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Mary Shelleys novel Frankenstein has held much influence in culture throughout its time since its release to culture today. The novel focuses on a scientist named Victor Frankenstein who gives life to his creation out of old body parts. Once Frankenstein discovers this creation is not what he imagined, he, along with mankind, rejects the hideous creature leaving him sad and angry. This brought about a discussion of posthumanism within the novel and the way culture saw it. From this, questions within the lens of science and technology and whether these ideals were ethical arose. The discussion continues to be a big deal in todays modern times with the question of science going too far and the dangers within the progression of science in a more ethical light. Modernism and postmodernism aid in the discovery of what is natural and what is good.
Frankenstein argues for a reflection of ethics within its story. It also introduces science more personally where the posthuman condition in society is among the humanist ideas of subjectivity. With this novel, Shelley invited a lot of new scientific questions. However, Frankenstein is not only the first creation story to use scientific experimentation as its method, but it also presents a framework for narratively examining the morality and ethics of the experiment and experimenter (Shafer). Shelley first published her novel in 1818, and it was nominated by Brian Aldiss as the first real science fiction novel where science replaced supernatural machinery (Panka). It can be assumed that Shelley wanted to make such a bold statement by incorporating this scientific exploration in her novel during her time. She shared with her father and husband an interest in the idea of the perpetual progress of humanity, exploring in the novel the possibilities of using technology to this end, a notion that of human enhancement through technology which is crucial to transhumanist reflection (González).
Although Shelleys novel was created about 200 years ago, its cultural impact lives on today in media, technology, and regard for personal identity. Shelleys novel, written on a holiday with Lord Byron inspired by a dream, has captured the imaginations of cultures since (Shafer). Whether she meant to create such an impact or was merely just exploring her dream, she wrote the first major work in the science fiction genre .. [priming] her reader for the theme of the dire consequences of playing God (Shafer). Popular culture tends to simplify the ethical issues explored in this novel:
Victor Frankenstein is the archetypical mad, evil scientist, and the Creature is the robotic, zombie-like being whose strength and fury have to be kept under control, if not destroyed. Yet, Mary Shelleys characters are far from being conceived as flat, stock villains. The Creature, indeed, is the most articulate person in the whole novel, … while Victors scientific endeavors are purportedly guided by a firm desire to benefit humanity, to banish disease from the human frame, and render man invulnerable to any but a violent death (González).
The creature created by Frankenstein has created a bigger discussion on posthumanism and the identity of what is seen as human or non-human. Parallels from Shelleys work can be seen in the media today, particularly for example, in TV shows. Daniel Panka, Ph.D. student in Modern English and American Literature and Culture, compares Shelleys Frankenstein to an episode of a scientific fiction futuristic Netflix series, Black Mirror , titled Be Right Back. The episode follows a young widow who brings her husband back to life with technology. His identity is reassembled from his online persona, voice messages, digital material left behind from him, etc.
The womans fascination with her digital husband declines and rejection sets in because of her eventual discomfort. Panka explains this with Mashiro Moris Uncanny Valley theory of when a replica looks human but is not, we tend to experience an unpleasant feeling towards it and find it creepy (Panka). This compares to Frankenstein in the debate of the post-humanistic view and the ethical debate of the responsibility of these creatures. These debates are being discussed now in a boom of technology more than ever. Victor Frankensteins monster became an investigation, in very early times, of whether we could categorize technology as human.
Reading the novel in todays age of digital media increases its relevance. The idea of posthumanism is described as a concept that originated from the fields of science fiction, contemporary art, and psychology, which is defined as a person or entity existing in a state beyond being human. This state can be physical or mental, such as a zombie existing as a physically posthuman body or a man-made AI evolving its comprehension beyond human capability in a posthuman state. The defining factor of the posthuman remains as a person or entity beyond being human, whether it has taken the form of zombies, cyborgs, AI, or other entities (Ring).
