Throughout Frankenstein, Mary Shelley shows how dangerous knowledge can be. Discuss.
In her novel, Frankenstein, Mary Shelley highlights how the pursuit of knowledge can lead to disastrous consequences when it is placed in the wrong hands. This is evidenced by Victor Frankenstein’s carless actions, and that of his creation when it is discovering the world and society for the first time. Victor’s reckless behaviour contributes not only the deaths of his family, but the creature’s nature of becoming sinful through experience. The message of the novel is to understand the dangers of pursing knowledge, and how its discovery can be tragic to those who do not use it properly
Throughout the novel, we as readers are exposed to the tragedies of Frankenstein
…show more content…
The knowledge of the creature’s life was shrouded in darkness from the rest of Frankenstein’s family and friends as he feared rejection, imprisonment, and death. However, Frankenstein is not the only one to blame for keeping secrets; the creature too had kept secrets, and threatened Frankenstein into creating him a ‘mate’ that would also be kept in the dark. The creatures intention for keeping himself secret was to not only observe humanity and learn from them, but to keep himself safe for he knew that he was ‘monstrous’ and would be rejected immediately for his ‘devilish’ appearance. Additionally, it was the creatures own knowledge and experience of society that he had chosen to stay hidden from the Delacey family instead of facing them. After many deaths caused by the creature, the end of the novel signifies a turning point in Frankenstein as he admits to creating the being and demands that it should be hunted down for its heinous crimes. Although his primary secret is now exposed, he takes it upon himself to find and destroy what he had brought into the world because he believes it to be his responsibility , and sees it as a way to avenge the people he had lost at the hands of his creation. Frankenstein had come
Frankenstein Rough Draft In the novel Frankenstein, our main characters Victor Frankenstein and the creature have grown to become really close friends. As the novel goes on you can see the creature and Victor grow a strong relationship with each other and how similar the creature is to Victor. Victor Frankenstein is a scientist who makes this evil creation which is the creature. This creature develops throughout the novel by adapting to the natural world and sharing the same traits as Victor.
In the novel, Shelley uses Victor and the monster to exemplify the effects that knowledge has on an individual's mental health. This ruthless desire for knowledge portrays how perilous it can be, while “exploring themes of risk, responsibility and accountability,” as Victor’s act of creation ultimately leads to the demise of everyone close to him while the monster’s act of learning results in him despising himself and all of humanity (Hammond). Throughout the novel, Victor Frankenstein encounters a great amount of psychological suffering in the early years of his adult life due to his ambition to seek forbidden knowledge and create a living being. Even more, his mental health begins to decline as a result of the artificial being he created and his heedless pursuit for knowledge, which ultimately leads to the demise of everyone close to him. Ironically, Victor loses the people he truly cared for in the process of his research into "the hidden laws of nature" (Shelley 18).
When it comes to Frankenstein, the book affirms the wisdom and creativity of human beings while it also shows human’s destructive power where Victor is the symbol of the entire mankind. It is necessary for human beings to challenge their self-wisdom and exploration of nature, however, natural balances would be broken when the investigation goes beyond a boundary line and the only disaster will be brought then. Consequently, the writer advocates the readers and the society to adjust their understanding and prediction about exploring nature’s secret in order to prevent the happening of exact same thing and to alarm scientists and citizens the risk of it at all
Victor Frankenstein's obsession with creating life is fueled by his desire to unlock the secrets of the universe, but he fails to consider the consequences of his actions. He becomes so consumed by his research that he loses sight of the humanity that should guide scientific inquiry. As a result, his creation becomes a monster that threatens the very fabric of society. Furthermore, the novel also highlights the dangers of the pursuit of knowledge without regard for the consequences.
The monster's curiosity, Frankenstein's scientific ambition, and Walton's extreme desire to explore ultimately result in the harm and downfall of both themselves and others around them. The monster's thirst for knowledge led him to uncover unsettling truths about his past, which drove him down a path of destructive behavior he would later regret. When the monster was created, he was immediately abandoned by his creator, Frankenstein. The monster could not comprehend his identity and surroundings, and had a sense of natural curiosity.
This madness makes The Creature’s goal to destroy every happy thing in Victors life, and not try to control or stop it. Starting with his brother, The Creature decides to start his plan of revenge on Victor: “Frankenstein! You belong then to my enemy- to him towards whom I have sworn eternal revenge; you shall be my first victim.” (163). Another innocent victim is being killed because the creature knows he is not loved.
