The Importance Of Knowledge In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

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Knowledge can be a good thing if we use it wisely and properly, but if you don’t use it wisely it may bring a harmless rumor or cause an awful consequence. In Frankenstein’s case knowledge was not a good thing. The novel, Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, was an intriguing story with many comparisons of the great powers in life. It contains many themes of our society today. It contrasts science and literary, technology and human, life and death, but mainly it consisted of knowledge and ignorance. In Frankenstein, Mary Shelley makes the theme evident with knowledge in the characters development. Reading the novel Frankenstein makes the word knowledge pop into your head throughout the text. The Webster’s dictionary defines the word knowledge as, …show more content…

In the letter he described his quest for knowledge to discover the native territory. “One man’s life or death was but a small price to pay for the acquirement of the knowledge which I sought for the dominion I should acquire and transmit over the elemental foes of our race.” (Shelly 16) This showed that this was his main priority to achieve knowledge above life or death. Walton was willing to risk it all in the name of discovery just be recognized with the others who have done so. As the captain of the group, he was responsible for the lives of other men, he made a ruthless decision in his pursuit of knowledge and he endangered those men. He was blind to see this and he was obsessed at the thought of knowledge he failed to realize this or disregard the sacrifice. When Victor Frankenstein heard his goal of knowledge he was scared that Walton could get killed if he continued. Victor Frankenstein told Walton that, “You seek for knowledge and wisdom, as I once did; and I ardently hope that the gratification of your wishes may not be a serpent to sting you, as mine has been." (Shelly 17) Frankenstein gave him this message because he did not want him to end up like he did with his thirst for knowledge. Especially when Walton was going on a mission that could end his life and his crew. Frankenstein was thinking of his past mistake and how things would have …show more content…

The monster was made by an experiment by a smart scientist who immediately got scared and abandoned him. He was never properly taught how to survive or even interact with humans or was he taught right from wrong. He was created a man but had the mind of a child. He wanted to know all about the human life such as communication, feelings, behavior, and respect for one another. The only way he could learn this was to teach himself because everyone was scared of him. At first, he taught himself how to survive by collecting food and keeping himself warm with fires. He wanted more, he wanted to learn how to speak, read, and show feelings like the family he watched in the cottages. He wanted to communicate with humans but he needed to learn the basic knowledge of language. He said, “I ought not to make the attempt until I had first become master of their language, which knowledge might enable me to make them overlook the deformity of my figure, for with this also the contrast perpetually presented to my eyes had made me acquainted.” (Shelly Chp 12) eventually the monster did however accomplish the knowledge of language, but wishing to be more like humans costs the monster his happiness. The monster admired the humans beautiful physical features and their beautiful minds but was hurt by the sight of his ugliness when he saw his reflection in the water. Once he realized he was much different from humans the

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