In earlier times, subjectivity focused on the idea of the perfect human- beautiful, well-built, etc. The posthuman idea came in for its mental expectations and physical functions rather than consciousness. Regeneration then became a popular interest amongst posthumanists through medicine and technology (Ring). Usually, topics within biology and science are tackled rather than the ethical position of posthumanism in society. In Frankenstein , the Creator himself became terrified at his creation due to its lack of perfection. Victor Frankenstein had given his monster beautiful features in hopes of creating the perfect human being, but when it did not turn out that way, he was filled with disgust (Shelley). Even the monster begins to see himself through a humanist viewpoint. We see the monster living beyond just a posthumanist state. At the end of the novel, the audience is presented with the monsters death. Because of the way he was treated, the monsters feelings led him to a point where he felt as though death was all he had left for him. The monster wanted to kill the prejudice towards his posthuman state and Victor represented humanity (Ring). The monsters character is of great importance in helping the audience understand the idea of what being human is. An argument can then be created that what is posthuman can hold humanistic traits of anger, sadness, and confusion and be treated as such. This is important and widely seen in todays science, media, and technology where cloning is being done and digital media is sharing possibilities of posthumanism in modern times (Ring).
The ethical postmodernism debate is almost always accompanied by religion, and while this follows a scientific perspective, I believe its only fair to review the religious point of view of this question through the novel. It can be viewed primarily through Christian philosophy. The idea of playing God in creating new life is presented in Shelleys novel and whether it is ethical to do so. Victors God complex can be argued to be the reason for his failure, especially due to his scientific approach to the subject of creating life as a God (Ring). Religious influence comes into play in todays question of posthumanism as ethical in science. The idea becomes one of asking whether we can create human beings and give them the same rights and life as actual beings. Is this playing God? Is this unethical? Are scientific practices going too far? Christian philosophy usually argues that it is, and because this ideal is widespread, posthuman technology has been seen in a negative light.
Stanford Medicine has taken to studying the frontiers of science and technology in Frankenstein explaining that Safeguards, protocols, and institution approvals by committees educated in the horrible and numerous examples of unethical experiments done in the name of science are used to prevent a lone wolf-like Victor Frankenstein from undertaking his garret experiments (Shafer).
Medicine today makes it a point to be safe, but protection can only go so far when it comes to curiosity. Future technological advances and their consequences are unknown now, but the thought can be unsettling. Would these future technologies be accepted in modern times? The repercussions would need to be evaluated in this sense, unlike the creation of drugs, which even then also creates controversies (Shafer). It can also be argued that in the exploration of science and technology, society is evolving and the consequences could affect society itself. Shafer, an MD anesthesiologist, and co-director of Biomedical Ethics and Medical Humanities, writes, In terms of health, medicine, and bioengineering, Frankenstein resonates far beyond defibrillation. These resonances include genetic engineering, tissue engineering, transplantation, transfusion, artificial intelligence, robotics, bioelectronics, virtual reality, cryonics, synthetic biology, and neural networks. These fields are fascinating, worthy areas of exploration (Shafer).
These fields are ones being explored today and very shortly. Thus, creating an importance and urgency to discuss the idea of what exactly being human and natural is, whether the possibility of post-humans can peacefully coexist, and what the limits are.
In conclusion, Mary Shelleys Frankenstein has culturally influenced society with the discussion of posthumanism in technology, science, art, and even religion. The exchange of these ideas within different professions and areas of study allows a consciousness of other cultures and can ultimately aid in discovering an understanding of what being human is. It has relied on the idea of rethinking the novel itself. Even decades later, Shelleys novel holds cultural significance and critique that are still being used and taught. The monster acts as the question of ethicality and societys adjustment to empathize with the creature more and his creator less proves a shift in the effect of the novel through culture and through time.
Works Cited
- Daniel Panka. Transparent Subjects: Digital Identity in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Charlie Brooker’s Be Right Back. Science Fiction Studies , vol. 45, no. 2, 2018, pp. 308324. JSTOR , www.jstor.org/stable/10.5621/sciefictstud.45.2.0308 .
- González, Margarita Carretero. The Posthuman That Could Have Been: Mary Shelley’s Creature. Relations. Beyond Anthropocentrism , https://www.ledonline.it/index.php/Relations/article/view/992 .
- Ring, Isa. ‘Frankenstein; Or, the Trials of a Posthuman Subject: An Investigation of the Monster in Mary Shelley’s ‘Frankenstein’ and His Attempt at Acquiring Human Subjectivity in a Posthuman State.’ (2017). Web.
- Shafer, Audrey. Why Issues Raised in Frankenstein Still Matter 200 Years Later. Stanford Medicine ,http://stanmed.stanford.edu/2018winter/why-issues-raised-in-Frankenstein-still-matter-200-years-later.html.
- Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft, 1797-1851. Frankenstein, Or, The Modern Prometheus: the 1818 Text. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 1998. http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5621/sciefictstud.45.2.0308
- https://www.ledonline.it/index.php/Relations/article/view/992
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