Frankenstein Knowledge And Power

The free dictionary online defines knowledge as “an awareness, consciousness, or familiarity gained by experience or learning”. Power, on the other hand, means “the ability or official capacity of a person, group or nation to exercise great influence or control and authority over others”. In Voltaire’s “Candide”, Goethe’s “Faust”, and Shelley’s Frankenstein, the quest for more knowledge and power sets the stage for the story yet the characters, Candide, Frankenstein, and Faust remain unhappy after acquiring the much desired knowledge and power. It can be said, therefore, that knowledge, and even money, often times twists and corrupts the mind because of the control (power) it gives people over others.

For instance, Voltaire states how Candide

Transcendent knowledge, according to free dictionary online, is “that knowledge of essences and of the whole course of history that normally eludes the human mind”. Therefore, it surpasses the common knowledge of daily existence and is usually possessed by God and supernatural people. Faust's bargain with the devil gives him powers denied normal men but unfortunately for him, he realizes but too late that his actions put Gretchen into so much misery as seen in the lines where he

Frankenstein exhibit a quest for knowledge in Shelley’s Frankenstein. The boat captain, Walton sets sail in his quest to explore and gain knowledge of an unknown region of the earth called the North Pole. Frankenstein is seen always purring over books in his quest for sublime knowledge. He becomes very obsessed with knowledge and scientific development of life after his mother’s death and thus, begins a journey to actualize this dream through carrying out experiments while attending medical school at Ingolstadt. Despite the difficulties and obstacles that keep rearing their ugly heads up, the captain by glacier, and Frankenstein by opposition and restriction from his professor, these two characters do not give up. The movie recounts how Frankenstein achieves his goal by creating a life- the monster and is unhappy about the outcome. Then, the boat captain, after listening to Dr Frankenstein’s story, changes his mind about his quest and goes home. Overall, the knowledge and power they seek pushes the parallel characters further into a realm of unhappiness, loneliness and