Danger of science in Frankenstein and the strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

The Danger of Science in Frankenstein and

The Strange Case of Dr . Jekyll and Mr . Hyde Two classic stories , Frankenstein and The Strange Case of Dr . Jekyll and Mr . Hyde raise the question of the dangers of science . This is an especially relevant question in today 's society , when stories of cloning no longer raise eyebrows , debate about stem cell research is commonplace , and procedures that once marked the state of the art in scientific technology , such as paternity tests , can be purchased in the form of over-the-counter kits at the local

drugstore . In today 's world we must be at the ready to answer the questions of science as they arise , often more quickly than we as a society can keep up , and the texts in question can often offer some direction , or at least some perspective in regard to the dawn of our science-based ethical challenges . While some might argue that the fantastical content of the two novels in question could not possibly have foreseen the challenges of modern scientific ethical questions , I contend that they did

Frankenstein details the case of a master 's creation who , lonely and miserable , eventually turns on the mad scientist ' who created him In such likely lies an analogy , if not an outright allegory , postulated by Shelley and her circle of intellectuals , that science would one day turn upon itself and the consequences would be disastrous . Jekyll and Hyde , in the meantime , is an even more intimate portrait in which the symbolic...