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  • Essay / Frankenstein: Natural and Artificial Dichotomies

    In the classic novel Frankenstein, Mary Shelley saturates her plot with abundant foreshadowing, homages, and contrasting images. Contrasting images, used to depict characters, scenes or ideas, accentuate their respective meanings and traits. One of the most notable contrasting images is found in Shelley's use of the natural and the artificial. Shelley's portrayal of Victor Frankenstein is morose and knowing. Frankenstein sacrificed his entire life in the pursuit of knowledge, even though his activities are taboo and considered illegal – they are condemned in the same way as witchcraft. With the advent of science and experimentation in the 19th century, Shelley and many others feared (and still fear) that the secrets of nature would be discovered. It was common to believe that nature was the province of God, not man, and that its secrets were best appreciated without answers. Frankenstein's activities are therefore seen as having "a tendency to weaken your affections and destroy your taste for these simple pleasures (33)". As a result, Shelly presents the dichotomies between nature and science....