Frankenstein

Ali Hoeck

Mr. Hodara

Literary Analysis

1 March 2012

Cursed, Cursed Creator!

In some situations, human beings try to alter the ways mother nature works. This is in fact the case when the drug Thalidomide was created by scientists and given to pregnant women in the early stages of pregnancy to reduce the natural feelings of morning sickness as the body adjusts. Likewise, in Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein, a scientist, Victor Frankenstein, is tying to bestow “animation upon lifeless matter” in creating a human being by stitching together body parts from corpses and electrifying them (Shelley 53). While both scientists tried to increase the quality or length of life both inventions failed, causing more harm and destroying lives.

In both instances, the scientists began creating their inventions to improve the human condition, but they both ended with the same result, giving birth to monsters. Thalidomide began as a beneficial drug created to turn a profit for a company and seemed effective and harmless. The drug was marketed towards pregnant women so that they would not be affected by weeks of illness during the beginning stages of pregnancy. It would not alter their ability to accomplish their daily routines while feeling healthy. The “daemon” on the other hand, whom Frankenstein creates out of his own egotistical values, is clearly dangerous from the beginning. Victor creates the the daemon solely to prove that can bring the dead back to life or show is “God complex” that mankind can create mankind.

For both the Thalidomide scientists and Victor Frankenstein, the “dream” of their creation vanished and “breathless horror and disgust” took its place. After seeming like a very beneficial and helpful drug to aid mothers of sickness, Thalidomide took a turn for the worse and the scientists dreams turned into a nightmare. The babies were born with severe deformities to mainly their limbs: thumbs growing out of their feet, arm bones that curl, and legs not fully...