Cloning In Frankenstein

Cloning and stem cell research have come a long way in the past few decades. Expert scientist have the capability of making an exact, physical copy of a living body as well using stem cells to cure genetic diseases. Although these two topics are quite common now, they weren’t well known when Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein fictional novel was initially published. The idea of cloning may have been new and debatable at the time, but Shelley took the idea with a more fictional perspective. With this novel, debates on the risk of cloning, how the novel portrays the science of cloning, and the ethics of the science may arise. Cloning and stem cell research is evident in the novel Frankenstein where Victor creates a functioning human companion, mainly
Cloning may be an astonishing new discovery for science, but with this great break through comes great risk. One risk of cloning is that there is only a .0036 percent chance of the experiment going right. (Stanley 45) With hundreds of attempts and only one falling through, what might happen to the rest? The risk of failed experiments involving multiple embryos raises concerns for many critics knowing that the extra embryos, potential animals or humans, will be disposed of. The main risks of cloning are all the unknown ones. In Debbie Stanley’s Genetic Engineering: The Cloning Debate, she quotes Alta Charo argument against cloning: "With only a couple of sheep and a hand full of cattle, we are not even close to having completed responsible testing on this technique. Whatever the Seed brothers are telling their human clients, they are certainly not able to tell them what the
In Lisa Yount’s book Cloning, she uses Shelley’s novel to argue her point on how the public interprets cloning. Yount writes “Commenting on films in the 'Frankenstein' tradition, the distinguished British geneticist Paul Nurse suggests that the 'real dilemma comes when the freedom of the artist to produce what they like, must be combined with the facts that these productions are taken by the public to be an absolutely true portrayal of science'." (Yount 83) With this quote, it shows how readers take a simple piece of fictional literature and take it into true consideration because we know nothing about the real science. In Stanley’s Genetic Engineering: The Cloning Debate she explains the concept of cloning dead cells, exactly how The Monster was made in Shelley’s novel from dead body parts. In order to successfully clone any organism, the cells must be living. (Stanley 23) The authors and film directors who