The Fear of Science

To live in the today's world is to be surrounded by the products of

science. For it is science that gave our society color television, the bottle

of aspirin, and the polyester shirt. Thus, science has greatly enhanced our

society; yet, our society are still afraid of the effect of science. This fear

of science can be traced back to the nineteenth century where scientist had to

be secretative in experimenting with science. Although science did wonders in

the nineteenth century, many people feared science and its effects because of

the uncertainty results of science.

Our thrist for science can be traced back through many decades.

However, the nineteenth century society felt that science was a great

investment towards a better life. This investment in science gave the

nineteenth century society the discovery of light waves and radio waves, the

electric motors, the first photograph and telephone, and the first publication

of the periodic table. Science also caused an uproar in society when Charles

Darwin published The Origin of Species, which became the scientific basis for

the study of the evolution of humans. Many people in the nineteenth century

detested Darwin's theory of the evolution of man because it went against their

religion, which believed that God created the world. Science, soon, developed

the big bang theory, which states that earth was created by the attraction of

atoms. The nineteenth century society was afraid of science because it

contradicted their beliefs, and was afraid that the results of science would

lead to the destruction of mankind. Thus, the study of science was limited

because of fear of its effects.

The fear of the effects of science was expressed in literature. Novels

like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, the Time Machine, and Frankenstein showed the

dangers of science and that science would soon lead to the destruction of

mankind.

The novel Frankenstein is about a man name Victor Frankenstein who

wanted to tamper with life and death by "exploring unknown powers, and unfold

to the world the deepest mysteries of creation." (Frankenstein, pg.40) He

acquired the knowledge of science when he attended the university of Ingolstadt,

and once the knowledge of science was gained, Frankenstein went to his secret

laboratory to create a creature with gigantic stature. At first, Frankenstein

had doubts about creating a human being; however, with "the improvement which

every day takes place in science and mechanics, [he] was encouraged to hope

[his] present attempts would at least lay the foundation of future success."

(Frankenstein, pg.47) Once Frankenstein created his human being, his dream was

vanished because he had accomplished his dream. His dream of creating a human

being soon turned into a nightmare. For Frankenstein created a monster who had

no identity, and was willing to murder all of Frankenstein's loved ones if

Frankenstein did not create another female creature. Victor Frankenstein

refused to create another female monster to accompany his monster. Thus, the

monster felt that he had no choice but to take away Frankenstein's family, just

to show how Victor Frankenstein would feel being alone in the world. The

murder of William Frankenstein (Victor's younger brother) caused Victor to

believe that his own creature had murdered his younger brother because "nothing

in human shape could have destroyed that fair child." (Frankenstein, pg.74)

Frankenstein knew from then on that he had "turned loose into the world a

depraved wretch, whose delight was in carnage and misery." (Frankenstein,

pg.74) Frankenstein's monster caused "the death of William, the execution of

Justine (a servant of the Frankenstein since childhood, who was framed by

Frankenstein's monster), the murder of Clerval (Frankenstein's closes friend

since childhood) and lastly [Victor's] wife (Elizabeth Lavenza)." (Frankenstein,

pg.213) Frankenstein not only blamed the murders of his loved ones on his

monster, he blamed himself for creating the monster. Throughout Frankenstein,

the words "friend, monster, daemon, vile insect, enemy, and abhorred devil"

were used by Frankenstein to describe the monster which he had created. In a

way, the monster is portrayed

as science and Frankenstein's fear of and hatred

towards the monster or science is expressed throught Frankenstein. Thus,

Frankenstein is a novel which proved to society that science is dangerous. That,

we should not tamper with life using science since it will only lead to

disaster.