Frankenstein: The Question of Morality

Lesson Plan - Get It!

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Morals are a person's standard of beliefs for acceptable and unacceptable behavior. There are common moral beliefs, such as not stealing or lying.

For some people, morals are derived from their cultural beliefs and practices. For others, morals are founded upon their religious faith.

One of the most complex aspects of moral codes is humanity's capacity to break or ignore the code in certain circumstances.

For example, white lies — like telling a friend you like her haircut even if you don't — seem harmless. However, small white lies can become more complicated than we realize.

The 1992 eassy "The Ways We Lie" describes an example of a white lie intended to do good. A military sergeant knew one of his men was killed in action. However, he chose to list the man as missing in action to compensate his family for an indefinite length of time instead of the small amount they would have received upon his death.

The sergeant's actions were based on good intentions, but they also left a family in terrible pain for many years as they anxiously awaited news of the missing man.

This is an example of a break in the common moral code to tell the truth. In many cases, even a well-intended break in moral code results in some damage for the individual or someone else.

In the first half of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (through Chapter 16), she introduces a miserable Victor as he tells his sad story to Robert Walton.

Victor recognizes that he was raised in a good, loving environment with many privileges. Despite his idyllic childhood, he becomes obsessed with achieving greatness as a scientist.

When he enters university, he quickly begins to invest all his time and energy into bestowing life on a lifeless form. Throughout this process, he does not question whether or not he should create life, only whether or not he can do it.

In Chapter Four, Victor explains his thought process.

"A new species would bless me as its creator and source; many happy and excellent natures would owe their being to me. No father could claim the gratitude of his child so completely as I should deserve theirs. Pursuing these reflections, I thought that if I could bestow animation upon lifeless matter, I might in process of time (although I now found it impossible) renew life where death had apparently devoted the body to corruption. "

Victor is motivated by a selfish desire to create life and to become a god. While his intentions are not directly evil in that he does want to help those who are at death's door, he does not apply the strong moral code his parents attempted to instill in him.

He is also aware that his plan is not morally acceptable, as he says later in the same chapter.

"I collected bones from charnel-houses and disturbed, with profane fingers, the tremendous secrets of the human frame."

Furthermore, his forced isolation during this time demonstrates his understanding that his work cannot be done openly.

Victor's broken moral code becomes most apparent when he abandons his creation immediately after bringing it to life. He also refuses to warn others about the existence of his "monster," which results in the death of his younger brother.

He is afraid to tell the truth and ultimately allows Justine to die for the crimes his creation committed.

Victor rationalizes his omission of the truth in Chapter 7.

"My tale was not one to announce publicly; its astounding horror would be looked upon as madness by the vulgar. Did any one indeed exist, except I, the creator, who would believe, unless his senses convinced him, in the existence of the living monument of presumption and rash ignorance which I had let loose upon the world?"

Through Victor's downward spiral, Mary Shelley communicates a clear message on the importance of a moral code and the danger of breaking this code, even with good intentions.

Continue to the Got It? section for some vocabulary work.