Ethical Issues Throughout Frankenstein

Alex Cohen
Mrs. Schroder
English 4
5 December 2016
Ethical Issues Throughout Frankenstein
Frankenstein is a book written in the early 1800’s that references technology that is just now being created. These technologies present the human race with a multitude of ethical issues that would not even have been thought of when this book was written. However, most are brought up throughout this book. Other ethical issues that have to do with this technology are also prominent in the story, although most of them originate from the creation of the monster. The monster is created by Frankenstein and it kills some of his close friends and family, but the retaliation by the monster stems from Frankenstein abandoning it after it was created. Creating
Instead of standing up and taking the blame for creating the monster which ultimately led to the death of his brother, he lets the trial go on and lets Justine die for a crime she did not commit. Victor is more accountable for this death than Justine is because of everything he did to the monster to lead up to this moment. He created the creature and then left it all alone in the wild. The monster could obviously reason and wanted to harm his creator for his abandonment. As he was walking he heard that this man was related to Victor, killed him, and then planted evidence so that it looked like Justine had committed the crime. Victor refuses to take charge of his own actions and instead casts a gloomy fate on all of those close to him. His wife, Elizabeth, is killed later in the story right after they get married. Victor thought that the monster would kill him so he gets away from his wife. He then realizes the creature meant that he would kill his wife but he is too late and she has already been killed. He could have prevented Elizabeth from dying if he had informed her about his secret and given her knowledge that she could have protected herself
Frankenstein creating the monster starts off bad and it only goes even further downhill from there. What the monster does throughout the story is very unethical and not very moral, but its actions can be explained by learning about what Victor did to create the mess. When he created the monster and then left it, he put everyone who was close to him in danger and never owned up to the fact that it was his fault. He let innocent people die because of this and when he could have explained that he created the monster, he decided to stay silent. The bad ethics are even further displayed through secondary characters who judge the monster based on social norms and its looks. In a book of unethical and unmoral events, Shelley decided to place in an ethical and moral character: Robert Walton. He is the epitome of a great man based on his actions. This book was filled with unethical decisions that could have been prevented if the monster was never