Compare and contrast the messages about science and integrity in Fra.pdf
- 1. Compare and contrast the messages about science and integrity in Frankenstein and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. (You must discuss both science and integrity). Solution I find Dr. Jekyll's use of science to have at least a bit more integrity than Victor Frankenstein's. Frankenstein dreams of being "blessed" by a race of men which he will have created and "hailed" as something of a hero by them. He puts science to use in order to achieve personal glory and fame, and because he acts without integrity, behaving selfishly and unethically, he ruins many more lives than just his own. Dr. Jekyll, on the other hand, doesn't exploit science in order to achieve fame. In essence, he succumbs to Victorian societal pressure to conform to an incredibly repressive moral code. His intention is to better himself by making it easier for him to always do the right thing, as defined by his society. Despite the problems we might find with his rationale (if we take issue with his attempt to rid himself of a fundamental part of being human), his intentions, I would argue, are less self-serving than Frankenstein's. Jekyll is actually attempting to change himself in order to better fit the (unreasonable) demands of his society, and so his use of science smacks more clearly of integrity than does Frankenstein's. He shows that it is possible to put science to use in a more ethical way than Shelley's "hero."