Iida Post #2

Shelley believes that inventors and scientists need to be accountable for the things they create. In the first section, invention is shown to be dangerous and addictive: Victor Frankenstein becomes obsessed with the creation of a creature but when his creature comes alive it wreaks such havoc that the biggest regret of Frankenstein is beginning the project in the first place. In the second section, however, Frankenstein’s creation becomes more sympathetic, and it pleads with Frankenstein to do one thing to secure its happiness. “I am alone and miserable; man will not associate with me; but one as deformed and horrible as myself would not deny herself to me. My companion must be of the same species, and have the same defects. This being you must create.” (p103-104). Frankenstein’s creation believes that Frankenstein, as his creator, has an obligation to secure his happiness. Frankenstein brought the creature into the world, and now Frankenstein must provide for his creature. Invention for the sake of invention, without a sense of humanity, is wrong. However, Frankenstein is terrified of his creation, and does not want to create another, equally hideous and equally dangerous. “I do refuse it…and no torture shall ever extort a consent from me…Shall I create another like yourself, whose joint wickedness might desolate the world?” (p104). Frankenstein wants to distance himself from his creation, to live in innocence and naivety, and forget the existence of his creation. However, with the act of creation, Frankenstein bound himself up in a net of events and reactions that he cannot escape, no matter how hard he tries. Science is not objective, and the creation cannot be separated from the creator. Modern scientists should take warning from this and try to understand the implications of their creations before they are made, because once something is created, it can never be un-created.