Br and Frank

Through a comparative study of ambition in Frankenstein and Blade runner, the twenty first century viewer’s appreciation of both texts is enhanced with the paralleled values and beliefs the two texts share. Ambition is one of the fundamental human incentives for growth and advancement. Mary Shelley’s prose fiction narrative ‘Frankenstein’ (1818) compares and explores ideas of humanity and the consequences of our ambition with the futuristic, commercialised world of ‘Blade Runner’ (1982) by Ridley Scott. These two texts are significant because they both explore the themes of ambition, humanity and nature in relation to the advancement of technology. Both creators Tyrell and Victor extrapolate how an egotistical personality and desire to appropriate god’s abilities leads to an inevitable demise, their immoral doings become the precursor to not only their own suffering but the environment and society around them. By a comparative study of the idea ambition between the texts ‘Frankenstein’ and ‘Blade Runner’ a post-modern viewer’s appreciation of both texts is enhanced.
                Shelley takes notice of the destructive desire for knowledge in the pursuit of power. The promethean ambition possessed by man ultimately leads to the loss of morality in an attempt to disturb the natural order of the world. The implication of the Subtitle, ‘Modern Prometheus’ foreshadows the consequences Victor Frankenstein has brought upon himself in his desire for knowledge and power. The recurring ‘light’ motif in Victor’s obsessive desire to “pour a torrent of light into our dark world” drives him to undermine nature to fulfil his ambition. His god like experiment against nature unleashes a cycle of tragedies leading ultimately to his mortal collapse of mental and emotional instability. Shelley emphasises the destructive thirst for knowledge though the symbolic creation of the monster when ethics and moral responsibility are abandoned. Highlighted through the monster in the quote...