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What is the overall argument of the author in Frankenstein?
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The author argues that the novel highlights the dangers of prioritizing Enlightenment ideals of reason and science over Romantic values of emotion and nature. Victor Frankenstein's obsession with scientific experimentation leads to devastating consequences, serving as a warning against ignoring ethical considerations and humanity. Additionally, the narrative suggests that humans should not attempt to subvert the natural order of life and death, as such arrogance results in destruction and isolation.
The novel dramatizes the clash between Enlightenment ideas about the primacy of reason and the scientific method and Romantic ideas about the primacy of emotion and nature. Victor, in many ways, at least before the creation of his creature, represents the Enlightenment. He is obsessed with science and experimentation, and it blinds him to the consequences of his actions. Elizabeth Lavenza, on the other hand, represents more Romantic ideas and is less interested in discovery than she is in fantasy and imagination. Likewise, Henry Clerval is also associated with Romanticism via his interest in chivalric stories and folktales as well as his openness to the sublimity of nature. Both Henry and Elizabeth are destroyed by Victor's Enlightenment creation. The novel reads, in many ways, like a warning about what can happen to our ethics, to our humanity, if we rely solely on Enlightenment principles at the expense of...
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Romantic ones. Victor says, while he is working on his creature, that his human nature turned with loathing from his own actions, and yet, he did not read this as a warning that he had gone too far. When we ignore our human natures in favor of scientific discovery, of which intense emotion and an inherent connection to the natural world are two important factors, we turn into monsters ourselves.
Frankenstein has many main themes and arguments, and one of the main arguments is that people should not attempt to subvert the natural order of life and death, whether it be from God's plan or from nature itself. Either way, Mankind is not meant to be creators of life except through natural childbirth, and the act is so arrogant that it causes death and destruction despite any well-meaning intentions.
"Seek happiness in tranquillity and avoid ambition, even if it be only the apparently innocent one of distinguishing yourself in science and discoveries."
(Shelley, Frankenstein, gutenberg.org)
Because Victor Frankenstein was so obsessed with replicating what he saw as the science behind creating life, he became an outcast. He denied himself personal interactions and relationships, and finds that he is terrified by the reality of his creation. His cowardice proves that Mankind is not meant to subvert the natural order of life and death, and his condemnation first by society and then by his Monster itself shows that he never considered the consequences of his actions.