Frankenstein and Radical Science: A Summary

The 1818 version of Frankenstein is very different from the 1831 version: the original version left much to be interpreted in regards to science, and that led to its fall in popularity the following year as science started to hold a spot of common knowledge among the people; the 1831 version adds religious undertones and reflection and analysis

Link to Frankenstein and celebrated, publicly-staged debate during 1814-1819 of two professors at London’s Royal College of Surgeons on the issue of origins and nature of life; Abernathy, the senior surgeon, sought to unite religious and secular opinions, while Lawrence sought to promote materialist science, which focused on the organization and function of living bodies

Thought that Frankenstein acts out the debate between Abernathy and Lawrence in a form those close to the debate could recognize it; Frankenstein is the experimenter, who is working with superseded and abandoned notions and suggests the position of Abernathy, who likened the spark of life similar to electricity, while Frankenstein’s other experiments is analogous to Lawrence, showing how organic and inorganic cannot be mixed

Shelly also comments on human evolution through the study of language; the Creature learns to speak and understand language without a parenting or guiding force in his life; Shelly was inspired by the literature of the Wild Boys and Girls during the 18^th century; those children raised by animals never grasped the concept of language or body coordination

Shelly also raises larger issues that Lawrence spoke about; heredity, fosterage, and nurturance, sexual selection and the perverse adoptive choices which lead to extinction; she touches heredity when Frankenstein marries his first cousin, Elizabeth; Frankenstein’s choices lead the Creature to kill almost all of his family, leaving only his younger brother alive; shows how monstrous Frankenstein is when comes to parenting, abandoning his creation at the beginning, then the Creature becomes stronger and dominant in their relationship as the book progresses, even going so far as to find food for Frankenstein