Man's Responsibility

Man’s Ethical Responsibilities Man has the ability to do as G-d does, create, and it is because man exercises this ability that he has full responsibility for what he creates and for those around him. The novels Frankenstein by Mary Shelly and Frankenstein’s Cat by Emily Anthes are good examples of the morals behind this. The novels stress the point for taking responsibility for your creation and how man does not respect the animal kingdom around him. In Frankenstein, Mary Shelly has Victor ignore his responsibilities for the monster he creates, which leads to his demise, showing Shelley’s view of how many should take full responsibility of what he creates. Victor shows this complete lack of responsibility by expressing his singular focus in the experiment of recreating life. He states his intentions in saying “I had worked for nearly two years. For the sole purpose of infusing life into an inanimate body”. (Shelley 55) Frankenstein had been completely oblivious to the side effects of his experiment, and did not consider if by bringing something to life that it would have feelings. He only focused if it was possible to create life artificially. Frankenstein soon understood that by carelessly creating life, something that is considered the role of G-d, that he would suffer for it. He admits to his mistake in saying “I ardently wished to extinguish that life which I had so thoughtlessly bestowed”. (93) In Frankenstein’s Cat, Emily Anthes also feels that man should take full responsibility for that in which he creates when looking at the Beltsville Pig, a pig genetically altered for increased profitability. Anthes discusses that scientists performed experiments that would genetically alter pigs so that they would gain weight like humans; faster and by eating less food. The pigs suffered by these experiments by habing major afflictions such as; “joint diseases, kidney disease, heart disease, diabetes… and more.” (Anthes 50) Again like Frankenstein, the