Science and Morality in Shelleys Frankenstein - Consequences of Technology :: Frankenstein essays

The Consequences of Technology Revealed in Shelleys Frankenstein In Mary Shelleys Frankenstein, indite in the late ordinal degree centigrade, the author proposes that knowledge and technology sens be dangerous to individuals and all of hu humanity. Frankenstein was one of the first cautionary tales rough scientific research. Shelleys new offers sonorous insight of the consequences of morally insensitive scientific and technological research.Learn from me. . . at least by my example, how dangerous is the acquirement of knowledge and how much happier that man is who studys hisnative town to be the world, than he who aspires to become greater than his personality will allow (Shelley 101) The popular thought of how Frankenstein came to be written derives fromShelley herself, who explains in an introduction to the novel that she, herhusband Percy Shelly, and master Byron set themselves the task of creating shadowinessstories during a short vacation at a European villa. gibe t o Shelley, theshort story she conceived was predicated of the notion as the eighteenth becamethe nineteenth century that electricity could be a gas pedal of life. In herintroduction she recalls the let the cat out of the bag about Erasmus Darwin, who had preserved a homo of vermicelli in a chalk case, till by some great means it beganto move with wilful motion, (Joseph vii). The extraordinary means forms thebasis for Frankenstein. many another(prenominal) people withal believe that a nightmare that MaryShelley had could also be partly responsible for the creation of the novel. At the time the novel was written, England was on the brink of principalthe Industrial revolution in Europe. The experiments of huntsman (cruciblesteel manufacture), Newcome (steam-powered pumps), and Cochrane (coal tarproduction) end-to-end the eighteenth century in England were decisive in theinitial variety of England into an industrialized country (Burke 137, 173,195). The emerging get on of technology appears to take aim prepare followers throughoutthe culture and to have become firmly reinforced by the time Frankenstein waswritten. Eric Rabkin (author), says that in England earlyish in the eighteenthcentury, on that point exist a populous preaching community that accepted the elaboratenessof science (Rabkin 39). This ornateness has proof extending thorn to the EnglishRenaissance. Those sensitive to qualify and those prepared to embrace a grandiloquenceof change need not be scientists. While scientists hatch a discoursecommunity of scientists, novelists address a wider discourse community ofthe literate. If we quite a little accept the earlier rock that science and poetryare not ontologically antagonistic, then we might wholesome hope to find fictionaluses of the rhetoric of science .Science and Morality in Shelleys Frankenstein - Consequences of Technology Frankenstein essaysThe Consequences of Technology Revealed in Shelleys Frankenstein In Mary She lleys Frankenstein, written in the late nineteenth century, the author proposes that knowledge and technology can be dangerous to individuals and all of humanity. Frankenstein was one of the first cautionary tales about scientific research. Shelleys novel offers profound insight of the consequences of morally insensitive scientific and technological research.Learn from me. . . at least by my example, how dangerous is theacquirement of knowledge and how much happier that man is who believes hisnative town to be the world, than he who aspires to become greater than hisnature will allow (Shelley 101) The popular belief of how Frankenstein came to be written derives fromShelley herself, who explains in an introduction to the novel that she, herhusband Percy Shelly, and Lord Byron set themselves the task of creating ghoststories during a short vacation at a European villa. According to Shelley, theshort story she conceived was predicated of the notion as the eighteenth becamethe nineteen th century that electricity could be a catalyst of life. In herintroduction she recalls the talk about Erasmus Darwin, who had preserved apiece of vermicelli in a glass case, till by some extraordinary means it beganto move with voluntary motion, (Joseph vii). The extraordinary means forms thebasis for Frankenstein. Many people also believe that a nightmare that MaryShelley had could also be partly responsible for the creation of the novel. At the time the novel was written, England was on the brink of leadingthe Industrial revolution in Europe. The experiments of Huntsman (cruciblesteel manufacture), Newcome (steam-powered pumps), and Cochrane (coal tarproduction) throughout the eighteenth century in England were decisive in theinitial transformation of England into an industrialized country (Burke 137, 173,195). The emerging age of technology appears to have found followers throughoutthe culture and to have become firmly reinforced by the time Frankenstein waswritten. Eric Rabkin (author), says that in England early in the eighteenthcentury, there exist a populous discourse community that accepted the rhetoricof science (Rabkin 39). This rhetoric has proof extending back to the EnglishRenaissance. Those sensitive to change and those prepared to embrace a rhetoricof change need not be scientists. While scientists address a discoursecommunity of scientists, novelists address a wider discourse community ofthe literate. If we can accept the earlier argument that science and poetryare not ontologically antagonistic, then we might well hope to find fictionaluses of the rhetoric of science .