Science and Mary Shelley

Mary Shelley wrote her book in a century characterized totally by science.
Victor Frankenstein is a man who dedicates his life to science: in particular when he’s adult, he leaves from Geneva in order to study into the University of that Period: in this way It can see two different aspects concerning the scientific studies, here It can just know the conflict between the ancient alchemy and the new science born with Galilei and continued with Newton, Keplero, and, first of all for Mary Shelley, Galvani.
During the 19^th century Galvani was one of the most important scientists of that century, who helped to answer to one of the most interesting question of that period that was: “Is It possible to resuscitate dead men?”
Galvani and so Victor Frankenstein too, uses the electricity in order to bring them to life?” Victor thinks that his “daemon” is a “life’s spark” but also a being that could speak, think, read, have sensations: in this way Mary Shelley explains how he could be a reborn creature thanks to electricity, to the scientific studies.
I think now It could talk about the relationship between The Bible and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. At the beginning God created a perfect being, because he wanted to create a man in his own image and likeness. Victor, instead, creates a horrible creature, in particular the doctor becomes to a “God on the world”.
The writer takes a part into this discussion, because she thinks It is a terrible aspect of the life, It is horrible to make reborn something that has just died.In particular she highlights this aspect when Victor doesn’t use only one body for his experiments ( I’m not talking about the last part of the work, when he re-use the body of Elizabeth in order to have his lover after her death), but pieces of some bodies in order to explain the Horror of that thing.
Creating a being isn’t a good thing: at the end of the work, the monster was considered itself a miserable, in particular because, after a lot of time, it didn’t know why It was living: Mary Shelley wants to highlight how terrible creating is died being, also the monster is sad for its life.

Beatrice Del Bianco