Loss Of Knowledge In Frankenstein

Living and life itself is a powerful thing. But, even more powerful, is the knowledge to create life. A subject that which most people have no interest in studying, in playing God, except for Victor Frankenstein. In Mary Shelley’s story, “Frankenstein”, Victor discovers a hunger for a dangerous knowledge. He wants to learn how to create life and reanimate a corpse. Surprisingly, he succeeds, but there's consequences to that amount of power. Victor immediately regrets his decision and spirals into a deep, dark depression. As the novel progresses, Victor transforms from a bright, young man into a depressed mad scientist whose quest for a dangerous knowledge lead to his undoing.

Before he began to transform, Victor Frankenstein had a happy

He refers to the acquirement of knowledge as “dangerous” and “how much happier that man is who believes his native town to be the world, than he who aspires to become greater than his nature will allow” (Shelley 41). Victor, before he went to university, was the first man, but is now sacrificing his happiness for this powerful and intimidating knowledge. No longer was he the carefree boy from Geneva, now he was turning into the depressed, paranoid mad scientist. Victor “became nervous to a most painful degree; the fall of a leaf startled me, and I shunned my fellow creatures as if I had been guilty of a crime” (Shelley 44). His obsession has swallowed him in a wave of depression, giving him side effects of paranoia. These feelings tenfold after the creation of the Creature. Immediately, upon animation, Victor regrets creating life. He “had desired it with an ardour that far exceeded moderation; but now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart” (Shelley 45). The dangerous knowledge he'd sought after left him feeling disgusted and completely

The shock of his creation killed the dream and proved to himself that this knowledge was, in fact, dangerous. Shortly after the experiment, Victor met up with Henry. Instead of a happy reunion, Victor collapsed into a fit of hysterics. “I was lifeless and did not recover my senses for a long, long time” (Shelley 49). For months, Victor fell into a depressed fever, damaged by the knowledge he so desperately tried to understand. Henry nursed him back to health, but word came that Victor’s brother was killed. Upon returning to Geneva, Victor soon realizes the Creature had killed him, but Justine is sentenced to death for the supposed murder of William. At this moment in time, we can clearly see how much Victor has transformed from an optimistic young student to a depressed, guilt ridden man, burdened with the weight of knowing how much his thirst for a dangerous knowledge has hurt those around him. After the death of a Justine, which Victor ultimately caused, he was “seized by remorse and the sense of guilt, which hurried me away to a hell of intense tortures such as no language can describe” (Shelley 75). His quest for knowledge has led him to his demise, causing him to transform into a guilt-ridden remorseful and mournful man. Suddenly surrounded by death caused by his actions, Victor contemplates suicide, feeling swallowed by depression and guilt. “The blood flowed freely in my veins, but a weight of despair and remorse pressed on my heart which nothing