Mary Shelley's Attitude to Knowledge in Frankenstein
Mary Shelley is a gothic writer, who (through this novel
'Frankenstein') has been able to create a hybrid form of gothic
literature, a gothic/horror genre which allows Shelley to convey a
more realistic terror, one that resides within the psyche instead of a
form outside , an example would be Ghosts. Her knowledge on different
subjects allows her to create a realistic world in the novel, possibly
even criticising her own husband Percy Shelley, who searched for
knowledge and in doing so became egotistical and self obsessed like a
true romantic just like Frankenstein and other romantic characters
like him.
Shelley was always surrounded by intelligent people, which were mainly
her father and his inner circle that also included her husband. These
people encouraged Shelley to educate herself and develop her own
opinions.
Shelley found the gothic genre a perfect place in which she could air
her thoughts, such as a critical view of certain powers in her society
and imply things about the industrial revolution through subtle
remarks in the novel.
The novel itself was a product of Shelley taking up a challenge to
write a ghost story, which was her chance to give a dire warning to
society (through the didactic tone throughout the novel) that,
embraces experimenting and questing for the unknown which so much part
of her culture but at the same time playing on the fears of the
middles classes' lack of knowledge as at the same time graves were
being dug up and bodies used which made this tomb quite fearful to its
readers and intriguing as Shelley brings many ethical issues on the
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... how important knowledge is here.
I personal think Shelley wrote this novel to voice her opinions the
only way she could in such a strict society that did not allow women
to have opinions. Shelley took many things from her own life which she
criticised through the novel to make it more realistic and the only
way she could criticise her own up bringing especially how her father
took her own education.
The fears stated in the novel are still valid today as the morals of
whether we should play god through the technological advances in
science, Shelley's novel has clear moral consequences and a perfect
example of what could happen if we as a society start to follow
Frankenstein's footsteps and create a monster with the same potential
as the one in the book to create havoc and destruction, would probably
destroy us.
In the world today there is a drive to evolve and improve life through science and its findings. When looking at the good of a society, the people have to decide when the line between right and wrong is drawn. In the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, she proves that the possession of knowledge can lead to destructive forces through Victor Frankenstein’s monster’s journey. The events that lead to Victor’s monster’s destructive path is when he comes into contact with the cottagers, he murders Victor’s brother, and runs away after destroying Victor’s life.
In "Frankenstein" by Mary Shelley, Victor Frankenstein creates a monster that brings chaos and deaths to Victor Frankenstein's family and friends for revenge. This is one example of how too much knowledge can be dangerous. In addition to Frankenstein, the classical novel, "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Hyde." exemplifies why too much knowledge can cause chaos. In the novel, Dr. Jekyll creates salt in his laboratory that changes his physical appearance. Thus makes an alter ego named Hyde who murders citizens of England for pleasure. This changes Dr. Jekyll since he keeps switching appearances until one day, he changes to Hyde permanently. These examples show that the misuse of knowledge is dangerous. From bringing misery to Frankenstein to changing into a murderous alter ego, humans cannot handle too much
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
The Tree of Knowledge in Frankenstein by Mary Shelley In Frankenstein, Mary Shelley warns that with the advent of science, natural philosophical questioning is not only futile, but dangerous. In attempting to discover the mysteries of life, Frankenstein assumes that he can act as God. He disrupts the natural order, and chaos ensues. Mary Shelley goes to great lengths to emphasize the beauty and order of life when man engages in ìnaturalî pursuits.
Albert Einstein once said “A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. So is a lot.” Knowledge can be good because it makes one successful. Then, it can also be very bad such as a criminal being too smart for the police, he or she can keep committing crime. Too much knowledge is dangerous because it may harm many, which means that many die or get scarred for life because of one simple guy with an excess of knowledge.
At the beginning of life, humans are exposed to the outside world with an open and blank mind. A newborn has no knowledge, no concerns or worries and it only seeks to fulfill its main necessities. Surrounded by the outside world one lives through many experiences where knowledge is accepted. Encountering other human beings reflects upon one's perception and brings about ones self decisions. Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein, written in 1816, demonstrates through characters that an obsessive desire for more knowledge may ruin ones life.
