In the novel Frankenstein, knowledge is portrayed as a very important quality for Victor to achieve. Victor becomes obsessed with the idea of knowledge, uses the knowledge for his own desires, and later in life regrets it. Throughout the book, as Victor gains more knowledge, he begins to see the consequences of misusing this quality but, however, it does not stop him. Victor’s monster ironically seeks the power of enlightenment, as does his creator. Victor’s and the Monster’s conquest for knowledge soon turns into a revenge war between the two, later taking the life of everyone Victor holds near to his heart. Victor had his first realization of the obsession with knowledge at the age thirteen. He states, “I chanced to find a volume of the works of Cornelius Agrippa… a new light seemed to dawn upon my mind; and, bounding with joy, I communicated my discovery to my father” (Shelley 22). This is where Victors obsession is become known to the reader and Victor’s father, Alphonse. His father’s response to Victor was not a positive reaction: “Ah! Cornelius Agrippa! My dear Victor, do not waste your time upon this; it is sad trash” (Shelley 22). This statement from Alphonse is almost a warning sign from the beginning for Victor not to not get involved with this. …show more content…
Although, Victor did not think about this as a warning. From this point forward, Victor continued to seek knowledge from other natural philosophers of science and started to be more engaged with the limits of science that no one else even tries to endeavor. As Victor continues to try and discover these limits, Mary Shelley foretells the negative consequences of being knowledgeable to a certain extent. Victor states, “I could banish disease from the human frame, and render man invulnerable to any but a violent death!” (Shelley 3). Victor would go to any extent to reach this goal he was aiming for whether it was harmful to people or not. He became so fixated on this goal that he neglected to take care of himself physically and mentally and lost contact with his family. He spent days and nights studying this understanding of existence, used it for his own good, and brought the deceased back to existence, creating his monster. Once Victor finally finishes creating the monster he realizes that it was a mistake on his part. He states, “…now that I have finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart” (Shelley 36). Like his creator, the Monster seeks to obtain knowledge, too.
On his own, the monster begins learn how to communicate, provide for himself, and understands the idea of how to live somewhat like a normal person. The monster says, “…and I may boast that I improved more rapidly than the Arabian, who understood very little, and conversed in broken accents, whilst I comprehended and could imitate almost every word that was spoken” (Shelly 82). This shows the monsters determination to learn how to communicate with other people to fit in. Soon, this drive for knowledge to fit in becomes knowledge to seek revenge on Victor for abandoning him and not giving him a relationship like the family in the
cottage. Victor lost most of his loved ones due to the revenge the Monster was seeking against him. As time gets closer to marry his beloved Elizabeth they realize they only have a small circle of family left to hold on to. Elizabeth says, “Heavy misfortunes have befallen us; but let us only cling closer to what remains, and transfer our love for those whom we have lost to those who yet to live” (Shelley 137). The monster’s words, “I shall be with you on your wedding-night” haunted Victor until that night came and Elizabeth was murdered (Shelley 137). Victors knows why all these horrendous events have taken place. Victor states, “Natural philosophy is the genius that has regulated my fate…” (Shelley 22). Victor knows that he a reason all his loved ones are now gone from his life. Victor’s desire to achieve a certain balance of knowledge leads to the creation of a monster that learns the ways to fit into civilization, but he ends up not being accepted. This angers the Monster, then he seeks revenge on Victor with the knowledge he has gained since he was brought to life. The knowledge that Victor and the Monster consume turn into revenge and lead to the end of their being. By the end of the novel William, Justine, Victor’s father, Elizabeth, the Monster, and Victor were all killed from the effects of this knowledge Victor was obsessed with. Right before Victor died, he forewarned Robert Walton about the dangers and consequences of the obsession with knowledge and encouraged him not to pursue this quality. After hearing of Victor’s conquest and his warning Walton might have saved himself from the same fate as Victor and the Monster.
In conclusion, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein shows readers how irresponsibility and the excessive need for knowledge can cause suffering among others as well as oneself. Victor never intends to cause such harm; however, he is not cautious and observant with his actions, which ultimately leads to his classification as a tragic hero. The desire to learn is most definitely a wonderful trait to have, as long as one’s knowledge doesn’t reach the extent that Victor Frankenstein’s unfortunately does.
Education is a tool to advance an individual and a society; however, education can become a means to gain power when knowledge is used to exercise control over another. In Frankenstein, knowledge becomes the downfall of both Victor Frankenstein and the Monster. The novel explores the consequent power struggle between Victor Frankenstein and his creation, the dichotomy of good and evil, and the contrast between intellectual and physical power. Finding themselves in mirroring journeys, Victor Frankenstein and the Monster are locked in a struggle for dominance. Through these two characters, Mary Shelley explores the consequences of an egotistical mindset and of using knowledge to exercise power over others.
It is good to be determined and passionate about the things that you are learning and doing, but it is not good to become obsessive about anything. In most cases obsession tends to lead people down the wrong path or cause them to make the wrong decisions in their life. One of the things that people used to be obsessed with was knowledge. This is because people knew so little about the world and about themselves. People were very curious about certain things and some decided to accidentally try things out which led to discoveries. But others decided to become obsessed about the subject that they were studying and destroy their lives in the process. One example is Frankenstein. He was a giant dumb smart person that was also obsessive about science
What would you expect to happen to you and others around if you created a living creature out of human flesh? It is just like Frankenstein—a Romantic Era man— which Mary Shelly portrays in her novel “Frankenstein.” Victor Frankenstein, a natural philosophy student, discovers how to form life from the corpse of the dead. His Quest for Knowledge influences him to perform an experiment, which in return gives life to an abnormal formation. The monstrous creature results in isolation and punishment in Victor’s life. The gothic novel Frankenstein is a grotesque and mysterious classic monster story. Frankenstein is worth reading because it shows how playing around with God can have consequences.
