We can all be monsters in someone else’s view, but what makes you a monster? Can it be a certain creature from ancient literature, a mass murderer or an organization. In When Faiths Collide by Martin Marty, he states “these monstrous figures serve as a metaphor for the unfamiliar, strange, and often menacing faiths that today are in collision” (Marty Pg 5). The strangeness that Marty describes best fits to Viktor Frankenstein’s monster and human creation. Frankenstein’s monster disapproval can be compared to Pro-life vilifying Pro-Choice.
Frankenstein is a novel written by Mary Shelley, that has been made into films and children’s stories. Most of the stories follow the same plot, that a young scientist named Viktor Frankenstein performs an experiment by connecting human limbs and using electricity to bring his creature to life. In Shelley’s version of Frankenstein, the creature that was created by Viktor did not have a name but was later known as Frankenstein in pop culture. Viktor created this creature in attempt to hide his grief of losing his family. Viktor made his creature out of human limbs gathered but did not have the same characteristics as humans. The creature ended up being tall and a yellowish color because it did not have blood flowing though it’s body. Viktor rejected his creature due to it being hideous, which led the creature to later escaped and took revenge on him. The creature Frankenstein endured a lot of hate and rejection throughout its life from humankind but he did not want to retaliate against them, instead wanted to live among them. In the film I, Frankenstein it has a similar story line as Shelley’s story. Instead in the film, Frankenstein is seen as a soulless monster that has created an unbalance to nature since God is not the only one who can create life. I chose Frankenstein as the monster that Martin Marty can describe as unfamiliar because he is someone that is different. Even though Frankenstein has the same anatomy as a human being, he is viewed as a monster since he was not physically born from a womb. Frankenstein can be used to compare what is life and who gets to decide that he is worth living.
In today’s society, Pro-Life organization vilifies Pro-Choice organization by saying that pro-choice are doing or supporting something morally wrong. In order to see how pro-life disapproves of pro-choice we have to consider both sides. Pro-Choice is a group of people or an individual that believes that woman should have the choice to terminate a pregnancy under any circumstances. Pro-Life is a group of people or an individual that believe an abortion or using contraception is morally wrong under any circumstances. Pro-Life believes that a human life starts with a zygote or a human cell and all stages of pregnancy, regardless of it not having a human baby appearance. Since the fetus is considered to be a human being or life, they believe the mother does not have a say in what happens with the unborn child. Pro-life believes that a zygote has the same equal value as any human. Pro-life deems pro-choice to be monstrous and their debate includes a religious theme. For example, in the Unites States, Christians who tend to lean on the Republican party are against abortion because in the Old Testament its say’s “you shall not kill”. Gall Up News did a survey in the United States in 2019 of the people who identify themselves as pro-life. The results showed 72% attend religious services weekly, 58% monthly, and 33% seldom or never. While pro-choice, 20% attended religious services weekly, 37% monthly, and 62% seldom or never. (Gallup) Even though the percentage for the pro-choice religious services is fairly low, they do have religious leaders who help individuals cope with their decision of abortion. An example of how pro-life vivifies pro-choice is how they manage Crisis of Pregnancy Centers, by indicating that having an abortion is morally wrong. The majority of the Crisis Pregnancy Centers are religious ran or pro-life organized, designed to deceive a pregnant woman into thinking they are at a clinic that handle abortions. Fake health care clinics, is what many Americans call it, are usually close by the abortion clinics and are not run by medical officials or have licenses. These centers try to sell you on the side effects of abortion especially the emotional distress it can cause and use false claims. The clinics are trying to give women the illusion that they have choices and that pro-life is the only option. I think that pro-life sees pro-choice as monstrous because they believe that a woman whom chooses to have an abortion is that same as murdering babies. They seem to have an alternative for every circumstance to make abortion not an option. (Playing Doctor) On the pro-life website, they have a page on how to respond to pro-choice arguments. I found it to be very interesting, because every argument is making pro-choice as an evil partaker. They consider it to be morally wrong and disagree because it’s something that does not correlate with their beliefs. The debate whether abortion should be legal or not has caused a drift in the population and has put people in boxes due to their beliefs. Martin Marty, states “To establish positive relations it is necessary for people to stop demonizing strangers, immigrants, and those who are religiously different, who appear to many of them to be monstrous” (Marty Pg 4). With that consideration, it all comes back to who knows when life began? Pro-life and pro-choice have always argued about when life began, but so have religion and literature.
In the case of Frankenstein, he is a creature or person who was created and brought to life when he was electrocuted but with abortion who is to say when life begins. I think Frankenstein and abortion have a lot of similarities due to the fact that it deals with the idea of when life begins. Frankenstein was shunned by everyone since he was not born from a womb and many people saw him as an immoral. Pro-life deems pro-choice and its beliefs as sinful. It all relates back to the perspective of the viewer on who or what is a monster.
