Ignorance In Frankenstein

Based on Mary Shelley’s, the author of Frankenstein, use of knowledge throughout her writing, the reader can come to a conclusion that she is pointing out knowledge and the idea of learning as a motif. The reader can also assume that Shelley is showing us that knowledge is everywhere and is very important; not only throughout this book but throughout life as well.

Frankenstein fulfilled his destiny and made his creation despite his suffering and misfortunes. However, his influence on Walton is paradoxical. One moment, Frankenstein exhorts Walton’s almost-mutinous men to not stray from their path courageously, regardless of danger. The next, he serves as an abject example of the dangers of heedless scientific ambition. Walton serves as a foil to Victor, either not obsessive enough to risk almost-certain death or not courageous enough to allow his passion to drive him. Walton ultimately draws back from his treacherous mission and returns to England, having learned from Victor’s example how destructive the thirst for knowledge can be.

Alone and eager, Victor Frankenstein desperately worked to create a different type of art. Frankenstein stepped further into the science world and did something no other human had, being so that he did have the correct mindset and objects to do so. He was on a journey to go beyond death. His motive was to push himself. What he failed to do was look further into his work and also look further into how things would work out after his experiments were successful. Maybe, just maybe, Frankenstein started an experiment that should have been left at just an idea.

Some say that knowledge can be a blessing and a curse. Others say that intelligence can only be a curse. People argue that knowledge can help mankind, while it can also can make dangerous monsters that can harm others. However, in Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, Victor’s intelligence is mostly seen only as a curse because it unleashes a murderer, results in his sickness, and makes him want the knowledge to be kept a secret.

Frankenstein and the creature’s thirst for knowledge bring them to eventually find what they are looking for but it also takes them to dangerous, and unwanted places. When Frankenstein first encounters Walton, he tells him “You seek for knowledge and wisdom, as I once did; and I ardently hope that the gratification of your wishes may not be a serpent to sting you, as mine has been”(Shelley14). Significantly, Frankenstein became obsessed with science, which led to the creation of a new life form. He

Pg. 62). The letters with in the preface tell the story of Walton and his sister, and reveals that both he and his sister both put themselves in harm’s way simply to be the first to gain knowledge. The novel shows that sometimes the actions you take do not necessarily give you the outcomes that you want. This is shown in chapter four when Dr. Frankenstein was first conducing his experiment and becomes extremely obsessed with the lust to create life. Dr. Frankenstein ultimately removes all of his personal relationships and isolates himself from people who care about him. “For this I had deprived myself of rest and health. I had desired it with an ardor that far exceeded moderation; but now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart.”(Chapter 5, pg. 42) It is clear that Dr. Frankenstein dislikes the monster he just created and notices that he does not make something that is beautiful but more on something that’s is monstrous. Increasingly, Shelly makes a point by giving the reader a sort of “warning” on the aspect of wanting knowledge too much She makes the effort by making Dr. Frankenstein a example for the magnitude of gaining dangerous knowledge. “A flash of lightning illuminated the object and

Easily one of the most notable themes in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, the role of nature versus nurture in developing children, recurs throughout the novel with the two main characters, Frankenstein and his creature, believing in opposite sides of this theme. Favoring nature, Frankenstein maintains that the creature was always evil from the moment of creation, regardless of the creature’s experiences. However, the creature, in his narrative to Frankenstein, argues that “[he] was benevolent and good; misery made [him] a fiend” (106). In adherence with John Locke’s concept of tabula rasa, the creature was born with a blank slate, and only through his experiences does he gain knowledge and personality. Struggling to persevere in the human world, Frankenstein’s creature merely wants humans to welcome him as one of them. The change of the creature from looking “upon crime as a distant evil” because “benevolence and generosity were ever present” in him to seeking revenge on Frankenstein results from a culmination of horrible experiences (103). While it may be hard to see the creature as a trustworthy narrator because of how he has acted and his ulterior motives, he does present physical evidence to support his tale. Facing rejection in different forms, he becomes truly evil, giving up hope of companionship as a result of his trials and lessons. From the moment of his creation, the creature encounters abandonment, violence, isolation, and rejection everywhere he turns.

