Precarious Knowledge

Precarious Knowledge

Natural law states we have only one creator. There have been many literary characters who challenged this theory. Victor Frankenstein was one of these characters. In his pursuit of scientific knowledge, he only brought grief to himself and those around him. Written in a time where the belief in monotheism reigned supreme and long before stem cell research, cloning and modern day genetics, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein shows us one man's quest for precarious knowledge. Victor is the true monster of this story, because of his unnatural creation; created solely to feed his desire to be God.

In man's quest to seek God and be closer to divinity, humans have made the mistake of trying to be God. Victor never wanted anything more than to be God. He wanted to be emulated and respected as humans do their draughtsman. "A new species would bless me as its creator and source; many happy and excellent natures would owe their being to me." (Shelley 52) This quote fully states Victor's desire to be a creator and be revered. He is no more overzealous than any modern day scientist. Take for example German philosopher Peter Sloterdijk ideas on biotechnology, "it is a humanistic illusion to believe that traditional ‘nurture' is enough when it comes to taming the bestial dimension of man's nature-…" (Laubichler) Here he is stating that man has to have a hand in our creation to only better humankind. It is with this enormous ego, the scientific community keeps stepping on the toes of God. "Sloterdijk refers to human ‘breeding' and ‘domestication' as alternatives to the ‘failure of humanism' in education. His metaphorical model is animal husbandry, in which generations of breeders have been very successful in creating docile races of wild animals." (Laubichler) The parallels between what Shelley wrote and modern day science are unmistakable. Here Victor wants to be God and modern science is trying to manipulate genomes to create perfect, docile humans.

Victor is the true monster in this story, because of his creation and for being so selfish and self-righteous. He created the monster out of pure self-indulgence and the need to discover knowledge. "So much has been done, exclaimed the soul of Frankenstein-more, far more, will I achieve; treading in the steps already marked, I will pioneer a new way, explore unknown powers, and unfold to the world the deepest mysteries of creation." (Shelley 47) It was from this pivotal point upon speaking with one of his professors that Victor realizes that it is his destiny to create something that those before him had dare not touch. In this moment Victor, believes that he alone possesses the means to create. He is not the first in the pursuit of knowledge that rode into the treacheries of science. Creating "monsters" purposefully or accidently is a reoccurring