Monsters of the Mind.
The true story of how the novel Frankenstein came to be written by the young Mary Shelley in the year 1818 sparks interest in not just the literary work, but fundamental questions of possible moral dilemmas.
Four famous friends on one bleak and boring day were contemplating ghost stories, and it came about that Lord Byron the poet, suggested a challenge by way that each of them should write the most frightening tale they could imagine. After several days nothing had occurred to Mary Shelley. A discussion between the friends had developed over the evolvement of Prometheus a Titan credited with the creation of the first humans from clay. What really had upset the Gods was that Prometheus had given the humans the knowledge of how to make fire.
Mary Shelley knew that historically and culturally the idea of life and death intrigued, and experiments with lifeless examples had repeatedly been rumoured to give the impression that life could spontaneously appear. So she took it one step further with a what if scenario of a lifeless corpse and how it could be that through elaborate machinery, this being be brought to life.
The novel Frankenstein poses several significant questions, but the one that for me seems to override all others is that once the former corpse is alive, does Frankenstein have the position of life and death over his creation?
Once you read the novel, you can not fail but to be involved in a plight that has a poignant appeal and another more disposed towards an aspect of fright. Undeniably there is the moral responsibility of caring for the mental well being of a sentient being. Just imagine for one moment, the shock and revulsion at your appearance that causes other people to recoil in horror.
In an ideal world people would not form opinions of others by their appearance, but be far more open to an appreciation of other qualities such as honesty, kindness and reliability. The internal traits of the human condition and how well these are exhibited are not always the basis upon which fairness or justice have historically been shown.
There is one more general factor to be considered and it is an issue that Shelley does allude to throughout Frankenstein, how do we judge quality and life? In today’s society where enhancements and aesthetics have become an assimilated part of many accepted ideals, people may look in the mirror and fixate on one possible defect and in their own minds create themselves into their own personal Frankenstein's monster.
Monsters of the mind can come about through an endless dissatisfaction with how one feels about themselves or what they think others see when they look at them. In Frankenstein do we not find a moral of timeless appeal, whereby power, beauty and humanity all come into play?
Four famous friends on one bleak and boring day were contemplating ghost stories, and it came about that Lord Byron the poet, suggested a challenge by way that each of them should write the most frightening tale they could imagine. After several days nothing had occurred to Mary Shelley. A discussion between the friends had developed over the evolvement of Prometheus a Titan credited with the creation of the first humans from clay. What really had upset the Gods was that Prometheus had given the humans the knowledge of how to make fire.
Mary Shelley knew that historically and culturally the idea of life and death intrigued, and experiments with lifeless examples had repeatedly been rumoured to give the impression that life could spontaneously appear. So she took it one step further with a what if scenario of a lifeless corpse and how it could be that through elaborate machinery, this being be brought to life.
The novel Frankenstein poses several significant questions, but the one that for me seems to override all others is that once the former corpse is alive, does Frankenstein have the position of life and death over his creation?
Once you read the novel, you can not fail but to be involved in a plight that has a poignant appeal and another more disposed towards an aspect of fright. Undeniably there is the moral responsibility of caring for the mental well being of a sentient being. Just imagine for one moment, the shock and revulsion at your appearance that causes other people to recoil in horror.
In an ideal world people would not form opinions of others by their appearance, but be far more open to an appreciation of other qualities such as honesty, kindness and reliability. The internal traits of the human condition and how well these are exhibited are not always the basis upon which fairness or justice have historically been shown.
There is one more general factor to be considered and it is an issue that Shelley does allude to throughout Frankenstein, how do we judge quality and life? In today’s society where enhancements and aesthetics have become an assimilated part of many accepted ideals, people may look in the mirror and fixate on one possible defect and in their own minds create themselves into their own personal Frankenstein's monster.
Monsters of the mind can come about through an endless dissatisfaction with how one feels about themselves or what they think others see when they look at them. In Frankenstein do we not find a moral of timeless appeal, whereby power, beauty and humanity all come into play?
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