Chemistry Reference
In-Depth Information
create a female as a mate for the Monster, then reneges on this agree-
ment. Similarly, dependent on funding from granting committees or cor-
porations, today's scientists are required to work in specific 'fashionable'
areas.
Shelley also explores the relation between Frankenstein's pursuit of
scientific success, his failure as a human being, and his social guilt. The
inevitable neglect of human ties involved in the scientist's total dedica-
tion to his research results not only in his own isolation and loneliness
but also in a moral and emotional loss to society. Whereas many other
Romantic treatments of the scientist's isolation assumed that this was a
voluntary state that could, at will, be reversed, Shelley suggests that there
is an inevitable loneliness and guilt contingent on scientific research.
Frankenstein begins by frequenting remote and lonely places. At first this
isolation is dictated by the requirements of his research since he collects
his materials from graveyards and charnel houses; but subsequently his
separation from society becomes a necessity imposed by the result of his
experiment - the existence of the Monster. In relating his tale to Walton,
another scientist pursuing an obsession in contravention of the natural
ties of affection, Frankenstein digresses to moralize explicitly: “If the
study to which you apply yourself has a tendency to weaken your affec-
tions, and to destroy your taste for those simple pleasures in which no al-
loy can possibly mix, then that study is certainly unlawful, that is to say,
not befitting the human mind.” (Shelley 1996, p33)
6. TerrorandDesire
Ultimately the perennial fascination of the master narrative of alchemy is
that it tells a story of what we both desire and fear to know- the story of
power beyond our dreams but also beyond our control. Paradoxically, no
century has had more control over the material universe than ours, and
yet we are still confronted with an unpredictable world where we are
stalked by terrorism, by AIDS and other pandemics, and by a latent and
recurrent nuclear threat. Caught between terror and desire, we are a
captive audience for stories that make sense of our uncertain existence by
embedding it in the archetypal legend of the powerful mage, the sinister
alchemist, the perplexed chemist.
