Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is the universal narrative of a man reaching for too much and facing the consequences. Through a nested, epistolary narrative, allusions to the Odyssey, character foils, and Gothic elements, Frankenstein presents a journey towards balance and moral fortitude in a fast-paced world of scientific discovery still relevant today according to Elon Musk of Tesla, who is currently the figurehead of a billion-dollar effort to prevent the development of Artificial Intelligence.
The stories of Frankenstein are like Russian nesting dolls bringing us deeper toward the center of the work. It begins with the letters of Walton, shifts to Victor’s tale, then to the Creature’s narration, then to the De Laceys so as to switch to Victor again and end with the records of Walton. ‘In medias res’, accounts given in flashbacks, and its 24 chapters borrowed from the Odyssey create a bridge between the two works, as Odysseus, like Victor, suffers from two commonly male vices: lust and pride. Literally, his tale is a homecoming, but figuratively represents the precautionary principle of taking a step back. Since hubris is masculine, balance is achieved in the Odyssey once Odysseus learns cautionary pensiveness, a more feminine trait. Victor never does, however, leaving Walton to fulfill his purpose as his foil by checking himself, then acting in the best interest of his men. The epistolary and nested narrative, the female elements of Frankenstein, function differently. One thing that the nested narrative make us aware of is that we are vicariously looking at a vicarious experience. In reality, we can only move forward in time, unless we read, as the great literary works teach us lessons most crucial to improving and preserving the human experience.
Through a vicarious experience we can move backwards, and that is how we can become retrospective and reflective. These lessons, too, might humble us and remind us that man is insignificantly small in the scope of the universe, and that he is fallible, hence why Shelley borrows from the tale of Prometheus, who stole fire from the Gods of Mount Olympus. Shelley aims to create a sense of the consequences that accompany seeking power and enlightenment; Victor is her contemporary Prometheus. He, like Prometheus, is captivated with electricity’s power. It is with this fascination that he has equipped himself with that the inner torture he will suffer from in pursuing it. Obsession puts man in a state of imbalance, and still the modern-day scientist may become so engrossed in their work that the ramifications of what they’re doing are unrealized. In doing so, “man has the power to act as his own destroyer—and that is the way he has acted through most of his history” (Dowd). Shelley is chiefly concerned with bioethics, her lessons for scientists revealed through Victor’s downfall: don’t play God, don’t overreach, don’t unleash uncontrollable forces, don’t treat humans as material, and don’t act alone.
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Victor is the mode of delivery for this message, but the Creature’s tale of the DeLaceys, specifically Felix, is just as significant. Felix is Latin for “happiness”; Agatha is Greek for “good”; and Safie is similar to the Greek name Sophia, meaning wisdom. They have “virtue and good feelings” (Shelley, 13) and “gentle manners and amiable qualities” (19), as they represent the good in humanity. Felix’s story is, however, becomes part of the nested narrative, and is easily the most important here. Though the act of saving Safie and her father may seem selfless, he’s acting in his own self-interest by aspiring to somehow obtain her. He fails to foresee the consequences, and his single tryst has consequences for the family, ruining forever the nobility DeLacey name held for years. Similarly, if advances continue in the field of A.I., a single innovation could lead to the downfall and extinction, even, of mankind.
Aside from the concentric narrative, Shelley also employs Walton as a character foil in the communication of her message. Walton relays to the reader that he “never saw a man in so wretched a condition” (13) when he first meets Victor in the Arctic. In their conversation Victor foreshadows the miserable events that are about to happen by warning Walton that since he is about to pursue “the same course, exposing [himself] to the same dangers” that brought him to eternal torture (14). In the first letter, various similarities between Victor Frankenstein and himself are established; for instance Walton’s “ardent curiosity… sufficient to conquer all fear of danger or death” (15) and the fact that he “preferred glory to every enticement that wealth placed in [his] path” (16) match Victor’s opinion that “Wealth was an inferior object, but what glory would attend the discovery” (17). Both men are unmarried, seeking companionship, and both share high-flown aspirations of glory, the same disposition of man to reach for too much. This becomes crucial, as Walton learns the pensiveness and moral review that Victor does not.
The fact that Margaret, the recipient of Walton’s letters, is cut off from the chain of narratives by the outermost frame and therefore not in any real danger of anything in the story, shows that his is not a typical Gothic novel, since the person most afraid is not the reader, but Victor, the creator of this whole mess.
Victor’s aspirations and style of speaking are lofty and high-flown. The Alps, specifically Mont Blanc, make up the elevated terrain that characterize Frankenstein, a typical element of the Gothic novel. Mount Olympus comes to mind, and this connection points to Victor’s God complex. However, the mountains bring balance as well. They loom over all life on Earth, emphasizing that, in comparison to nature, we are insignificant. Mont Blanc is additionally a phallic symbol, representing masculinity and the grandiosity of Victor’s ego. ‘I saw the lightning playing on the summit of Mont Blanc in the most beautiful figures…. While I watched the tempest, so beautiful yet terrific, I wandered on with a hasty step. This noble war in the sky elevated my spirits’ (43-44). Man needs to have the ability to listen to the universe that surrounds him, and use his mind to comprehend it to find the truth to guide humanity.
Victor doesn’t truly understand nature, exemplified by his perversion of natural order in creating the monster. It’s also worth noting that the form of a mountain is similar to that of an exponential curve. The rapid advancement in the creation of smarter and smarter A.I. technology could be described as a time on the cusp of reaching exponential growth. The tricky thing about standing on an exponential curve is, upon looking backwards, it appears flat, and upon looking ahead it appears vertical. According to Musk, “it’s very hard to calibrate how much you are moving because it always looks the same” (Dowd).
Shelley’s story is one that still echoes in contemporary debates concerning bioethics, and though the historical context in which Frankenstein was written differs from our world today, her message of the importance of first considering the ethical implications of what we do, communicated through the work’s concentric narrative, allusions to the Odyssey, character foils, and Gothic elements, is universal.
References
- Tesla
- Project Gutenberg – Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
- Google Books – Frankenstein: Essays in Memory of Mary Shelley
- The Frankenstein Variorum Edition
- National Center for Biotechnology Information – Frankenstein’s legacy: The tension between scientific discovery and ethical responsibility that accompanies the advancement of synthetic life forms.
- Persuasions On-Line – Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein as a Critique of Kantian Morality
