Mary Shelley's Frankenstein: The Pursuit Of Knowledge

Frankenstein claims he will “pioneer a new way,” and discover “the deepest mysteries of creation.” By this he means he will “unfold” the truth about creating life from death. The desire for the knowledge consumed him, allowing him to only think about “one thought, one conception, one purpose.” The dangers of desire are examined after he has created the monster. Victor has just finished the monster and realizes the gravity of the situation. He diminished his “health. I had desired it with an ardour that far exceeded moderation; but now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart” (42).

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.

However, Victors reckless and unthoughtful actions pushes the monster into a state of rage and hatred that overrides his ability to stop from exacting revenge on Victor. Victor initially creates the monster thinking that it will be an amazing creature, built from the best human body parts Victor could procure. After he views the outcome of his work he is repulsed by it and abandons it, hoping that it would cease to exist. Not only did the monster survive, but it learned to speak, write, and read. After reading the book Paradise Lost, the monster thinks of its own situation and states the following: But I was wretched, helpless, and alone.

Choa’s article expresses Shelley’s incorporation of knowledge leading to destruction in Frankenstein. In Shelley’s novel, the Creature exclaims that “sorrow only increase[s] with knowledge” (96). The Creature initially receives benefits of survival in the human world from his acquisition of knowledge, but he ultimately only causes himself pain. The Creature’s idea of befriending a human is crushed after learning that he is hated by the human race for his differences. The knowledge of humans’ hatred of the Creature causes the Creature’s sorrow, which is further developed into self-hatred.

Soon after he gets rejected from the De Lacey family, he exclaims to Victor, “Cursed, Cursed creator! Why did I live? Why, in that instant, did I not extinguish the spark of existence which you so wantonly bestowed? I know not; despair had not yet taken possession of me; my feelings were those of rage and revenge” (117). The monster explains that he had been truly overcome with anger because of the De Lacey family’s rejection of him.

As Victor reflects on the past, he is filled with guilt. When stating how he feels for the monster, he said, “He showed unparalleled malignity and selfishness, in evil: he destroyed my friends; he devoted to destruction beings who possessed exquisite sensations, happiness, and wisdom; nor do I know where this thirst for vengeance may end. Miserable himself, that he may render no other wretched he ought to die.” In comparison, the creature describes his creator as superior. The monster specifically said, “I have devoted my creator, the select specimen of all that is worthy of love and admiration among men, to misery; I have pursued him even to that of irremediable ruin.” These quotes emphasize the stark difference between how they feel about one another. Victor should have taken into consideration that the monster was like this because he had experienced abandonment in a world he had not known.

Why did you form a monster so hideous that even you turned from me in disgust? God, in pity, made man beautiful and alluring, after his own image; but my form is a filthy type of yours, more horrid even from the very resemblance. Satan had his companions, fellow devils, to admire and encourage him, but I am solitary and abhorred” (155). Goodness is all lost when the creature, driven by his desire for revenge, kills those dear to Frankenstein, in which the creation believes will therapeutically heal his personal recounting the pain of the mistreatment over the years. Even in the creation’s acts of kindness towards the family, because of the family’s reaction to the creature, this allows Shelly to reinforce that man is both ‘so virtuous and magnificent’, but also ‘vicious and base’.

To clarify, Victor's creation went down a dark path of destruction, even though he learned the difference between right and wrong on his own. To illustrate the importance of the companionship motif, Shelley employs the central theme of responsibility and also isolation. For instance, the creature remarked, “I am alone and miserable: man will not associate with me; but one as deformed and horrible as myself would not deny herself to me. My companion must be of the same species and have the same defects. This being you must create.” As a result, Victor debates whether he should create another creature for him.

The scientist Victor Frankenstein calls his creation a “wretch” and assumes that it is evil solely based on it's appearance. Shelley chose to write her novel to criticize and comment on human nature’s form of judgment. In order to accomplish her writing purpose she shares Frankenstein’s reaction to his creation's existence through imagery and foreshadowing. Shelley shared Frankenstein’s reaction to his creation

Ambition is what drives one to achieve their goal; this can ultimately cause a result that is beneficial or disastrous. In Mary Shelly’s, Frankenstein, it is Victor’s stubborn mindset that drives him insane to the point where he eventually lands himself in his grave. It originally starts when Victor becomes ambitious to search for knowledge so that he could go against nature and create a manmade creature to attain fame. The fact that Victor did not think of the consequences leads him to suffer the aftermath. In the end, nothing was gained out of searching for knowledge as Victor and the monster die from suffering from one another.

No longer were monsters a product of supernatural forces, monsters were created. Yet, in order for a person to become a monster, a person cannot exist in isolation. Relating my idea of the connection between knowledge and morality in the Scientific Revolution/Enlightenment period to the monster and his body in Frankenstein, I argue that society’s knowledge of the monster is formed in one of two ways; one, through scientific creation or two, through social construction. Now, it is through (1) physical features which differ drastically from others or (2) immoral actions that one becomes a monster in their own society. In part, “monsters” are products of their own environment.

Perhaps the greatest similarity between Frankenstein and the Creature is their great hatred for one another. The Creature told Frankenstein himself that he " I declared everlasting war against the species, and more all, against him who had formed me and sent forth to this insupportable misery”(113). The Creature hates Frankenstein for not only creating him, but more so for abandoning him. Victor also hates the Creature, however for a different reason. Victor shouted in rage, "Scoffing devil!