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In Mary Shelley’s groundbreaking 1818 science fiction novel Frankenstein, the reckless pursuit of scientific discovery by Victor Frankenstein leads to chaos, despair, and death for many of the novel’s characters. Because of this, some critics see the book as a critical response to the impact of the Scientific Revolution. Beginning in the mid-16th century with Copernicus’s argument that the sun is at the center of the universe, the Scientific Revolution ushered in an era where assumptions about the natural world were challenged and revised. Other important scientific discoveries, such as Galileo’s contributions to astronomy and physics and Isaac Newton’s discoveries about gravity and the laws of motion, led to a a huge increase in the level of knowledge available about the world and its workings.
These discoveries also led to shifts in how people related to knowledge: rather than relying on accepted wisdom from authoritative sources (blind faith), people favored tests, observation, and evidence to support what was considered to be “true.” While advances in our understanding of the laws of science led to overwhelmingly positive changes, some saw the progress of science as limitless, raising fears about how far was too far. Christian theology explains creation as an act of God; therefore, to tamper with this process, as Victor Frankenstein does in creating his monster, was to position oneself as on the same level as God. The idea of mutilating and dissecting corpses for the sake of experimentation became an increasingly real fear as medical study required better knowledge of anatomy and the possibility of experimental procedures.
Frankenstein as a Critique of Scientific Morals
Frankenstein is certainly not a knee-jerk reaction opposing scientific discovery. Shelley’s Introduction acknowledges the contributions of recent scientific endeavors and the novel itself presents the pursuit of scientific knowledge—in the characterization of Victor’s professor M. Waldman and elsewhere—in and of itself to be natural and not innately perverted. What the novel focuses on is what happens when science is not paired with individual moral responsibility. Victor Frankenstein is fixated on the glory of achievement, without considering what it will mean to have a new species be dependent on him.
Since the publication of Shelley’s novel, many other writers have grappled with questions of what might happen when people ignore the potential consequences of untethered scientific discovery and have used the science fiction genre to offer critiques warning about the dangers of science going too far. Below are just a few examples of such works.
“The Body Snatcher” (1884) by Robert Louis Stevenson
“The Body Snatcher” is a Gothic short story by Robert Louis Stevenson that was originally published in 1884. It tells the tale of two medical students who obtain bodies for dissection for an anatomy professor and is based on historical events involving real-life murders committed in 1828 to supply a surgeon named Robert Knox with bodies for his anatomy classes in Edinburgh, Scotland.
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1884) by Robert Louis Stevenson
Two years later, Stevenson again explored the consequences of unchecked scientific experimentation with his novella The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (better known as just Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde) It tells the story of Dr. Henry Jekyll, a well-respected scientist, and his mysterious and malevolent alter ego, Mr. Edward Hyde. Jekyll’s experiments with a potion lead to the physical and moral transformation into Hyde, an embodiment of his darker impulses. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde explores the theme of the duality of human nature, the struggle between good and evil, and the consequences of tampering with the natural order.
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court (1889) by Mark Twain
An American work from the same period that fits into this discussion is Mark Twain’s 1889 satirical novel, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court. It is the story of a modern day (19th-century) resident of Hartford, Connecticut, who is inexplicably transported back to a time long before the Scientific Revolution, the medieval court of King Arthur, where he unwisely uses his knowledge of modern science and technology to try to improve the lives of the people he encounters with terrifying consequences. Twain’s underrated novel is a searing critique of romanticized views of the past and a commentary on the dangers of unchecked technological progress in the present.
The Island of Dr. Moreau (1896) by H.G. Wells
In 1896, H.G Wells published The Island of Dr. Moreau, in which a Victor Frankenstein-like scientist named Dr. Moreau transforms animals into humans. The novel was a direct response to contemporary debates about vivisection (experimental procedures performed on living animals). The Island of Dr. Moreau tells the tale of an English traveler shipwrecked on a remote island and of his harrowing encounters with the “Beast Folk” human-animal hybrids who populate it, causing him to question what it means to be human.
Oryx and Crake (2003) by Margaret Atwood
More recent developments in science and technology have also provoked reflection about a need for caution when testing the limits of innovation. Margaret Atwood's 2003 novel Oryx and Crake (which saw a surge of renewed interest during the COVID pandemic of 2020) explores similar themes of bioengineering and the creation of a new type of humanoid, responding to scientific progress around genetic engineering and assisted reproduction, as well as environmental destruction.
As technology, artificial intelligence, and the digital realm come to the forefront of scientific and ethical debates, television shows including the Netflix series Black Mirror have also explored the way in which carelessness and a lack of foresight can lead to unintended costs, following in the footsteps of the classic 1959–1964 The Twilight Zone science fiction series, which often focused on the consequences of science going wrong—or science just going too far too quickly.
