In
,dreams of great accomplishments through his exploration. In his first
letter to his sister, he asks, dear Margaret, do I not deserve to accomplish some great
purpose? Whenand Robert converse, Victor recognizes that Robert is in some ways a kindred
spirit. However, Victor suffered from excessive pride (). By focusing on gratifying his own
desires and failing to anticipate the consequences of his actions, Victor became responsible for
disasters that occurred on many fronts. His own anguishing and the suffering and death of many
others are what he refers to as the sting.
There are numerous examples of
this kind of behavior and its negative consequences. Self-centered behavior and arrogance are
often associated with the Type A, over-achiever personality, which also tends to produce
highly successful entrepreneurs. People who disregard the negative effects of their actions on
others can cause widespread, often irreparable harm. A good example in the business and finance
realm is Bernard Madoff, who ran the largest pyramid or Ponzi scheme in history. When he was
finally caught, prosecuted, and convicted, he was sentenced to 150 years in prison.
Another way of looking at Victors troubled behavior is by focusing on the type of
activity: his playing God through reckless scientific experiments. Since the late twentieth
century, changes in biomedical technology have facilitated biomedical engineering, leading to a
host of ethical questions about genetic modifications. These include the possibility of creating
human beings through cloning, as has been done with animals. The unethical use of donor sperm
has also raised issues about appropriate controls over artificial insemination.
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