The desire of extensive knowledge is first seen through Victor Frankenstein. At the beginning of the novel, a young boy named Victor grows up in Geneva “deeply smitten with the thirst for knowledge” (20). The way Victor sees it, the world is a secret which he yearns to discover. His fascination in the secrets of the world drive him to study natural philosophy and chemistry at the University of Ingolstadt. Victor begins to further study discoveries of ancient scientists and is not satisfied with their knowledge. He says, “..I at once gave up my former occupations, set down natural history and all its progeny as a deformed and abortive creation, and entertained the greatest disdain for a would-be science which could never even step within the threshold of real knowledge” (24). Victor seeks to build upon previous discoveries and form new ones that go beyond the perimeter of mankind. Shelley shows how Victor’s obsession with knowledge of the unknown takes over his life and does not let anything or anyone stop him. Victor’s quest to overlook the natural limits of human knowledge brings about the creation of a monster that destroys his life and kills him. The monster he constructs does not reflect his o...
...ain knowledge in hopes that he will no longer be beaten and attacked by society for what he is. “…my feelings were those of rage and revenge. I could with pleasure have destroyed the cottage and its inhabitants and have glutted myself with their shrieks and misery” (16.1). When his thirst for knowledge gets backfired and fails he becomes violent. Concluding the death of Victor, not much is known about the fate of the monster. The monster surely met his fate as well thus proving the search for knowledge to be dangerous.
Mary Shelley emphasizes a great importance on the role of education and curiosity in Frankenstein. Both the main characters Victor and the Monster are curious to go beyond what they know. Failing to realize that too much information could be dangerous if not used in the right way. Mary Shelley presents the negative aspects of the increase of information. Both characters create their downfall as a direct result of wisdom. While knowledge is important and a benefactor, we learn that too much of a good thing could be
By definition, knowledge is the fact or condition of knowing something with familiarity gained through experience or association (Merriam-Webster.com). In the novel Frankenstein, Mary Shelley considers knowledge as a “dangerous” factor. The danger of it is proved throughout the actions of the characters Robert Walton, Victor Frankenstein, and the creature. The characters all embody the theme of knowledge in different ways. Shelley supports her opinion about knowledge by using references from the Bible and Paradise Lost. She uses these references to show the relationship between God’s Adam and Frankenstein’s creature, and how nothing turns out as great as God’s creation. Mary Shelley’s goal is to teach a lesson on how destructive the desire for knowledge really is.
knowledge is found at the heart of the novel, Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. Mary Shelley constructs her novel in a form of tripartite that consists of three speakers Victor, Victor’s Creature, and Robert Walton. The pursuit of knowledge is conveyed by the alluring antagonist Victor in his endeavor to go beyond human adeptness and discover the elixir of life. The pursuit of knowledge is shown through another character, Frankenstein’s Creature whose pursuit of knowledge prompts him to become aware of himself. Robert Walton through the pursuit of knowledge learns that his own strive for success leads him to learning that his selfish pursuits are effecting the people around him. The pursuit of knowledge is proved to be dangerous to all three speakers Victor, Victor’s Creature, and Robert Walton and all three prove to the reader how destructive knowledge can be.
First, Victor's intellectual creation of a hideous monster provoked his life to convert into a nightmare. Frankenstein's excess of intellectualness, began during the creation of a harmful invention that no one in the world could possibly do. He became overly obssessed in achieving the creation of the monster, but his flaw was not accepting full responsibilty after creating his invention. As a result, the monster wanted his master's acceptance but Victor would not consider any of that. That transparently provoked the monster to counter attack Victor. This situation could have been prevented if Frankenstein would have forethought his decision in creating the wretched monster. Therefore, the intake of too much knowledge can destruct a person's life.
From the onset of Victor’s youth, his earliest memories are those of “Curiosity, earnest research to learn the hidden laws of nature, gladness akin to rapture, as they were unfolded to me, are among the earliest sensations I can remember” (ch. 4) This is the first example of obsession that we see in the novel. This drive to learn the ‘hidden’ laws of nature is the original driving force that sets the plot in motion. Without this, Victor would have never embarked on his unholy quest to overcome mortality, thus leading to his creation of his monster.
Krempe simply states that “every instant that [he] wasted on those books is utterly and entirely lost” (Shelley, p. 35). At the age of thirteen, Victor already faces rejection from two very important figures in his life. These rejections teach Victor that confiding in others only results in embarrassment, and so he begins to internalize all of his aspirations and emotions to the point where it makes him anxious and unhappy. Also, Victor begins to needlessly crave the acceptance of others, thus, he plans to create a being that will worship him as a God. Unfortunately, what Victor does not realize is that this creation will be the source of all of his misfortune, and if his Father and his professor were only kind enough to realize how powerful the force of rejection is, Victor would never have chosen the path of
Ever since the creature was brought to life by Victor Frankenstein, a lover of science and protagonist of the novel, understandably, he has felt alone in his struggle. However, the creature proves to be the more nefarious character due to his self-taught, sinful mindset and his behavior, which takes form in the numerous murders he commits. The creature learned his behavior and thoughts from eavesdropping and observing the DeLacey Family. This demonstrates the creature’s self-taught intelligence as he learned how to speak, read, and write all on his own. This type of self-education shows his intelligence while also igniting the creature’s dark side.
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.
In Mary Shelley’s, Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein’s thirst for knowledge results in the death of his friends and family, the downfall of his mental and physical health, as well as the disconnection to family and society. The critical essay by Alan Rauch justifies that the destruction of relationships, society, and the natural order are products of an obsessive pursue of knowledge throughout the novel. Victor sacrifices his