Knowledge accompanied by wisdom, is a blessing. Knowledge helped scientists. make the most destructive weapon known to mankind, a nuclear bomb. It was lack of wisdom that caused United States of America to use it as a means of mass destruction, as illustrated in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Knowledge not accompanied by wisdom, is a curse. Victor Frankenstein, protagonist in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, is awed by the science of chemistry and natural philosophy. His desire to gain knowledge leads him to research the secret of life, and after years of research, Victor is convinced he has discovered the meaning of life. With knowledge as his most powerful weapon, Victor embarks on a journey to create something extraordinary out of old body parts. One desperate night, Victor brings his creation to life. However, one glance at the creature was enough to make him realize that he had not created something beautiful, he created a monster. Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein demonstrates how knowledge can be dangerous by the damage caused by both the monster and Victor.
The desire to be omniscient is at heart of Frankenstein, as Victor embarks on a journey to unlock the secret of life. Victor challenges human limits by attempting to successfully discover and fully comprehend secret of life. Thirteen year old Victor Frankenstein becomes obsessed with natural philosophy after he comes across a book by Cornelius Agrippa. He vies to seek more knowledge after he gathers works of natural philosophers known to people; he studies the works of the scholars with a growing passion that can only be described as unhealthy. His passion for natural philosophers burns with a greater intensity after he learns of “the philosopher’s stone and the elixir...
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...der that the novel’s outcome is inevitable. The deaths of both Victor and the monster signify what dangerous knowledge can do to one. Somewhere along the way Victor failed to remember that he must care for what he creates, similar to the way nature looks after its creations. Excessive knowledge may prove to be destructive when not used properly. The monster was deemed to be inhumane and cruel, but Victor was his creator; therefore, Victor is just as inhumane and cruel as the monster. Victor had enough knowledge to create the monster, but he did not have enough knowledge to understand the monster. Victor’s creation is was not a monster when it was created, he had the potential to be something extraordinary. While dangerous knowledge may be destructive, limited knowledge can be even more lethal. The omniscient Victor failed to realize that the monster had a heart.
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.
In Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, Victor Frankenstein seeks knowledge. He thirsts for glory and pursues knowledge for this selfish pursuit. Throughout this, Frankenstein weakens his relationships, such as his relationship with Elizabeth and Henry. In his pursuit, he brings an intellectual being to life making the quest all the more selfish. Motivated by this selfish desire for glory, Frankenstein embarks on a pursuit of knowledge for the “secrets” of life that ultimately weakens his relationships and sanity. Frankenstein’s experience with the monster, his weakening relationships, and his personal philosophy illuminate the consequence of pursuing knowledge for the wrong purpose.
In Frankenstein, Victor’s monster suffers much loneliness and pain at the hands of every human he meets, as he tries to be human like them. First, he is abandoned by his creator, the one person that should have accepted, helped, and guided him through the confusing world he found himself in. Next, he is shunned wherever he goes, often attacked and injured. Still, throughout these trials, the creature remains hopeful that he can eventually be accepted, and entertains virtuous and moral thoughts. However, when the creature takes another crushing blow, as a family he had thought to be very noble and honorable abandons him as well, his hopes are dashed. The monster then takes revenge on Victor, killing many of his loved ones, and on the humans who have hurt him. While exacting his revenge, the monster often feels guilty for his actions and tries to be better, but is then angered and provoked into committing more wrongdoings, feeling self-pity all the while. Finally, after Victor’s death, the monster returns to mourn the death of his creator, a death he directly caused, and speaks about his misery and shame. During his soliloquy, the monster shows that he has become a human being because he suffers from an inner conflict, in his case, between guilt and a need for sympathy and pity, as all humans do.
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is a nineteenth century literary work that delves into the world of science and the plausible outcomes of morally insensitive technological research. Although the novel brings to the forefront several issues about knowledge and sublime nature, the novel mostly explores the psychological and physical journey of two complex characters. While each character exhibits several interesting traits that range from passive and contemplative to rash and impulsive, their most attractive quality is their monstrosity. Their monstrosities, however, differ in the way each of the character’s act and respond to their environment. Throughout Frankenstein, one assumes that Frankenstein’s creation is the true monster. While the creation’s actions are indeed monstrous, one must also realize that his creator, Victor Frankenstein is also a villain. His inconsiderate and selfish acts as well as his passion for science result in the death of his friend and family members and ultimately in his own demise.
