Literary Psychoanalysis In Frankenstein

Psychoanalysis is one of the many parts of Psychology that Sigmund Freud, who was the father of Psychotherapy, had created for the advancement of Psychology. Psychoanalysis is a system used to analyze how the unconscious and conscious mind interact together. The aim of finding this interaction between the two parts of our mind is to make the unconscious mind conscious, thus gaining insight into how we think and to treat or possibly cure fears and anxieties. When using psychoanalysis on yourself or others one can uncover how they think unconsciously, what they fear, how they were raised as a child, and multitude of other things that might have been repressed over time. Literary psychoanalysis is a very popular subject among psychologists and
writers because instead of focusing on the story, they focus on the thought process and how the unconscious mind influences the conscious mind in the words and delivery selected.
Delving into science, Lewis Wolpert’s “Is Science Dangerous?” begs the question of the hazards in the progression of science. In modern day, almost no one stops to wonder if what we’re doing with our newfound knowledge in the field of science is actually worth the risk of the research. He shows that technology isn’t necessarily science, technology produces useable objects while science produces ideas about how our world works. Wolpert explains that “reliable scientific knowledge has no morals or ethics, it just tells how the world actually is.” Sometimes this knowledge goes a little farther than just being used to inform, sometimes people use this knowledge to spark curiosity for the advancement of something us humans shouldn’t be messing with. Things such as prolonging our lives as much as possible and experimenting with our own genes are just a fraction of what is happening in the field of science today.
In the critical analysis paper “Frankenstein: is it really about the dangers of science?” from Chris Bond, he explores the common misconception of the main theme in the novel Frankenstein.
From our present-day perspective, the book Frankenstein is about science and it’s dangers when it goes against the laws of nature. Every time a science experiment that resembles Frankenstein’s “dangerous science” theme occurs, people flock to the consensus that it will end in trouble. However, the theme of science isn’t the main idea nor focus from Mary Shelley’s intention in Frankenstein’s meaning. One of Frankenstein’s easily understood main themes is the dangers of scientific experimentation, but if one threw aside all of their preconceived ideas they would realize that there are multiple dominant themes that aren’t so easily understood. It isn’t the dangers of scientific experimentation with which Frankenstein is mostly concerned, but rather the “traits in the scientist's character, and his treatment of his progeny.” The science in Frankenstein is merely a narrative convenience to Mary Shelley, Victor Frankenstein could have been a poet or philosopher and the dominant themes would still remain the same. During Mary Shelley’s time period, the term “scientist” hadn’t been created yet which shows just how insignificant the theme of science and its dangers really are. The novel’s message instead consists of “egotism, neglect and alienation, and their consequent destructive
results.”

Reading Frankenstein with a psychoanalytic mindset opens up a couple of possible interpretations which are reflective to modern issues, especially to those related to gender, language, and power. To expose the underlying themes that Mary Shelley had actually intended the novel to have, we must first analyze the thought process and how Shelley’s unconscious came to light through her conscious mind. Shelley’s selection of the dangers of science shows that she thinks we shouldn’t mess with the laws of nature because we don’t always know what the product will be.