Analyse how ‘Frankenstein’ and ‘Blade Runner’ Imaginatively portray individuals who challenge the established values of the time. In your response, refer to both excerpts below.
i) ‘Slave, I before reasoned with you, but you have proved yourself unworthy of my condescension. Remember that I have powers, you believe yourself miserable, but I can make you so wretched that the light of day will be hateful to you. You are my creator, but I am your master;-obey!’ ii) the still of Roy holding Tyrell’s face
Through the relationship between the characters of Victor and his creature, Shelley challenges nineteenth century values about the role of science, the benefits of ambition and fame and the dominance of nature by man. Similarly Scott develops the characters of Roy and Tyrell to challenge the same assumptions about science and nature but he does so in a context of technological development that allows multinational corporations to exploit on a massive scale. Both texts also explore the larger issue of human values, asking what potential lies in a human and whether we can readily define human nature.
In Shelley’s novel, Victor’s portrayal challenges the assumptions of the previous eighteenth century that the progress of science is the most important human pursuit. He is the ‘The modern Prometheus” a Greek mythological human who stole fire from the gods and brought it back to earth. This story like Shelley’s questions the benefits and consequences of ambition. In Shelley’s Romantic context science is seen as a threat towards nature and Shelley conveys this threat through the hubris of Victor. Shelley explores Victor’s blind ambition to “penetrate into the recesses of nature and show how she works in her hiding-places”. Victor’s character is seen as self-absorbed and his ambition is fueled by selfish reasons “A new species would bless me as its creator and source…would owe their being to me”. Victor’s character is