Frankenstein by Mary Shelley and the doctor assuming the role of God Essay

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley and the doctor assuming the role of God - Essay Example â€Å"A new species would bless me as their creator and source: many happy and excellent natures would owe their being to me. No father could claim the gratitude of his child so completely as I should deserve theirs.† (Shelley, 58) Therefore, it is evident that there is an insatiable urge in Victor Frankenstein to assume the role of God and he is often criticized for crossing ethical and moral boundaries with the aim of achieving this goal. An understanding of his experiences with the monster in the novel confirms that his choice is executed with ill-intentions and questionable for ethical motives. This paper makes a reflective exploration of the idea that Victor was wrong in assuming the role of God. Assuming the role of God for the purpose of creating life is wrong, and such an endeavor led to the detriment of Dr. Frankenstein in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. A profound analysis of the theme of assuming the role of God in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein confirms tha t the major character, Dr. Frankenstein, has been highly obsessed the lure of creating life from his early childhood onwards. At his young age, Victor was fascinated by the wonders life offered him and he wanted to learn about all of them and he dedicated his time to exploring the realms of these wonders through the study of alchemy, chemistry, philosophy and human anatomy. As a youngster, Victor was obsessed with the power of knowledge and wished to find out the secrets of nature and its powers. â€Å"The most learned philosopher knew little more. He had partially unveiled the face of Nature, but her immortal lineaments were still a wonder and a mystery†¦ I had gazed upon the fortifications and impediments that seemed to keep human beings from entering the citadel of nature, and rashly and ignorantly I had repined.† (47) Significantly, his obsession for knowledge led Victor to make a life-altering decision – the decision to create an animate being. After several years of labor – intensive work – stitching together different pieces of flesh into one being – Victor finally completed his task and created life. The outcome, however, was not the wonderful being he had hoped for, but rather a monstrous atrocity. He had created a fearsome and inhuman creature; he created a monster. Thus, Harold Bloom presents â€Å"Victor Frankenstein, in his act of creation, as being momentarily a moral idiot, like so many who have done his work after him†¦ When the ‘dull yellow eye’ of his creature opens, this creator falls from the autonomy of a supreme artificer to the terror of a child of earth†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Bloom, 6) Therefore, it is fundamental to maintain that Victor’s attempt to assume the role of God by creating a monster resulted in his ultimate detriment and tragedy in life. One of the essential factors about the character of Victor in the novel is that he is presented as a counterfeit of God and as a Fau stian figure, rather than a Promethean one. Significantly, the intention of the protagonist in assuming the role of God in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein has not been one of serving the welfare of humanity, but rather to serve his egoistic motive of acquiring power and respect of his creation. In fact, the most fundamental irony of the novel Frankenstein: Or,