“This was my duty; but there was another still paramount to that. My duties towards the beings of my own species had greater claims to my attentions, because they included a greater proportion of happiness or misery” (Shelley 184). Dr. Victor Frankenstein was a brilliant scientist whose ideas were to bring both not only success but death upon others including his own loved ones. Like most scientists in real life today and from the past, they tend to struggle with whatever knowledge they can learn about. The only problem was that the education they possess shows that they have no idea of the outcome of their experiments until tested and by doing so scientists can easily temper with the laws of nature on animals, humans and even the environment, not to mention defying information from other scientists to prove their own theories correct and to …show more content…
the negative influence, from Victor’s point of view, and show how there truly is no answer to the kind of influence that can provide us with stable lives based on the outcome of their …show more content…
For someone like Victor Frankenstein, education does indeed provide negative influence on society. His view on science became misunderstood with his theories on resurrecting the dead and people saw him more of a monster than a man of science. Other than his creation being the monster, Victor to me, would be the monster in this story because his decisions were an act against god without thinking of the consequences and the blood of everyone his creation had killed would be on his hands. People today wonder about the scientists of today and though most use their education to help then environment and the people living in it, but whether or not there are others like Victor Frankenstein who would try to defy god like he had
In Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, it scrutinizes the punishments when a man creates life, and plays the role of God. Victor Frankenstein, is at fault for the creature’s actions. Victor was looking for some honor and triumph, but when he accomplished his experiment, not only did it bring terror to Victor, but to the whole world. The monster never learned right from wrong and was never raised correctly, his first moment of life, all he experienced was the fear in Victor's emotion, and was abandoned right from the start. Victor selfishly isolated himself from society and ran away from his responsibilities which caused destruction to the people Victor cared for and loved deeply.
The search of knowledge can help take away the doubt, but it can affect the ones around you. Victor doubts and knowledge cause the death of his wife, best friend, and his brother. Victor should have known that bringing something back to life would had consequences. His relentless search of knowledge did brought him suffering because he involved his family and didn't thought about the consequences. Victor’s passion about learning new things brought him to the creation of an ugly monster.
Previous to the existence of the monster, readers are introduced to an ambitious, benevolent Victor Frankenstein. He exuded an excitement and passion about learning, though only for very specific subjects. “My temper was sometimes violent, and my passions vehement; but by some law in my temperature they were turned not towards childish pursuits but to an eager desire to learn.” (Shelley 19) Though his studies on creating life artificially had eventually grown tiresome—“My cheek had grown pale with study, and my person had
The ambition for knowledge is a dangerous thing, especially if that knowledge is kept a secret. The novel Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, follows Walton who, while searching for new land, helps Victor Frankenstein and listens to his story. Victor Frankenstein is a wise character, but his passion for knowledge, his ambition, and his decision to keep his past a secret drives him and others around him to a short life. Frankenstein’s passion for knowledge drives him to isolate himself and make those around him worry. Frankenstein has a lonely life due to his pursuit of knowledge.
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.
“ Children who are good at self-control grow up to be morally mature adults” and when they “can control their impulses [they] are more likely to be intelligent, self-confident, happy, and socially skilled” (Barber 24). Victor was able to develop the kind of self-control that he needed to grow up happy, self- confident, intelligent, and to be a socially skilled adult. His ability to form self-control allowed him to venture out and be able to achieve his “desire to learn” (Shelley). Victory had enough self- discipline to go off to school to learn all that he desired “whether it was the outward substance of things or the inner spirit of nature and the mysterious soul of man that occupied [him], still [his] inquiries were directed to the metaphysical, or in its highest sense, the physical secrets of the world” (Shelley). However unlike Victor, the creature never developed the ability of self-control.
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.
As Frank Herbert once said: “ Too much knowledge never makes for simple decisions.” This reigns true not only in Frankenstein, But also in everyday life. Coincidentally, learning too much can bring misery and dangers into your life. We can see this in scientists, like Victor, they learn too much knowledge and become mad, crazy, hurtful people. Knowledge like most things is good in moderation, when knowing too much, we become people who are darker and more wretched than our original
“I seek the everlasting ices of the north, where you will feel the misery of cold and frost, to which I am impassive. " That was the end part of Victor’s life, the curse of his creation compromised with Victor’s life. Even scientific innovations highly blessings to humanity if a person uses it wisely, but same knowledge can be a curse and can destroy a human race. For example, Nuclear bombs which destroyed Nagasaki and Hiroshima in Japan is an example of cursed knowledge. In the Frankenstein, curse generated by knowledge ultimately took the life of an ambitious, knowledgeable scientist, Victor,
The power of knowledge can be a dangerous thing. However, it is not always the content or amount of knowledge that is dangerous. It is the person behind that knowledge that has the potential to bring danger to society. No tale represents this better than Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein. Monsters and myths can be scary or frightening to young children.
He brings his problems upon himself through his relentless desire for knowledge. His downfall is brought upon him by his creation, which uses knowledge again to do damage to him and those close to him. Knowledge has destructive capabilities and they were abused by Victor and his creation until their ultimate
ENG-3U0 November 20 2015 Frankenstein: The Pursuit of Knowledge Throughout the course of their individual journeys, Victor Frankenstein’s extreme passion for gaining knowledge about creating life, Robert Walton’s curiosity to discover land beyond the North Pole and the monster’s eagerness to obtain knowledge about humans was the principal cause of each of their suffering. As such, In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, the pursuit of knowledge is a dangerous path which leads to suffering. Victor Frankenstein develops a keen interest in discovering knowledge about living beings which ultimately results in his personal suffering as well as others suffering. To begin with, Victor embarks on an assignment through combining body parts and following various
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein criticizes the human quest for knowledge through science and it highlights the moral implications of such undertakings. By following the story of the “mad scientist”, Victor Frankenstein, we see how a man’s ambition can be his downfall. However, Shelley notes that although it is dangerous to partake in immoral science, this curiosity to know more about the world around us and who we are is human instinct. This essay will consider Hindle’s premise that Frankenstein is a criticism of the “lofty ambition of man”. One could argue that by writing Frankenstein, Shelley was “loftily ambitious”, just like the characters in her novel.
In Mary Shelley's novel "Frankenstein" each of the three main characters "possesses a self-governing, passionate intellectual curiosity, which, rather than any formal system of education, is responsible for the formation of their characters." (Englert) Robert Walton's education was mostly from his uncle Thomas's library. He was in pursuit to advance his personal development and factual knowledge, this was his self-guided education. Walton was extremely interested in the sea-faring life, he traveled for his own educational inquiry. "I often worked harder than the common sailors during the day, and devoted my nights to the study of mathematics, the theory of medicine, and those branches of physical science from which a naval adventure might derive
Everywhere he went, including his hometown or the beautiful valley of Charmounix, he was always shaken by the fact that his tedious monster was loose, hunting both his mind and body. Moreover, every time Victor try to distract his gruesomeness by appreciating and enjoying the present, he would be always dragged toward darkest memories from his past and his future full of anxiety. Such that whenever Victor encountered his inhumane creation, he does not reconsider his creation’s feelings, but rather easily become swayed by his own morality; that his creation was the only cause of his suffering and it should be exterminated. Even after countless opportunities to reconsider his ideas, Victor performed futile effort toward his issues, which he continuously applied his idea that his logic was the only thing that was