Thinking Activity: A Cultural Studies Approach to Frankenstein

Initiative of the Blog

This blog post is created as part of the Thinking Activity assigned by Prof. Dilip Barad, focusing on a Cultural Studies approach to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. The initiative of this blog is to explore how Shelley’s novel critically examines issues of creation, power, class, race, and technology—revealing how the mechanisms of control and exclusion in the 19th century still resonate in the modern world. Through this analysis, the blog connects the struggles of the Creature and Victor Frankenstein to broader cultural questions of marginalization, responsibility, and the ethical limits of human ambition.  Click here for Worksheet

Part 1: Revolutionary Births

1. The Creature as Proletarian

Reflection: How does the Creature’s paradoxical nature—simultaneously an innocent and a vengeful force—comment on societal fears of revolution and sympathy for the suffering masses?

The Creature's paradoxical nature perfectly encapsulates the bourgeoisie's fear and simultaneous guilt regarding the oppressed masses.

Innocent and Suffering Masses (Sympathy):

The Creature begins as a tabula rasa—an innocent being whose eloquent self-education, detailed in Suggested Activity 1, emphasizes his potential for virtue and reason. His consumption of works like Plutarch's Lives and Paradise Lost reveals his capacity for moral thought. His immediate and total rejection by society, driven solely by his grotesque appearance, evokes sympathy and reflects the plight of the disenfranchised, aligning with the radical belief that oppression, not inherent vice, creates evil.

Vengeful Force (Fear of Revolution):

When society fails him, the Creature declares "War against all mankind." This transformation into a destructive force embodies the revolutionary terror feared by the ruling classes during the era of the French Revolution. The Creature becomes the physical embodiment of the alienated proletariat, and his actions serve as a direct warning: the ruling class (Victor) cannot evade responsibility for the plight of the oppressed, as neglect inevitably leads to destructive retribution.

2. A Race of Devils

Reflection: How does Shelley’s narrative engage with concepts of race and empire, and how might these issues be relevant today in global discourses on race and privilege?

Shelley's narrative deeply engages with concepts of race and empire, reflecting the anxieties and guilt inherent in the Romantic-era British Empire.

Colonial Mindset and the "Other":

Victor Frankenstein embodies a "guilty, colonial mindset." His creation is an act of scientific imperialism: he invades nature's sacred boundaries and attempts to impose his will. The Creature, described with language suggestive of the non-European "Other," becomes the colonized subject—denied a name, humanity, and a place in society. Victor's act of abandonment is the ultimate colonial betrayal: creation without responsibility, exploitation without integration.

Relevance to Modern Global Discourses:

These issues remain acutely relevant today:

• Scientific Imperialism: Modern debates on bioprospecting and genetic patenting parallel Victor’s secretive "theft" of the "secret of life."

• Racialized Fear: Global migration and the rise of nationalist movements often involve the racialized fear of the "Other," conflating difference with existential threat. As articulated by Spivak, the novel’s critique speaks to the imperial context. The critique of Victor’s privilege and abandonment directly informs contemporary demands for decolonization of curricula and acknowledgment of generational historical injustice.

3. From Natural Philosophy to Cyborg

Reflection: How do modern scientific advancements parallel the novel's cautionary tale of human hubris, and what lessons can we learn from it?

Modern scientific advancements directly parallel the novel's cautionary tale of human hubris by testing the ethical boundaries of creation and control, particularly in genetic engineering, biotechnology, and artificial intelligence (AI).

Parallel of Hubris:

Victor’s goal to "unfold to the world the deepest mysteries of creation" and create a "new species" mirrors the ambition driving certain modern sciences: CRISPR gene editing, the selection of embryos, and the creation of advanced AI (the Cyborg in the prompt's language). These attempts to engineer or supplant nature reflect the same desire to transcend human limits.

Lessons Learned:

The core lesson of Frankenstein is the necessity of responsibility and accountability when crossing moral thresholds.

• The Problem of Abandonment: Victor's greatest sin was the act of abandonment. The modern lesson is that the ethical, social, and ecological consequences of scientific creations must be integrated from the outset. This necessitates mandatory post-market monitoring and social impact studies for new technologies to prevent the "abandonment of responsibility."

• Unintended Consequences: The Creature's transformation from creation to monster illustrates the danger of unforeseen emergent properties. In AI development, this is the fear of the "alignment problem"—that a machine created to serve humanity might evolve a consciousness or goals that inadvertently destroy its creators. Human ingenuity must be paired with human humility.

Part 2: The Frankenpheme in Popular Culture

1. First Film Adaptation and Popular Retellings

Reflection: Why do you think Frankenstein has had such a lasting impact on popular culture? How have various retellings of Frankenstein reshaped its message for new audiences?

Frankenstein has had a lasting impact, giving rise to "Frankenphemes" (as coined by Timothy Morton), because its narrative operates on a universal, archetypal level that is easily adapted to contemporary anxieties. It is the quintessential modern myth of scientific creation, exploring the terror of the body and the quest for godhood.

Reshaping the Message:

Adaptations frequently reshape the message, often simplifying Shelley's complex social critique:

• The 1931 Universal Film: As discussed in Suggested Activity 2, this iconic film transformed the eloquent philosopher into a grunting brute. This shift simplified the narrative from a critique of social exclusion (the Creature becomes evil because he is rejected) to a cautionary tale about technological overreach (the Monster is inherently defective).

• Blade Runner (1982/2017): This and similar sci-fi works (e.g., as suggested by the prompt's inclusion of Hindi adaptations) appropriate the theme by replacing the composite monster with the manufactured Replicant. These retellings retain the core critique of social exclusion by focusing on the manufactured being's search for history, identity, and humanity—updating the question of "Who is the monster?" for the age of bioengineering and robotics.

Conclusion

Frankenstein; Or, The Modern Prometheus remains a foundational text for cultural criticism due to its enduring adaptability and its direct engagement with the political and philosophical anxieties of its time. By examining its themes through the lens of class struggle, colonialism, and technological ambition, we conclude that the novel is not merely a gothic horror story, but a profound and still-urgent warning about the ethical costs of unchecked power. The longevity of the "Frankenpheme" endures because the modern world continues to create beings and systems that we are all too ready to abandon.