Answer the following question. The essay should be about 750-1000 words long, and should be in proper essay format, with a clear thesis supported by reasons and evidence (e.g., quotations, paraphrases

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MAD SCIENTIST

The perception of mad scientist has always been one where the scientist performs an unusual experiment or has unsettling character thus is considered mad. This paper shows that mad scientists are not really mad but normal men who are driven by ambition to accomplish what they accomplish.

In ‘Frankenstein’ written by Mary Shirley depicts Victor Frankenstein, a scientist who upon a first glance, could be considered a mad scientist because he plays God in attempting to create life but this is not the case. Victor was born into a wealthy family, and his parents encouraged him and his siblings to pursue science as an effort to understand the world. When Victor’s mother dies, he endeavors to create life as his way of coping with grief.  Victor tries to replicate a man, but the difficulty of replicating every human organ leads the creature to become unusually tall, about eight feet. When victor finishes his experiment successfully, instead of deeming the creature beautiful, he finds it appalling as his skin cannot conceal the veins and muscles underneath. Victor remarks that “the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart” (Shelley). Victor then fled from his creation which, later out of rejection, becomes a murderer and haunts Victor to his death.

Victor is not a mad scientist, as he is driven by ambition to create life. This is a task that has never been accomplished, and Victor being a genius figures out a way to bring life to lifeless matter. Surely is he can create life, then he can bring his mother back to life. His mother’s death motivated him to create life, which he did. Victor’s is presented as an ambitious scientist who is driven by grief and the need for greatness. He knew if he succeeded in creating life, he would become the most successful scientist. This dream, however, is replaced by horror as he explains because his creation doesn’t inspire admiration but rather horror and fear. Victor is a cautionary tale in this story. The author warns scientists and all people to be careful of their creations. Victor created a creature without thinking of the repercussions of creating it. He let his ambitions sideline his thinking as being the brilliant man that he was, Victor should have been able to foresee that his creation wouldn’t be accepted by him or by others. He should also have realized that the creature would be dangerous. Victor is also used by the author to warn against judging others because of their appearance. If victor accepted his creation instead of running from it, the creature would not have become a vicious killer. He would maybe become a normal human despite its appearances because it was intelligent and could feel emotions.

In ‘Brave New World’ written by Aldous Huxley, the world described is filled with scientific and technological inventions that are very advanced. Citizens of this city are not born but engineered through artificial wombs. Bernard Marx can be considered the mad scientist in this novel because his personality and is ideas are disapproved by his class. He’s a sleep-learning specialist, and through his work, he understands that the dystopian way of life is flawed and empty. Bernard aims to attain uniqueness and to control his impulses and to also attain freedom in his own way, not the way adopted by everyone else in the dystopia. His free mindedness leads him to be despised by his class and eventually exiled from the dystopia.

Bernard's need for free-thinking, however, arises from his inferiority complex and not madness. He is short and thus unlike the rest of the Alpha. This has always led him to despise himself and arose the need for him to prove himself apart from the others. He believes that Soma doesn’t bring freedom, but it rather enchains the people of the dystopia. This is an unpopular opinion, as everyone else is happy in their circumstance. Bernard ends up being the guardian of John the savage as his attempt to show that the dystopian way isn’t the only way to become an upright individual. This is an experiment in a way as Bernard wants John to become a proper citizen who attends social events and appreciates intellect. This works for a while as John becomes popular, but it then backfires as John doesn’t appreciate the New World as he considers it an empty society. The need for Bernard to be free minded and to have freedom leads him and his friend Watson to be exiled while John ends up hanging himself. Bernard is a scientist who is driven by ambition to prove he is smarter than everyone else.

The significance of Bernard as the scientist in this is to show that science doesn’t fix everything, and maybe it shouldn’t fix things such as happiness. Bernard is always is angry and resentful, yet he is part of a society that is not supposed to feel that way. Science and technology failed him, and now he sees the flaws in them. Bernard is the consequence of scientific failure, and the author uses him to show that no society can be perfect; even one that uses a happy drug to keep its citizens stress free. In this society, all human ties have been cut as there are no parents, and marriage has been made meaningless thus, everyone is shared by everyone. This leads to the existence of people who have no human ties whatsoever they just live to consume and ensure the economy of the dystopia continues (Huxley).

In ‘Flowers for Algermon’, written by Daniel M. Keyes has two groups of scientists. The first group is the researchers who have discovered a way to increase intelligence. Their efforts can be seen as admirable because they want to improve the life of a man born with a low IQ. This can be seen as a line that has never been crossed, but it’s not madness but ambition to succeed scientifically.

The second group is Charlie Gordon. Charlie was born with an IQ of 68 and through a scientific experiment, becomes a genius. Charlie at first glance, can be considered a mad scientist because of his unsettling personality after he becomes a genius. His new-found knowledge and understanding isolate him from people as they despise what he has become.  This is, however, not the case because he uses his new-found knowledge to analyze his life. Before becoming a genius, he had many friends, but this now he questions because he discovers that all they did was laugh at him. As his understanding of the world grows, his connection to people weakens.

Charlie undertakes the experiment of his creators and discovers a fault. He, however, cannot help himself because he discovers that the fault in their theory will lead to him reverting to his old self. As he solves this he realizes his intelligence is already slipping. Since he cannot fix his deteriorating intelligence, he aims to fix his past relationships with his family. When he loses his intelligence, he finds that he cannot maintain his old friendships because they all feel sorry for him. He decides to move to a new town to make meaningless friendships because all they will do is laugh at him, but he knows this is the easiest way to make friends.

The significance of Charlie in this novel is to show the uncalculated risks associated with science. His creators did not anticipate how his life would change, and they didn’t anticipate that he would lose his intelligence later; thus, all they did is just wreck his life. Charlie is also used to show people’s perception of mental disability. They saw him as a burden and a laughing stock, and when Charlie realizes this, he resorts to start a new life elsewhere, but he knows things will still be the same (Keyes).

Works Cited

Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World. Harper Perrenial, 1932.

Keyes, Daniel. Flowers for Algernon. Harcourt, 1959.

Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. Dover Publications, 1994.