Frankenstein is a book written by Mary Shelley in 1818, that is revolved around a under privileged scientist named Victor Frankenstein who manages to create a unnatural human-like being. The story was written when Shelley was in her late teen age years, and was published when she was just twenty years old. Frankenstein is filled with several different elements of the Gothic and Romantic Movement of British literature, and is considered to be one of the earliest forms of science fiction. Frankenstein is a very complicated and complex story that challenges different ethics and morals on the apparent theme of dangerous knowledge. With the mysterious experiment that Dr. Victor Frankenstein conducted, Shelly causes her reader to ultimately ask themselves what price is too high to pay to gain knowledge. It is evident that Shelly allows the reader to sort of “wonder” about the reaction they would take when dealing with a situation such as the one implemented throughout the book.
In the gothic novel Frankenstein, humans have a bottomless, motivating, but often dangerous thirst for knowledge. This idea was clearly illustrated throughout the novel by Mary Shelley. The three main characters in the novel shared the thirst for knowledge that later lead to their downfall. In the novel knowledge is a huge theme that led to atrocious life to anyone that tried to gain it. Knowledge is hazardous; therefore, I support Dr. Frankenstein’s warning about knowledge being dangerous and that knowledge shouldn’t be gained.
Albert Einstein once said, “A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. So is a lot.” Einstein believes that there is a point where the acquisition of knowledge becomes dangerous for humans. Mary Shelley extensively explores the effect dangerous knowledge has on the characters in her book Frankenstein. Throughout the book, Frankenstein and the creature are corrupted by knowledge that changes their outlooks on life. In both cases, the information that corrupts the characters was not meant for them to be discovered. When Frankenstein is discovered in the Arctic by a sailor named Walton, he is taken on board of Walton’s boat. Frankenstein then tells Walton about his quest for information, and it changes Walton’s perspective on the pursuit of
In the novel Frankenstein written by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelly, Knowledge is power for Victor Frankenstein. Mary Shelly explains that Dr. Frankenstein’s hunger for the knowledge to create life out of death only leads to Victor’s unfortunate monster. The consequences that Victor Frankenstein experiences from creating a creature from his own madness leads to his death as well as the creature. Mary Shelly explains in her novel Frankenstein that Victor’s need to study life and how it is created is dangerous; furthermore, the abomination that the doctor creates should have never been created; however, the monster that Victor creates is his own monstrosity.
As a young writer, at just the age of 18 years old, Mary Shelley was able to become a gothic novel specialist. She was able to create a story that has an unbelievable amount of depth behind all of the events that happen between the characters. Her writing stays relevant in today’s society due to her focus on the creation of artificial life. Many of the characters in the novel Frankenstein have a deep love and desire for new discoveries. The characters like Walton, the Creature and Victor have the desire for ambition which they all become overly consumed in their works and end up in destructive situations. In the novel Frankenstein, Mary Shelley is able to develop multiple characters whose ambitions lead to destruction;
Mankind has always acknowledged the gap between the human race and animals. Why have only humans produced great world leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr? Why has an evil dictator such as Hitler not hailed from the animal species? In Pensées, French Christian philosopher Blaise Pascal deemed that “Man’s greatness comes from knowing he is wretched: a tree does not know it is wretched. Thus it is wretched to know that one is wretched, but there is greatness in knowing one is wretched”. Pascal’s declaration that greatness in mankind comes from being wretched is presented in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein Victor Frankenstein and the creation of the monster. The death of his loved ones due to his creation of the monster led Frankenstein to realize his own
Virtue is found at the margins of society more often than at its center. In Frankenstein, the novel by Mary Shelley, the monster exemplifies virtue to a greater extent than his creator, Victor Frankenstein. Shelley's creature is an isolate of great sensitivity, kindness, and insight. Contrary to James Whale's 1931 film, Frankenstein, which portrays the creature as a lumbering dolt, Shelley's monster was modeled on Rousseau's notion of humanity as the "noble savage". The nobility of the creature is evident as encounters a simple French family and observes and draws form the quirks of humanity.
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.
In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, the concept of "discovery" is paradoxical: initial discovery is joyful and innocent, but ends in misery and corruption. The ambitions of both Walton and Frankenstein (to explore new lands and to cast scientific light on the unknown, respectively) are formed with the noblest of intentions but a fatal disregard for the sanctity of natural boundaries. Though the idea of discovery remains idealized, human fallibility utterly corrupts all pursuit of that ideal. The corruption of discovery parallels the corruption inherent in every human life, in that a child begins as a pure and faultless creature, full of wonder, but hardens into a self-absorbed, grasping, overly ambitious adult. Only by novel's end does Walton recognize that he must abandon his own ambition (the mapping of previously uncharted land), out of concern for the precious lives of his crew.