Frankenstein Pursuit Of Knowledge

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley uses the elements of gothic literature to portray the pursuit of knowledge and the dangers of passing the limit of what you should know. Throughout the novel gothic literature is the main genre and its elements of mystery/supernatural, horror/violence, sublime nature, and man as his own worst enemy help reinforce the pursuit of knowledge and its risks. Mystery/supernatural are very common elements in this novel and portray various dangers to what you should know. We see an example of mystery when the monster has had enough with society and starts questioning his life and saying stuff like “Why did you form a monster so hideous even you turned from me in disgust?”(119). This is an example of mystery because in the book it never explains why he made so ugly, or why Victor Frankenstein created him if he was just going to leave him anyways. This also is a good example of crossing the line of what mankind should know because he created something that he didn't know how to control, so he should never have made it in the first place. We also

When he goes to look at the body it had “black mark(s) of fingers on his neck”(166), suggesting that he was strangled by the monster. This is an example of the dangers of pursuit of knowledge and crossing the line of what you should know because Victor found out and created something he shouldn't have and it had consequences. Mary Shelley also used horror to almost scare people and support the idea of knowing more than your supposed to. After Victor makes the creation he ” saw the dull yellow eye of the creature open”(43). This adds fear to the reader to persuade them into believing that there is boundaries in which should not be crossed on the pursuit of knowledge. Sublime nature is another element that shows the consequences of knowing too