Frankenstein did not take into account the feelings of the creature. Frankenstein wanted to be the first to create the life, but did not think ahead. His initial ambition is to help the people, and perhaps his creation will benefit the humankind, however, he lets his ambition take over, and does not think of what the creature will act like or do. He creates the creature but only to suffer and in return he suffers as well. Frankenstein’s actions to not take care of the creature causes the death of those around him.
In Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein (1818), Shelley shows her audience that while acquiring knowledge leads to survival for the Creature and power for Victor Frankenstein, the path to obtain this knowledge leads to the destruction of one’s self. Education and knowledge have major negative effects on both of the characters’ attitude, perception, and decisions. The life experiences of each character is dependent on the amount of knowledge that the character possesses. Knowledge gives Victor Frankenstein a superiority complex, and it changes the Creature’s perspective of the world and the people in it. The Creature, like a baby, is brought into the world with no prior knowledge of how society behaves.
As a society we all seek answers to how God did it or question how we all got here, in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein the key theme is the thirst for knowledge. Throughout the novel there are three prominent characters that seek for the understanding of life, including Victor Frankenstein, the creature, and Walton. The most important character involved with this particular theme is Victor Frankenstein, it all starts with his curiosity. Victor’s curiosity sparks with the statement that “The world was to me a secret which I desired to divine” (2.1).
It is often said that the more you learn, the more you realize you don’t know. Even Aristotle said, “The more you know, the more you know you don 't know.”. This can often lead to a yearning for more knowledge and sometimes, can be somebody’s downfall. In this case, it was Victor Frankenstein’s downfall. His love for science and his ever-growing quest to learn about the human body ultimately destroyed him, his family, his wife to be, and his best friend.
The Dangers of Knowledge Frankenstein, a novel written by Mary Shelley, is notoriously accredited for its development and implication of multiple themes. Set in the 1700’s, Frankenstein is a gothic fiction telling of isolation, knowledge, and nature. The biggest of these being knowledge and inevitably its consequences. With knowledge comes question; What poses the most danger? The knowledge itself, or the journey to gain information?
Throughout the novel, these characters toil with the pursuit of forbidden knowledge by suffering through the ramifications of their decisions to satisfy their desires. The author implies that blind ambition can lead to the downfall of beings who don’t limit their curiosity. These endeavors include determining the secret of life as well as its creation, discovering a passage in the North Pole, and learning to understand one’s place in the world. Victor Frankenstein suffers from the cost of knowledge by allowing his thirst for the unknown to exceed his limits. In like manner, he pushes his own limits and spends countless nights working to construct his creature even though he is cautioned that only God is capable of creating life.
Knowledge is like a perennial weed, if not tamed, then it can not be controlled and will become dangerous. Perennial weeds are spread by seed and if the entire root is not pulled out it can reproduce from the leftover roots which will cause the lawn to swarm in perennial weeds, unless they are tamed. Likewise, knowledge, unless people know their limits, will cause dangerous things to happen. This can be true for Mary Shelley's science fiction literature, Frankenstein, which talks about a crazy scientist, Victor, who gives life to the most abhorred being. He later encounters a captain of a ship, who has the same personality as him, passionate about his own understanding of the world around him, and Victor starts telling his tale, hopeful that
The idea of knowledge in the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley interprets knowledge as an evil pursuit. The knowlege is misused, due to Victor, the monster, and the interference with nature. Theses reasons are different perspectives that lead to tragedies. The novel Frankenstein identifies Victor's desire to gain knowledge as misusing it.
Such passion is seen in Victor’s ‘noble intent’ to design a being that could contribute to society, but he had overextended himself, falling under the spell of playing ‘God,’ further digging his grave as he is blinded by glory. His creation – aptly called monstrous being due to its stature, appearance, and strength – proved to be more of a pure and intellectually disposed ‘child’ that moves throughout the novel as a mere oddity, given the short end of the stick in relation to a lack of familial figures within his life, especially that of parents. Clearly, Victor Frankenstein had sealed his fate: by playing God he was losing his humanity, ultimately becoming the manifestation of Mary Shelley’s hidden desires, deteriorating into The Lucifer Principle by which the author Howard Bloom notes social groups, not individuals, as the primary “unit of selection” in human psychological