Frankenstein: A blur of ethics in science

Frankenstein is a novel written by Mary Shelley in 1823. It revolves around the idea of science fiction, goth, horror and romance. It has a film adaptation of the same title, directed by James Whale. It had a sequel entitled Bride of Frankenstein, which we watched in our STS class.

Frankenstein was a product of the innovations of science through the brilliant mind of Dr. Henry Frankenstein who tried to find the key to eternal life and immortality by experimenting the dead bodies and subjecting them to lightning, as the high energy source.

This literary work exposes to the readers the connection of science and ethics. It is an example of where morality comes in traverse with the advances of technology. Frankenstein was said to be a mere fruit of science and yet we see, as the movie progresses, that he too has his own feelings and innocence.

This creature destroyed many lives and yet his creator and Dr. Pretorius tolerate it by trying to make another one like Frankenstein. This shows that science must always be coupled with ethics in order to function for the betterment of society and not for its destruction.

Frankenstein was depicted as a non-intellectual being in such a way that we can obviously distinguish the difference between a man and its creation. This just goes to show that no one can ever perfect and succeed in the copying of a human being.

All in all, the film and the book Frankenstein gave emphasis on the priority to partner science with ethics no matter what the situation may be.