tic where he was pulled aboard by Capt. Walton and his crew.After Victor finished telling his story to Walton and his crew he fell asleep and died. Sometime later a rather large and hideous man came aboard the ship and asked if they had seen his “father.” The men pointed toward Victor's body and the man/monster wept. The monster built a raft and placed Victor's body on it and floated out to sea on it. As the crew watched the monster set fire to the raft burning the raft, Victor's body, and himself to death.I feel that the author, Mary Shelley wrote this story because she was trying to show the value of life. I think she was trying to get the message across that as much as science can prove to be helpful, humans cannot overstep their boundaries and try to play God. Victor's actions regarding the creature raise questions related to the theme of autonomy and responsibility. Victor acted on a definition of autonomy that includes very little responsibility for the outcomes of his actions. In the name of science, he felt free to turn his knowledge and labor into a living creature, yet he abandoned his creation when he saw what it had become, rather than taking responsibility to nurture the creature and teach him how to live in society. On several occasions Shelley wrote about how Victor felt responsible for the creature's crimes, yet he does not take responsibility. For example, when Justine is convicted of murdering William, Victor, in anguish, thinks himself the true murderer, but does nothing to intervene. His silence helps condemn Justine to death. Immanuel Kant (1724-1804), a German enlightenment philosopher, defined autonomy, not in terms of doing what one wanted to do, but in terms of acting on principles that you would be willing for everyone in the world to follow. Autonomy is defined in the Websters Dictionary as the quality or condition of being self-governing. The question then arises, did Victor act autonomously...
