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We read Frankenstein to understand the impact Promethean ambition can have on societal standards of beauty and the individual's need to conform

Modern Day

Promethean Ambition

Perception by Lee Straus

Promethean Ambition - seeking to improve something in society, but proving unsuccessful as a result of human imperfection

Why Read Frankenstein?

Scientists created a procedure by which to double a person's life span as well as program them to be "beautiful"

Quote

  • Their intentions were both good, but neither considered the consequences of their actions
  • Desire a perfect being but cannot succeed because imperfect creator

"Did I request thee, Maker, from my clay to mould me man? Did I solicit thee from darkness to promote me?" -from Paradise Lost by John Milton, and the beginning of the book Frankenstein

  • Society is separated into genetically altered people and "naturals"
  • Power struggle which deepens the divide between the people
  • Attempts to provide everything the GAPs need but the "naturals" rebel against the new society
  • The actions are not requested,

Prometheus did not ask man if they wanted fire and war, the creature did not ask to be created

  • Need to provide for the creature after it exists
  • Acting on the knowledge going too far?

Modern Day:

Designer Babies

  • May code for one specific gene but alter another as a result yielding unexpected results
  • Become blinded by the dream to see the reality
  • Allowing society to shape humans instead of humans shaping society
  • Create physical, economic and racial barriers

Adrianna Fetterman, Shirley Xu, and Rona Yoon

Value of Beauty

in Society

  • Frankenstein's monster's physical deformities bar him from a society that values beauty over substance
  • People are not perfect, and society uses these flaws to justify ostracism
  • Fear of ostracism causes people to change themselves to fit society's values

Quote

“How can I describe my emotions at this catastrophe, or how delineate the wretch whom with such infinite pains and care I had endeavoured to form? His limbs were in proportion, and I had selected his features as beautiful. Beautiful! Great God! His yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath; his hair was of a lustrous black, and flowing; his teeth of pearly whiteness, but these luxuriances only formed a more horrid contrast with his watery eyes, that seemed almost of the same colour as the dun-white sockets in which they were set, his shrivelled complexion and straight black lips” (Shelly 35).

Cosmetic

Plastic Surgery

  • Purpose of improving a person's appearance and/or removing signs of aging
  • There are 10~15 million cosmetic procedures performed every year in the United States
  • Beauty is conformity, those who don't conform are ostracized
  • People get plastic surgery so they are not different from everyone else

Little Baby Face Foundation

Quote From Uglies

  • Nonprofit in New York
  • Provides free plastic surgery for low-income children who have facial deformities (cleft lip, facial palsy)
  • Some of the kids apply because they are being teased over their looks
  • Plastic surgery to stop a child from being bullied

“There was a certain kind of beauty, a prettiness that everyone could see. Big eyes and full lips like a kid's; smooth, clear skin; symmetrical features; and a thousand other little clues. Somewhere in the backs of their minds, people were always looking for these markers. No one could help seeing them, no matter how they were brought up. A million years of evolution had made it part of the human brain." (2.47)

Uglies

by Scott Westerfield

Changing society to meet standards of beauty

Conclusions...

Works Cited

We read Frankenstein to understand

that:

  • Promethean ambition disregards the will of those affected
  • Society puts too much importance on physical beauty

Dystopian world in which everyone is turned "Pretty" by extreme cosmetic surgery upon reaching age 16.

Being "Pretty" can change not only your look but your personality - bubbly

Individualism is far more important than the need for uniformity and the elimination of personal will

Campo-Engelstein, Lisa. "Albany Medical College: Alden March Bioethics Blog." Bioethics Today. Albany MEdical College, 18 Mar. 2015. Web. 08 Apr. 2015.

Cooke, Kathryn. "Designer Babies and Frankenstein." Prezi. N.p., 22 Mar. 2015. Web. 08 Apr. 2015.

"Creation of Man by Prometheus." Greek Mythology.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Apr. 2015.

Dahl, Melissa. "Tormented over Their Looks? Bullied Teens Seek Free Plastic Surgery from a NYC Nonprofit." TODAY. NBC News, 5 Jan. 2014. Web. 08 Apr. 2015.

"Designer Babies: The Good and the Bad." Cons. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Apr. 2015.

Gallagher, James. "'Designer Baby Debate Should Start'" BBC News. British Broadcasting Company, 19 Jan. 2015. Web. 08 Apr. 2015.

Milton, John. "Milton: Paradise Lost - Book 10." The John Milton Reading Room. Dartmouth College, n.d. Web. 07 Apr. 2015.

"THE PROS AND CONS OF "DESIGNER BABIES"" The Ethics of Designer Babies. N.p., 28 Apr. 2013. Web. 08 Apr. 2015.

Tittle, P. "Dr. Frankenstein, Meet Dr. Spock - Creating Designer Babies." IEET. Institute for Ethics & Emerging Technologies, 07 Apr. 2012. Web. 08 Apr. 2015.

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