Mary Shelley's Cloning
If we look at Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, cloning and the moral issues surrounding it become prevalent. The creature in the novel was in essence and by definition a human clone. The real monster in the story, though, was doctor Frankenstein himself. He attempts to do humanity a service by searching for a way to cheat death and perpetuate life. In doing so, the doctor creates a being that ironically takes life away. Shelley's position on cloning is that the possible benefits are not positive enough to overcome the bad and, thus, that cloning is negative in practice. Her opinion is only one out of many. There are a great many positives that cold also come out of cloning as well. A clone is a replication of an individual in a select species that is created asexually. The first question you have to answer when dealing with human cloning is "What is a human?" To be human and have the characteristics of the species are the ultimate goals for a clone. A human being is a creature who thinks on a higher level than other animals. The thing that separates us as humans from other animals is the ability to reason. The capacity to learn and differentiate between any number of things and analyze that
Cloning human beings brings up many moral and ethical concerns. Shelley's presentation of the results of creating asexual life gives a few ideas on the matter. Certain people say that cloning on any level is practically "playing God" and that it is something that we should not tamper with. A large concern of both Shelley and our society as a whole is whether or not the cloned being will be accepted into society. As stated previously, we as humans are afraid of things that are unfamiliar to us. Since this is the case, the level of acceptance into society would be emotionally mixed at best. It could be asked then, "Would it be fair to the clone to bring it into the world?" Mary Shelley's Frankenstein shows us the negative effects that a disproving society can have on a clone. Shelley advises us that tampering with things that have been left to God exclusively is wrong. She points out the major concerns people have through her characters and storyline in the book. The nameless creature in the novel is created without the concern for whether it should or should not be created. The creature is shunned by all who encounter it, including his creator because it is different. The monster, being shunned by all and having no one to associate with (a companion), takes his revenge out on his creator by killing those who are close to him. In a wicked turn of events, Victor Frankenstein's attempt at cheating death and perpetuating life has ironically backfired. By not reasoning beforehand about the effects of his work and what the final outcome would be, he is at fault for the actions of the beast. So, the real monster in the novel is the doctor himself. same information is a defining characteristic of reasoning. If a clone is created asexually, the question that stems from this creation becomes, "Is this 'thing' human?" Although on a much higher level of thought than animals, people still have instinctual reactions toward everything. Mankind is afraid of the things it does not know. Being that we do not know what exactly a clone wi
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Approximate Word count = 1387
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)
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