We as humans want to be with each other. We actively pursue this goal be finding friends and significant others. While a moderate amount of solitude can be good we crave togetherness with others. In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein isolation is a key theme in the novel. The creature created by Victor Frankenstein is driven into isolation from society based on people’s fear of him. Both the creature and Victor experience first hand the effects that isolation have on the creature's actions. Thus Frankenstein shows very clearly how lifelong isolation keeps someone from developing a moral compass and in turn makes them do wrongful deeds.
Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein” is about Victor Frankenstein’s excessive knowledge in the sciences and his refusal to accept his own creation. Frankenstein starts with a healthy curiosity in the sciences that eventually turns into an unhealthy obsession he can no longer control. He undergoes a drastic transformation because of making experiments that eventually result in his biggest one yet; the monster. Shelley applies the themes: the danger of too much knowledge, ambition, monstrosity, isolation, and Nature vs. Nurture throughout the novel with the characterization of the monster and Frankenstein.
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.
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley is a very complex book riddled with underlying messages. From the characteristics of each individual to the main storyline Shelley depicts a world of opposites. Victor Frankenstein, a privileged young man, defies nature when his obsession with life and death has him attempting to bring someone/something to life. He succeeds and quickly goes from obsessed over its creation to disgust with its form. He then rejects his creation, which sets the stage for the terrifying events to come. This is the embodiment of a modern novel as it contains alienation, disillusionment, and a critique of science.
Frankenstein by Mary Shelly Part One = == == === A main theme in Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein is that of birth, childhood and parenthood, this is explored through Shelly’s choice of frame narrative and structure for the novel.
In Frankenstein, Mary Shelley highlights on the experiences her characters undergo through the internal war of passion and responsibility. Victor Frankenstein lets his eagerness of knowledge and creating life get so out of hand that he fails to realize what the outcome of such a creature would affect humankind. Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein, highlights on how Frankenstein’s passion of knowledge is what ultimately causes the decline of his health and the death of him and his loved ones.
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.
...Frankenstein and the creature. The situations that each character experience are lessons about how seeking prohibited intelligence comes with extreme consequences. Frankenstein is a Gothic novel which means it involves the supernatural; however, because it contains religious qualities it is more appealing to the common people’s idea of knowledge. Mary Shelley achieves her goal of informing the audience that man should not seek or possess the level of knowledge that God acquires. One should learn from the situations present in the novel because life comes with an enormous amount of knowledge; going after the unknown is an act of rebellion against God.
How can such disparate characters, that are even resentful towards one another, be so consubstantial? Though Victor and the monster do not share the same physical or social traits, they have many of the same personality traits. Victor and the monster are analogous with their desire for knowledge, relationships with nature, and with desires for family. The author uses complex diction, symbolism, and syntax to emphasize these similarities. Throughout the plot, these similarities become more apparent and as this occurs their relationship worsens.
Victor Frankenstein finds himself exploring the world of science against his fathers wishes but he has an impulse to go forward in his education through university. During this time any form of science was little in knowledge especially the chemistry which was Victors area if study. Victor pursues to go farther than the normal human limits of society. “Learn from me, if not by my precepts, at least by my example, how dangerous is the acquirement of knowledge, 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” (Chapter 4). He soon finds the answer he was looking for, the answer of life. He becomes obsessed with creating a human being. With his knowledge he believes it should be a perfe...
Frankenstein has a desire to discover the mysteries of life and the world. This desire for knowledge links him to the Biblical character, Adam; in fact, Frankenstein is more like Adam than his creature is. Ever since Victor Frankenstein was a child, he viewed the world as a “secret” (Shelley 923). He began to read books by Cornelius Agrippa, Paraclesus, and Albertus Magnus, authors of magic and the occult sciences; these books were not “rational” like the “theory of chemistry” (Shelley 924). Rather, they contained a false science. Nonetheless, Frankenstein enthusiastically read these books. He possesses a curiosity and desire to delve into the mysteries of life. However, Frankenstein later admits that these studies were “unlawful”; they were not “befitting to the human mind” (Shelley 934). This knowledge is forbidden knowledge to mankind. Adam, likewise, was tempted with the prospect of forbidden knowledge. God planted the “tree of knowledge of good and evil” (Genesis 2:9). However, He...