Frankenstein, Part 2: Crash Course Literature 206 - YouTube (2)

responds to his creature with utter horror. And what is Victor's mature, responsible,

heroic reaction to this situation? He runs away, making all the dads on “Teen Mom”

look amazing by comparison. Thanks Thought Bubble

So, the monster blames this initial abandonment for all the murders that result, right?

And Percy Shelley agreed, writing that while the creature was initially affectionate and

moral “the circumstances of his existence were so monstrous and uncommon, that… his

original goodness was gradually turned into the fuel of an inextinguishable misanthropy

and revenge.” But is the tragedy inherent in the creation

of the monster or is there a way to pursue knowledge without responding in horror?

Frankenstein is more than a little relevant today as we struggle to figure out where technologies

like stem cell therapy, or genetically modified foods, or cloning land on the ethical and

moral scales of the social order. The pursuit of knowledge is good, right, because

that's how I'm even able to talk to you through like the magic of the Internet. That's

why we aren't hunger/gathers anymore. But we don't actually know the outcome yet.

Sometimes we forget that we're still in the middle of history.

I don't think Mary Shelley condemned science outright, or explicitly discourages learning

the secrets of life and nature. Now the experiment definitely fails. The question

is why? Is it because Victor's aims are just unnatural

and evil? Is it because he can't love the creature he's created? Or is it because

he let's his ego run amok dictate his motivations? That's a non-rhetorical question by the

way. I look forward to reading your answers in comments. Thank you for watching. I'll

see you next week. Crash Course is made by all of these nice

people and it's possible because of your contributions at Subbable.com.

We want to say thank to all of our Subbable subscribers for keeping Crash Course free

for everyone forever. If you want to subscribe you can do so over

at Subbable.com. There are also great perks there. Thank you again for watching and as

we say in my hometown, "Don't forget to be awesome!"