Frankenstein: The Myth of Creation

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Frankenstein The Myth of Creation

• Self, Society and Technology
• Scot Yoder

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Frakenstein novel and myth

• Novel
• Written by Mary Shelly in 1818 (revised 1831).
• Myth
• Has evolved over the last two centuries.
• Much bigger than the story.

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Mary Shellys novel

• The science of the day
• Themes
• Relationship to Prometheus Bound

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The old science -- alchemy
Albertus Magnus (1493-1541)
Paracelsus (1193-1280)
Cornelius Agrippa (1486-1535)
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The new science

• Alchemy replaced by
• Chemistry
• Electricity
• Galvanism (Galvini, 1790s Aldini, 1804)
• Frankenstein and the new science
• Abandons the old masters for electricity and
  galvanism p.22.
• However, he never gives up some of the
  aspirations of the old.

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Galvanism
Galvani's Experiments National Library of
Medicine Collection
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Galvanism
A Galvanized Corpse Political cartoon,
1836 Library of Congress, Prints Photographs
Division
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Themes

• Ambiguity regarding science and technology
• Hubris
• Responsibility

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Ambiguity

• Victor Frankenstein is a medical student, a man
  of science (in Shellys time science was often
  referred to as natural philosophy).
• His intent, at least in part, is good.
• Science is powerful, can be used for good or ill.

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Hubris

• Great pride, belief in your own importance,
  overreaching
• Tragic character flaw of both Prometheus and
  Frankenstein

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Frankensteins hubris

• what glory would attend the discovery, if I
  could banish disease from the human frame and
  render man invulnerable to any but a violent
  death! p.22
• A new species would bless me as its creator and
  source. p.32
• In creating life Frankenstein
• takes Gods role
• violates nature

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The lesson

• Learn from me, if not by my precepts, at least
  by my example, how dangerous is the acquirement
  of knowledge and how much happier that man is who
  believes his native town to be the world, than he
  who aspires to become greater than his nature
  will allow. p.31

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Responsibility

• Frankensteins error is not simply the creation
  of a new life, but his abandonment of it after
  creation.
• He doesnt take responsibility for his creation.
• This is what turns the monster against his
  creator.

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The creature on responsibility
Yet you, my creator, detest and spurn me, thy
creature, to whom thou art bound by ties only
dissoluble by the annihilation of one of us. You
propose to kill me. How dare you sport thus with
life? Do your duty towards me, and I will do
mine towards you and the rest of mankind. (p.
68)
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The creator on responsibility
I followed. My heart was full, and I did not
answer him but as I proceeded, I weighed the
various arguments that he had used, and
determined at least to listen to his tale. I was
partly urged by curiosity, and compassion
confirmed my resolution. For the first time,
also, I felt what the duties of a creator towards
his creature were, and that I ought to render him
happy before I complained of his wickedness. (p.
70)
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Relationship to Prometheus

• Prometheus and Frankenstein both create life.
• Prometheus gives humans the ingenuity (fire) that
  makes Franksteins creation possible.
• Prometheus and Frankenstein both exceed limits
  -- exhibit hubris -- and are punished.
• Prometheus by the gods
• Frankenstein by his own creation

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Frankenstein as a modern myth

• A myth
• Becomes part of the common consciousness
• Repeated tellings and re-enactments
• Serves as a interpretive lens through which we
  can perceive and understand events
• Frankenstein as a modern myth

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Common consciousness

• In western culture the name Frankenstein and
  the image of the monster are almost universally
  recognized.
• The name invokes certain meanings that are
  understood and shared.

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Retellings (selected)

• 1818 novel
• 1823 and 1826 stage productions
• 1910 film -- Darley, Frankenstein (Edison)
• 1931 film -- Whale, Frankenstein (Universal)
• 1935 film -- Whale, The Bride of Frankenstein
• 1994 film -- Branagh, Mary Shellys Frankenstein

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Frankenstein on stage
The Monster in Presumption or, The Fate of
Frankenstein, 1823
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Frankenstein on film (1931)
Boris Karloff as the Monster in Frankenstein
(Universal Studios, 1931)
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Frankenstein on film (1994)
Robert De Niro as the monster in Frankenstein
(Tri Star,1994)
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An interpretive lens

• To what technologies have you heard the term
  Frankenstein applied?
• The term is symbolic, shorthand for a cluster of
  meanings or morals
• The meanings/morals
• Fear that technology will be uncontrolled or
  uncontrollable
• The danger of hubris
• Implied natural/moral limits -- creation of life

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How we use the word nature

• To describe
• To recommend
• Example x is wrong because it is unnatural.
• Problems
• What is natural?
• The naturalistic fallacy

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Four Conceptions of Nature (Sagoff)

• Everything in the universe
• Only the supernatural is not natural
• What God has created
• As opposed to what humans create
• That which is independent of human contrivance or
  influence
• As opposed to artificial
• That which is authentic or true to itself
• Natural is trustworthy and honest its opposite
  is deceptive, risky, superficial

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Whats unnatural in Frankenstein?

• In which of these senses, if any, is
  Frankensteins act of creation natural?
• In which of these senses, if any, is the monster
  natural?

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The naturalistic fallacy

• Drawing a conclusion about how things ought to be
  based solely on information about how things are
  in fact.
• Example "There have always been wars, so how
  can you argue that war is wrong?
• The unstated premise is that we must always
  accept things as they are.
• If true, this would undermine all uses of new
  technology.