 105). Harming innocent people isnt the right way to solve problems, but the creature doesnt know this because there is no one to educate and bring him up, to show him the world with its bad and good things in it. The first victim is Victors brother William. Without even suspecting, this innocent child is attacked and murdered and this is the first step towards the revenge with which the creature punishes his creator. William is the first to pay for his brothers mistake of not taking care for his child and for trying to play the role of God by creating life. 1

The second person who suffers from Victors experiment is Justine, who is accused of Williams murder. And although the young scientist assumes that the girl is not guilty, he neither tells anything to his family about the creature, nor does he defends Justine in the court. He just stays inactive and continues to hide his secret at any rate maybe just because he doesnt realize the seriousness of the problem and the position he is placed in. In consequence the girl is convicted and executed. Even the touching story of the creature about his life and misadventures doesnt move Frankenstein enough. The creature pleads his creator for a female mate like himself to share his life with and to leave mankind forever: "You must create a female for me, with whom I can live in the interchange of those sympathies necessary for my being. This you alone can do; and I demand it of you as a right which you must not refuse to concede." (Shelley 111). Victor agrees but one evening in his laboratory, while working on the female creature thoughts rush through his head about the eventual consequences of the horrid creatures together and he tears to pieces the thing on which he was working. This mistake, which Frankenstein does is a crucial moment, because from that instant on the creature begins anew to harm people. If the young scientist had finished the female mate, the creature would have left the world of people and would have lived happily without interfering in anyones life. But instead of doing so, he unconsciously decides to continue his gloomy fate. Through the novel, Frankenstein tries to forget about his misfortune and attempts to ignore the creatures presence in his life, but in vain. His being even threatens to be with him on his wedding night and Victor tries to protect his wife but he doesnt succeed. Later on he is shocked at the sight of his dead wife Elizabeth lifeless and inanimate, thrown across the bed, her head hanging down, and her pale and distorted features half covered by her hair (Shelley 149). Elizabeth isnt the last victim of the creature. Frankensteins best friend, Cleval, also finds his death by the hand of the creature. The scientists father also dies of grief. Frankenstein devotes all his life and strengths in pursuit of the creature that turns his life into a hell. William, Cleval and Elizabeth are murdered, Frankensteins father dies and innocent Justine loses her life too, but this isnt enough. Victor, himself, should also pay for his sins and mistakes. He goes in the Arctic ice in search for the creature, but instead of this he finds his own death without having the chance to revenge for the murders of his beloved ones. People are often too busy to think of the possible consequences of creating life. Its only God, who has the right to give and take lives and when deciding to mess with the natural course of things Victor dooms his family, friends and himself to a fatal end. Thats why he should have considered the eventual consequences of his attempt to master the secret of life before bestowing life to his creature.

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1. "Essay on the Consequences of Man's Attempt to Master Life in Frankenstein." 25 May 2007 http://www.123HelpMe.com/view.asp?id=4795 2. Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. Wordsworth Classics, 1993