Class Struggle In The Communist Manifesto By Karl Marx

“The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles”, is a long forgotten quote by the most influential social philosopher of all time, Karls Marx (Engels 3). Gaining fame after his publication of The Communist Manifesto, Marx brought the idea of class struggle to the forefront of the public's thought. The most prominent class struggle across the world, and indeed the one Marx chose to highlight, exists between bourgeoisie and the working class. The bourgeoisie is considered the class of capitalists, owners of social production and wage labor, and thus the owners and creators of the working class (3). The bourgeoisie are typically thought to control the main aspects of life, including the government, the economy
Even before arriving in Ingolstadt, Victor is entranced with natural philosophy. Soon, after learning about modern science, he embarks on a journey to reanimate the dead and discover the secret of life. To achieve this goal, one that is considered impossible, Victor begins to meld together knowledge of natural philosophy and modern science, and in doing so creates a new science (Shelly 24-25). Without the creation of this new form of science, Victor would have been unable to produce the monster. Both the creation of the monster and the means by which he is created are key in Victor’s representation of the bourgeoisie. By creating the monster, or a new social class, Victor is acting as the leader in a new age, in the role of the bourgeoisie (Bloom 7). The way that Victor went about creating the monster is also similar to the creation of the working class. Specifically in the way the working class was permanently established and expanded during the industrial revolution of the Victorian Era (McMurtry 19). The driving force behind the industrial revolution, and moreover the development of the working class, was the innovation of new technologies and machinery. These innovations were mostly pioneered by the bourgeoisie, as the only way they can remain the dominant class is by “constantly revolutionizing the instruments of production, and thereby...the whole relations of society” (Engels 9-10). In a similar fashion, Victor revolutionizes a field of science that allows him to produce a new form of life.Once Victor succeeds in discovering the science to animate the monster, he proceeds to “infuse a spark of being into the lifeless thing” (Shelley 29). In this Victor does reanimate a form of life, this act of creating a new life form is strikingly significant. As aforementioned, the monster represents the working class, and the act of Victor