Science and Progress in Frankenstein and Hard Times

KWB 724: 19th CENTURY LITERATURE

MAJOR ESSAY

SCIENCE AND PROGRESS IN FRANKENSTEIN ANDHARD TIMES

The 19th century was a time of massive change socially, politically and scientifically. This time saw the rise of Imperialism and of the Industrial Revolution in Britain, seeing massive changes in the way industry was run. Also during this time the literary movements of Romanticism and Victorianism emerged. Romanticism dealt with the issues of reality versus illusion, childhood and man versus nature. The first book I will examine in this essay, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, comes from this literary period and focuses on the man versus nature theme, namely the theme of scientific development and it’s contrast to nature. The second book I will look at in this essay comes from the Victorian period of the 19th century. This period saw the rise of the Industrial Revolution and of huge social and political change. Hard Times by Charles Dickens deals with these issues very closely, focusing

mainly on the rise of industry in Britain and its effects on the people of Britain. Both of these novels challenge the social, political and scientific developments of the 19th century, namely the advent of science and technology.

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein has become almost a myth in our culture; it so deeply probes the collective cultural psyche and our fear of science and progress. “Frankenstein is our culture’s most penetrating literary analysis of the psychology of modern ‘scientific’ man, of the dangers inherent in scientific research, and the exploitation of nature and of the female implicit in a technological society” (Mellor, 1988:38). The interesting thing about Frankenstein is that there can be multiple readings of the text. It can be seen as a conservative criticism of science, a Promethean belief of the unlimited progress of science, the feminist anti-female principle angle to the story, even a religion versus science story. What I will explore through this essay is each of these readings and shed some light on this wonderful novel. “The value of Mary Shelley’s novel lies not in presenting a clear morale but encouraging the readers to make up their own” (members.aon.at.htm).

The most obvious and well-known theory of the story of Frankenstein is that of a warning to the dangers of science: “ Mary Shelley’s implicit warning against possible dangers inherent in the technological developments of modern science” (Mellor, 1988:114). Shelley was very interested in science and she researched it before writing the novel, using this knowledge to create her story. The creation of the monster was based largely on the scientific research being undertaken in the 19th century; the use of electricity and chemistry in the reanimation of dead tissue and animals. The power and danger of electricity is described early in the novel when Victor recalls his first encounter with electricity:

“When I was fifteen years old…we witnessed a most

violent and terrible thunderstorm…and the thunder

burst at once with frightful loudness…as