Universal Truth In Frankenstein

In humanity’s understanding of the surrounding world, there are certain unalienable truths, or natural laws. Typically, these regard the essence of life and its intersection with humanity, with examples including the creation of new life, the permanence of death, and the inability of humans to defy physics and utilize magic. In literature, these laws offer a common topic of exploration, both in terms of what constitutes a universal truth and what happens when such a truth is rejected. Two examples of works that explore the latter theme are Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus and Christopher Marlowe’s The Tragical History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus. Shelley tackles the subject of the life’s origin, when Victor
Faustus, who is offered several opportunities to atone, yet repents only on his deathbed. Although Faustus considers returning to God several times throughout the play, his failure to do so until the moment of his death shows the extent of his arrogance. In the final act of the play, Faustus attempts to pledge himself to God, only to vacillate back to Lucifer within ten lines of dialogue. Faustus’s mercurialness and inability to commit to either deity represents that his true allegiance lies only with whomever appears the most rewarding in the current moment. Just before the hour of his death, Faustus proclaims, “Ah, my Christ/Ah, rend not my heart for naming of my Christ/Yet I will call on him, oh spare me Lucifer!” (Marlowe 5.2 72-74). Even in his attempts to repent, he still requests forgiveness from Lucifer, to whom he is bound. This further demonstrates the incredibly insincerity of any attempt Faustus makes to atone for his sins; rather, it makes obvious how selfish and remorseless he truly is. With these final lines, Marlowe cements the sheer repugnance present in Faustus, which Victor manages to avoid demonstrating in spite of his many
Although both works offer an entertaining read, the moral ambiguity in Frankenstein, owing itself to the compassion and capacity for evil that coexist within Victor, enables those who read the novel to question whether similar tendencies exist within themselves. Primarily, however, analyzing two protagonists who address the same moral quandary demonstrates the evolutionary nature of literature. Because the introspective personality of Victor in Frankenstein so well reflects the Romantic period during which Shelley wrote the novel, comparing it to Doctor Faustus, an earlier work of fiction that discusses a similar topic, offers insight into the development of English literature over