Frankenstein and Blade Runner Essay Example
ENGLISH ADVANCED MODULE A
Frankenstein and Blade Runner Faced with similar challenges against long held values both Frankenstein and Blade Runner express similar concerns and developed concepts that were almost the same as they tried to stop science and technology from eroding fundamental values. However, given the almost 200 year difference it is inevitable that they express their concerns differently. Both Frankenstein and Blade Runner examine the consequences of Man usurping God’s role as creator and the distancing of humanity from a once harmonious relationship with Nature. Romanticism was a reaction against the scientific values of the Enlightenment which spanned from 1650 to the 1800s. It became a movement seeking to end the rationalisation of the Enlightenment and sought a return to a communion with fellow Man and Nature. Frankenstein was written by Mary Shelley in the wake of the Industrial Revolution and it espouses the values of Romanticism; emotion, spirituality and harmony. It serves as a warning against the unchecked scientific progress that was taking place around Shelley. Shelley develops the concept of Man usurping God’s role as creator through her characterisation of Victor. The heavenly imagery “It was the secrets of heaven and earth that I desired to learn” characterises Victor as disrespectful of God’s Laws, his arrogant ambition a symbol of the irreverent scientists of the Enlightenment. Creation once was something biblically pure and reserved for God but Victor ignores this and his work becomes a mockery of purity “I kept my workshop of filthy creation,” the oxymoron undermining the implied sanctity expressing the depravity of Victor’s ambition. The pervasive use of irony is evident in the juxta positioning of Victor denying his creation friendship and the companionship he seeks with Clerval “nothing could equal my delight on seeing Clerval,” he hypocritically denies the Monster the very thing he recognises as vital, friendship. This irony
Frankenstein and Blade Runner Faced with similar challenges against long held values both Frankenstein and Blade Runner express similar concerns and developed concepts that were almost the same as they tried to stop science and technology from eroding fundamental values. However, given the almost 200 year difference it is inevitable that they express their concerns differently. Both Frankenstein and Blade Runner examine the consequences of Man usurping God’s role as creator and the distancing of humanity from a once harmonious relationship with Nature. Romanticism was a reaction against the scientific values of the Enlightenment which spanned from 1650 to the 1800s. It became a movement seeking to end the rationalisation of the Enlightenment and sought a return to a communion with fellow Man and Nature. Frankenstein was written by Mary Shelley in the wake of the Industrial Revolution and it espouses the values of Romanticism; emotion, spirituality and harmony. It serves as a warning against the unchecked scientific progress that was taking place around Shelley. Shelley develops the concept of Man usurping God’s role as creator through her characterisation of Victor. The heavenly imagery “It was the secrets of heaven and earth that I desired to learn” characterises Victor as disrespectful of God’s Laws, his arrogant ambition a symbol of the irreverent scientists of the Enlightenment. Creation once was something biblically pure and reserved for God but Victor ignores this and his work becomes a mockery of purity “I kept my workshop of filthy creation,” the oxymoron undermining the implied sanctity expressing the depravity of Victor’s ambition. The pervasive use of irony is evident in the juxta positioning of Victor denying his creation friendship and the companionship he seeks with Clerval “nothing could equal my delight on seeing Clerval,” he hypocritically denies the Monster the very thing he recognises as vital, friendship. This irony