Examples Of Ignorance In Frankenstein

The Knowledge of Ignorance
Knowing how to read, write, and even tie your shoes may seem like the everyday norm to most, but for Victor Frankenstein’s creature, it is one of the leading causes of his destruction. Frankenstein is obsessed with the idea of creating a being superior to humans. However, when his creation turns into a murderous monster, he is quick to blame his relentless search for knowledge, but he is unable to see how his ignorance brought his downfall. In the Gothic novel, Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, the concept of knowledge being not only a blessing, but a curse is demonstrated through the creatures desire to learn, society’s lack of empathy for the creature, and Victor’s ignorance.
As soon as the creature entered

the world, he begins to expand his knowledge and learn from his surroundings. The creature is immediately cast out by his creator, Victor, as soon as he is given life. Therefore, he must teach himself how to survive. The creature’s ability to learn allowed him to survive in a world that has rejected him. However, as he expands his knowledge of humans and their actions, he realizes what he does not have. The creature knows that he does not “possess [any] money, no friends, no kind of property” like the humans around him (Shelley 123). The creature realizes that he can not have a normal human life because society will not let him. When the creature realizes this, he “cannot describe... the agony that these reflections inflicted upon [him]” (Shelley 123). If the creature had not know what he did not have, he would not be as bitter towards the society that denied him those amenities. Even though knowledge allows the creature to survive on his own, it drives him to hate society more than if he would have not know what he is denied. Psychologist Andy Eklund believes “the more knowledge [a person has], the more potential fuel [that person has] for more ideas” (Eklund). Shelley uses this same concept to show how by expanding his knowledge the creature is capable of many things, but his knowledge of what he does not have fuels his ideas into a dark and evil place.
Society is unable to put the creature’s grotesque features aside and accept his more human like qualities.

Humankind is unable to see that in the beginning, the creature is innately good. Also, society’s ability to make a judgement without substantial amounts of knowledge drove the creature further towards self destruction. For instance, when the creature saves a little girl from drowning, he does not receive the praises that would normally be expected. Instead, the creature is shot, and “inflamed by pain, [he] vow[s] eternal hatred and vengeance to all mankind” (Shelley 143). When the creature first gains awareness, it is not yet corrupted by the ills that society forces on him. However, society is making the generalization that ugly is equivalent to evil, which causes the creature to see himself as evil. Rosemary Jackson acknowledges that “naming the double [creature] is impossible for Frankenstein and society since it is themselves in alienated form, an image of themselves before they acquired names”(Jackson). In other words, the creature is an outsider because its name is unknown to society. Society not giving the creature a name, but referring to him as a “monster, ugly wretch [and] an ogre” it is telling the creature that he is wicked because they are associating his appearance with things that society sees as evil (Shelley 144). Thus, the creature realizes that he must be malicious because he does not have a name to define

him.
Victor Frankenstein attributes his success in life to his knowledge of the sciences, but he is unable to see that his downfall is due to his ignorance of the world around him.

Victor is so engulfed by his work that he is unaware of what is going on around him. He “bore onwards [with his work], like a hurricane, in the first enthusiasm of success” and he wants to “pour a torrent of light into our dark world" (Shelley 55). Blinded by his yearning for making new discoveries, Victor thinks that his knowledge of the sciences will be enough for him to be successful. However, he does not understand that in order to create an auspicious relationship between him and his creation, he needs to have knowledge of society as well. Once his creation is animated, Victor is unable to see that all the creature wants is to be loved and accepted. The creature craves the maternal love that Victor denies him. From the beginning, Victor is unable to realize the significance of his creation. He describes how the creature’s “yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath... [and] his hair was of a lustrous black... [and] his shrivelled complexion and straight black lips” (Shelley 58). He immediately focuses on the negative features of his creation, and does not even attempt to learn the positive qualities. If Victor uses more social skills, rather than his knowledge of the sciences to manage his creation, all of the destruction the creation causes could have been

avoided. Furthermore, historian Alan Rauch acknowledges that “Shelley's critique of knowledge permeates the novel as a whole” (Rauch). He emphasizes how even though Victor’s genius allows him to give life to an inanimate object, but his lack of social skills keeps from learning and expanding his knowledge of the being he creates. Shelley is clearly demonstrating to her audience that both knowledge of social skills and the sciences is required for success. Victor lacks the social skills necessary for taking care of his creature. Shelly is showing how even though Victor has the knowledge to create a new being, it does not mean he should do it because society is not ready.
Throughout the Gothic novel, Frankenstein, Mary Shelley uses the creature, Victor, and society to show the theme of knowledge can be both a blessing and a curse. Similarly, in the Disney film the Hunchback of Notre Dame, Quasimodo is castaway by society because his appearance is deformed in comparison to the rest of society. He lives a life of seclusion in a bell tower until he obtains the knowledge of what the world can offer him. He goes out and explores, which unfortunately places him under the criticism of society. Similarly, the creature also realizes what he is denied by society because he looks different. Both of these characters are forced into roles that society has precast for them because of how they look. Self awareness and knowledge is what helps them escape their imposed societal prisons, but ultimately leads to their persecution. In both of these pieces, the authors are able to display both the consequences and benefits of knowledge.