Essay: Plato on Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein

Sample Essay

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Plato (427 BC-348 BC) is one of the earliest known philosophers in history whose ideas are still preserved.

In his Symposium Plato gives an account of the creation of humans and the origins of love in the speech of Aristophanes:

Aristophanes says that in the beginning, there human had three sexes not two, there was man, woman and man-woman. Each had two heads and two pairs of arms and legs. The gods, fearing their strength, split them into two, which leads to each individual having just one head and one pair of arms and legs. This leads the individual to seek completion through having a mate (Maguire).

In this beautiful allegory Plato has portrayed the pain and anguish felt by a person who feels alone and incomplete in the world without a mate.

Dr. Frankenstein’s monster was rejected by society because of its grotesque appearance. It also felt the anguish of a solitary individual and demanded a mate. Dr. Frankenstein’s action of denying it a mate is what led to it becoming enraged and starting its murderous campaign of retribution against its creator.

Thus we can say that according to Plato’s thought, by creating just one individual of the ‘monster’ species, Dr. Frankenstein condemned it to a life of pain, torment and anguish (Stoehr). If he intended to create an artificial life form he should have created both the monster and its mate.

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