“Learn from me, if not by my precepts, at least by my example, how dangerous is the acquirement of knowledge, and how much happier that man is who believes his native town to be the world, than he who aspires to become greater than his nature will allow” (Shelley 60). In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, she expresses her beliefs regarding the danger of pursuing happiness through the attainment of knowledge, because true happiness is found in the emotional connections established between people. The pursuit of knowledge is not necessarily an evil thing, but it can cause destruction when it is pursued beyond natural limits. Victor Frankenstein becomes a slave to his passion for learning in more than one way; first his life is controlled by

In Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel, ‘Frankenstein’, a recurring motif of ambition and the quest for knowledge is present among the characters of Victor Frankenstein, Robert Walton and the creature. Victor’s obsessive ambition is his fatal flaw, ruining his life and leading to the murder of his loved ones and eventually his own death. Robert Walton shares a similar ambition

“How the dangerous is the acquirement of knowledge and how much happier that man is who believes his native town to be the world, than he who aspires to become greater than his nature will allow.” To what extent does Shelley’s Frankenstein support Victor Frankenstein’s view?

After his long tale, the Creature finally explains his ultimate goal in approaching Frankenstein: “You must create a female for me. With whom I can live in the interchange of those sympathies necessary for my being. This you alone can do; and I demand it of you as a right which you must not refuse” (Shelley 137). The Creature sees this female companion as his only chance to return to a benevolent state; he needs this female creature to sympathize with him and his experiences, among other possibilities that Frankenstein insinuates but are not directly expressed by the Creature. After listening to the Creature’s demand, Frankenstein “compassionated” the Creature but does attempt to revert back to his view of the Creature as possibly no more than “a filthy mass”(140).

Knowledge is not an asset without careful responsibility. Knowledge is a very powerful force in our world and with great power comes great responsibility. The novel, Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley is a symbolic story with many comparisons of higher power throughout Life. It contrasts good and evil, victim and perpetrator,and most important knowledge and ignorance. The characters of Victor Frankenstein and his created monster ensure and embody these comparisons, and unwillingly suffer these acts of disturbances with one another throughout the duration of the novel. Each with reasoning behind their hate of each other, the creature and his creator, mimic each other proving to have the same objective and same eventual outcomes and are more similar

Whither does your senseless curiosity lead you?” (199). Victor had previously remarked that Walton is very similar to him, in fact that is the reason he is sharing his story with him, so he clearly wanted to prevent the same mistakes happening again. If Victor had seen his knowledge as a blessing he would have shared with Walton how to do it, but clearly he did not. Thus, knowledge is portrayed in Frankenstein not as a blessing, but as a curse because of Victor’s reluctance to share

It begins with the death of his brother, William, and continues on. Eventually, all those who Frankenstein holds dear die at the hand of the creature. Because these deaths are cause by the creature Frankenstein created, he personally feels responsible. Yet, despite this he refuses to admit his faults at the risk of humiliating himself. He states “she died for it; and I am the cause of this—I murdered her. William, Justine, and Henry—they all died by my hands.’…I am the assassin of those most innocent victims; they died by my machinations” he continues on to say “I avoided explanation and maintained a continual silence concerning the wretch I had created. I had a persuasion that I should be supposed mad, and this in itself would forever have chained my tongue” (228). This is just another occasion in which Frankenstein is showing his true solipsism. In reflection, he knows he is responsible for the death of his loved ones but he avoids confessing his creation of the creature because he doesn’t want people to think he is mad. Frankenstein seems to put his status before being honest and keeping his loved ones safe. If it weren’t for his ego, and his self-containment he would not have strayed from the middle path, he would not have created the creature, and his loved ones would still be

the creature learn that Frankenstein is not proud of him and views him as a monster. Victor Frankenstein's first view of his creation is that he “ add paste on him while unfinished; He was ugly then…” ( Shelley, ) the creature end up hating his creator for making him so unlikable that he is someone that people think it's repulsive. the creature saddened by his rejection from the delay see family, in from not knowing how to act in this situation he does the most haste thing. as the creature ran around the college and as “The wind fanned the fire, and the cottage was quickly enveloped by the flames.”