Life or Death - Frankenstein

Life or Death

If you create something should you be able to kill it? The notion of playing god like Victor did with the creatures in Frankenstein is comparative to the same issue the courts have with abortion laws. Various angles of abortion can be quite overwhelming as well as who makes the final decision. Many governments have struggled to strike what they believe to be a balance between the rights of pregnant women and the rights of fetuses. Before life is started, generally, an individual has thought about whether or not they want to create life. All life is created whether it is the creatures in Frankenstein or development of a fetus. Once life has been created choosing to end that life can cause many issues. The struggle of choosing between life and death could be avoided by an individual evaluating the results of creating a life before starting the process.

There are many factors to be evaluated before initiating the process of creating life. Most individuals know whether they are ready to create life. The choice is a big decision that effects the rest of their life. The book Frankenstein starts by presenting Victor Frankenstein as an individual with a craving to create life. However, he does not choose to persuade this creation the normal way (having a child), instead he chooses to create a life from the parts of deceased individuals. Victor had many years to think about creating the monster, but never thought of the consequences of his action. Also, later in the novel Victor chooses to begin creating another creature without fully thinking about what will happen if this creature is created. In the real world individuals think about having children many times in their life. People think about when to have children and when they will be able to provide the best life for their children. Though some individuals many believe they are ready to create life, after the process has been started individuals can change their mind.

Once the process of life has been initiated, individuals have a lot to consider. When Victor begins creating the first creature he is excited at the possibility of bringing his creation to life. He has no thoughts of destroying the creature at this time. However, once the creature is brought to life, and Victor realizes the monstrosity he has created, Victor wishes to abandon the creature. Victor stated, "For this I had deprived myself of rest and health. I had desired it with an ardour that far exceeded moderation; but now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart" (Shelley, pg. 42). Later in the novel when Victor has agreed to create a companion for the monster Victor has second thoughts after beginning the creation. Victor decides to destroy the second creature and hunt and kill the first monster. Victor’s choices with the monsters are similar to the current issue of abortion. In the United States when women find out they are pregnant they have the option of keeping the child or having an abortion. “Polls find that two-thirds of Americans say abortion should be legal during the first trimester, but that drops to 8 percent in the third trimester” (Abortion, Para. 12). Keeping the child would be similar to what Victor did with the first monster. Aborting the fetus would be similar to what Victor did to the second creature in the novel Frankenstein. While there are two sides to the argument, the argument all together could be avoided if people where to