Lauren Bailey: Frankenstein

         There is one central theme that always jumps out at me while I am reading Shelley's Frankenstein, and that is the question of whether human beings ought to play with life and death. The human race is so distinct and separated from any other species. We are capable of accomplishing the seemingly impossible. We are able to rationalize, analyze, and emote. We have the capability to design and create, to feel and to desire. We are set apart, and that is something to not take for granted, as well as something to not take advantage of and manipulate. 

    Frankenstein, from an early age has the intense desire to know and understand the intricacies of human life. He wrote multiple times of his goal of unveiling the "secrets of nature" (Pg. 34). This deep longing shaped the way he operated through life, to the point that he started playing on a very fine line between constructive science and destructive design. I believe that there are some things humans should not do, such as play the part of God, which is exactly what Frankenstein does. Truly, after he mother passed, he devoted his life to understanding life and death in order to "rid of all violent death" (Pg. 36). However, this desire shifted into an all consuming obsession that eventually turned on him and destroyed the things he loved the most in life.

    It is a dicey game to play when you start going against nature. There is a certain risk one undertakes when choosing to act like God and be in control. Frankenstein learns in an absolutely despairing way that it is not a man's job to be in control of life and death. 

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