These two, very specific values that exist in each text across time are clearly influenced by the two different contexts of the two different time periods. The novel ‘Frankenstein’ composed by Mary Shelley is a highly acclaimed, highly influential text that has been pulled up and out of the time period that it was written and published in. the period of time that Shelley was living in was a time where science, let alone scientific discovery and scientific endeavour was greatly valued and embraced. The value of scientific discovery is expressed in many, many ways through the text through either of the characters Robert Walton, Victor Frankenstein and the Monster. Throughout the narrative, Victor Frankenstein is developed as the conduit of scientific discovery.
In the novel Frankenstein, author Marry Shelley depicts character Victor Frankenstein as a scientist with a strong passion for forbidden knowledge and finding the answers to life through science. Though his intentions are good this leads him to the creation of a monster. Throughout the novel Frankenstein is constantly encountered by obstacles that test his passions for science and responsibility for his creation. For Victor it seems that the choice to abandon the monster is the easier path, rather than taking care of his creation. In the beginning of the book, right after the creation of the monster, Victor fled his home to get away from the creature, only to return and find that it had escaped.
The ending of the story, when Victor almost chases to monster to the north pole, is also a glimmering example of how Victor has changed internally from a Geneva, to a cold, harsh, inhuman monster. The main characters, Victor and the monster, are both interesting mixes of good, as well as evil. Victor, on the one hand, is good in the sense that he wants to understand science to further humanity. He does have an ugly side, however. For example, Victor abandons his monster after he creates it because he realizes what he has done.
To the reader, it seems that Shelly consistently reminds us of the lack of responsibility on the part of Frankenstein, and the monster’s inherent innocence, who is only made evil by his circumstances. But like the reader, Shelley too, is unclear about whose behaviour is most unjustifiable and unpardonable. With reference to David Punter’s essay “Gothic and Romanticism”, Victor Frankenstein can be compared to the ‘Wanderer’, the Wanderer’s essential characteristics being that he is hero and victim both, who defies God by crossing the laws of mortality and dares to touch the untouchable. The Wanderer is never satisfied with the restrictions placed on him by an ordered society, and he ultimately suffers for his disobedience. Victor clearly fits the description of the Wanderer, as his obsessive need to create life and be its sole creator has a hint of an unnatural desperation to satisfy his ego and attain gratitude.
Many times, individuals fail to overcome suffering while their suffering continues to overcome them. Frankenstein shows that despite what one does to rid themselves of suffering, it may just never go away. In the novel, Victor Frankenstein builds a creature, but he is disgusted not only by his deed, but the appearance of the creature, turning him away. This first feel of rejection from his creator is what begins the creature’s suffering. The decisions the creature makes out of his suffering, or his characterization, show that one may not overcome suffering.
All of my books are basically romances; they’re stories about reconnecting with community”(Williams). The disorders in life that The Narrator and Dr. Jekyll experience on the edge of being inhuman, “My Characters are not people. They are machines that do a job. They are machines designed to destroy themselves” (Williams). Through the minds of Palahniuk and Stevenson a common ground is reached in the two books Fight Club and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde; both the narrator and Dr. Jekyll create their own misfortune in trying to fix the problems of the world, or better yet what they perceive the problems to be.
However, the values remain consistent and thus via the respective forms of the text, composers explore issues relating to humanity and unchecked science. Within each text, the composers similarly explore how when scientific endeavour is pursued without a moral frame, the consequences for creator and created, and furthermore humanity, are devastating. The impact on mankind is reflected as Victor Frankenstein brings his monster into existence. This is evident through the use of high modality as he says ‘a new species would bless me as its creator’ and ‘natures would owe their being to me’. Victor’s distant and cold language reveals his overwhelming hubris and reflects the conflation of scientific and Romantic paradigms.
Victor and the creature at points seem to complement the opposite qualities of one another, meaning that one has what the other lacks. “Frankenstein and his creation may even represent one being -- two sides of a single entity forming a doppelganger relationship. However, it is difficult to decipher which represent good and which represents evil -- the man or the monster” (Storment). At the beginning, Victor, the creator, held all power and knowledge between the two, until the monster begins learning and developing, it is then that Victor seems to begin losing reason and control: “…I shudder to reflect, that I have been the miserable origin and author? Cursed by the day, abhorred devil, in which you first saw light!
In Ray Hammond’s critical essay, he saw the novel as Mary Shelly’s “means of expressing her innermost fears about life and death in a tangible form (Hammond).” Both Shelly and her mother suffered “birthing horros which are echoed in Frankenstein (Hammond).” Shelly’s novel can be seen as a critique on amoral science, or science without forethought. In Mary Shelley's novel, Frankenstein, the character of Frankenstein shows the danger of playing God and the ethical questions presented when man does not consider the ethical questions his experiments present. The pursuit of knowledge is at the heart of Frankenstein, as the good doctor attempts to go beyond anything ever attempted and discover the unthinkable: the secret of life. Frankenstein’s experiment is made with good intentions, as he believes his creation will help humanity. "The accomplishment of his toils" is the creature, created from human body parts Frankenstein harvested from graveyards (34).
Maslow developed these needs in a hierarchical pattern with physiological needs being the most proponent until satisfied. he defines a proponent need as having a great influence over the subsequent needs as until it is satisfied. For example, it would be difficult to achieve success in higher education (psychological or esteem needs) if one was not properly fed and watered. If one has had their physiological needs met that individual may seek satisfaction for safety and security needs. These would include adequate housing, reliable transportation, and anything that contributes to the orderliness and predictability of life.