In Cat’s Cradle, science leads to the end of the world by the creation of ice-nine by Felix Hoenikker. The destruction comes about despite efforts of people such as Bokonon, who try to get people to live their lives by loving one another. Felix is a character representing science and does not deal with the abstract. In contrast, Mona represents religion by believing the lies of Bokononism and treating everyone with love and equality. Dr. von Koenigswald is a “bad scientist,” who represents the hybrid between science and religion.
Mary Shelley demonstrates this concept through Victor’s pursuit for knowledge, caused by the change of values between the Romantic Era and the Age of Enlightenment. As electricity was discovered, Victor’s admiration for the subject of Galvanism provides him a “thirst for knowledge”, reinforced by his “longing to penetrate the secrets of nature”. This sexual allusion emphasises Victor’s loss of Romantic values which ultimately leads to an extremely arrogant attitude where he “bestows animation upon lifeless matter” and creates the “hideously deformed” monster that metaphorically represents the greed that blinds him. Its horrific actions, namely the killing of people closest to Victor, force him to finally realize that they “died by my hands”. Thus, Shelley warns that the destructiveness of Man’s intrinsic desires for knowledge stems from the change in values.
Donnie Darko shows how the monstrous can be represented or misrepresented depending on the interpretation by the viewer. This is a film filled with elements of science fiction, horror and drama but does not come under one genre. Its appeal is in its eccentric way of telling a story, and its ambiguities of both the characters and the exploration of determinism and free will, sanity and insanity, loneliness and love. However it also rejects most common conventions having the main monstrous figure -Frank the bunny- also the one responsible to get Donnie (the protagonist) ready before the world ends, thus saving the original world by causing the destruction of the tangent world. It uses the story to convey its meaning primarily through dialogue and meticulous editing and leaves the majority of the interpretation of the film up to the viewer’s imagination.
Shelley evidences this theme through Victor stealing the Gods gift of life, alluding to Prometheus stealing the Gods gift of fire, epitomised in Victors dialogue “A new species would bless me as its creator”. ( can also add from here the domino effect/ notes taken from book, consequences of playing God) Victor becomes a lost soul when he tries his ghastly experiments on the dead and loses his moral compass when he becomes obsessed with animating the dead. Victor's overindulgence in science takes away his humanity, and he is left with the consequences of these actions without having reasoned out the reality that his experiments may not have the desired effects. (can also talk about loss of parental duty/abondment) Rejecting and not naming his invention makes the reader feel a sense of prejudice against the monster as it is given titles such as the ‘monster’ or ‘creature’, words that linger on a negative aspect. This initial reaction of Victor was an indirect means of Shelley showing how humans would react to side effects or catastrophes caused by scientific
The parallelism between Victor Frankenstein and Prometheus is seen through both of their actions of trying to play God by giving life. Both Frankenstein and Prometheus tried to create their own being or race to worship them, and were punished in the end for their endeavors. In “Frankenstein”, one can see the power struggle between Frankenstein and The Creature. Frankenstein becomes obsessed with his studies and project of creating a human, and in a way becomes power thirsty as he plays God by giving life. When his experiment comes to life, Frankenstein gets scared, thus giving The Creature all of the power he previously held.
Soumitra Sarkar ENGL 220 Section 62 Instructor: Mikael Awake Frankenstein Research Proposal 04/22/2015 Frankenstein Research Proposal - Human Nature Branching off of the third topic of the research prompt, I’m making a proposal to work on how Shelly has portrayed human nature in Frankenstein. In the novel, Dr. Frankenstein makes a monster from the best body parts and yet others reject that monster along with it’s own creator. The status quo is that humans are naturally accepting and good people. However, in every single instance, the monster in the novel is rejected. Initially the monster seeks to somehow befriend others.
It keeps posing questions such as, “What does it mean to be a monster” or “What does it mean to be human?”. The irony in Blade Runner is the blade runners (supposedly humans) act in an inhumane manner, “retiring” replicants due to their developments of human characteristics. Where as Roy (a replicant) performs a great act of mercy, sparing Deckard’s life. Roy appears “…more human than human…” (Tyrell Corporations motto) in his empathy and compassion. While in Frankenstein the creature’s fate is chosen with his appearance and societies prejudice.
Citing Watchmen as the point where the comic book medium "came of age", Iain Thomson wrote in his essay "Deconstructing the Hero" that the story accomplished this by "developing its heroes precisely in order to deconstruct the very idea of the hero and so encouraging us to reflect upon its significance from the many different angles of the shards left lying on the ground". [38] Thomson stated that the heroes in Watchmen almost all share a nihilistic outlook, and that Moore presents this outlook "as the simple, unvarnished truth" to "deconstruct the would-be hero's ultimate motivation, namely, to provide a secular salvation and so attain a mortal immortality". [39] He wrote that the story "develops its heroes precisely in order to ask us if we would not in fact be better off without heroes". [40] Thomson added that the story's deconstruction of the hero concept "suggests that perhaps the time for heroes has passed", which he feels distinguishes "this postmodern work" from the deconstructions of the hero in the existentialism movement. [41] Richard Reynolds states that without any supervillains in the story, the superheroes of Watchmen are forced to confront "more intangible social and moral concerns", adding that this removes the superhero concept from the normal narrative expectations of the genre.
However, the `inarticulate sounds which broke from (it) frightened (it) into silence again'. Romanticism of Frankenstein `the beauty of the dream vanished' as luxuriances such as `lustrous black' hair and `teeth of a pearly whiteness' only formed a more `horrid contrast with his watery eyes'. (1) He entreats Victor to “remember, that I am thy creature: I ought to be thy Adam; but I am rather the fallen angel.” By comparing Victor to God, the monster heaps responsibility for his evil actions upon Victor, scolding him for his neglectful failure to provide a nourishing environment. (2) The second quote: emphasises the irresponsible creator that Frankenstein is. Instead of guiding the creature, teaching it from right from wrong, supporting the creature, he immediately creates an enemy with his creation and enforces war and hostility upon the creature, giving it no choice but to defend itself from its creator and
In pursuit of knowledge and technology, society begins to lose a sense of humanity. The 1818 gothic novel, Frankenstein by Mary Shelley and 1982 science fiction film, Blade Runner directed by Ridley Scott although composed over one hundred years apart contain the same concepts on the nature of humanity. Through context and a variety of film and literary techniques both composers were able to convey their purpose of a cautionary warning about the consequences of playing God. This was achieved through the dislocation of the natural world and mans attempt to play God. The texts present a view that questions the ethics of science which progress is unchecked.