Lack of Knowledge Thesis Examination

Victor Frankenstein’s creation, the nameless creature in Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein, displays countless characteristics of physical monstrosity; he is described as “ugly”, “demonical” and a “hideous… wretch” (Shelley 36). However, the creature expresses that his only desires are acceptance and love, but he is seen as a monster regardless of his true intentions. When the creature is abandoned by Frankenstein, he is forced to find acceptance on his own and eventually comes across a cottage in the woods. As an attempt to gain approval, he waits to approach the home until the only character home is a blind man, to whom he explains his desire for friendship. The creature says that he is afraid to become “an

Mary Shelley’s ability to create such multidimensional characters in Frankenstein proves that writing is a powerful tool that has the ability to provoke vastly different opinions amongst readers. Even though each individual reading the story is reading the exact same words, their interpretation of those words often leads to opposing views in regards to the fate of the characters. The creature, in particular, has been a popular topic of discussion when conducting a close read of the novel due to his arguable versatility as a victim and villain. The concept of the villain has evolved over the years, however its basis still rests upon the simple fact that as a character in the story, their actions are a result of malicious intentions

Like a baby, Frankenstein’s creature was born innocent and inexperience of how society works. Neglected by his creator, the creature had no one to teach him, this caused him to become isolated. While wandering in the wilderness the creature came upon the De Lacey family. He does not approach them, instead he studies them and becomes accustom to their doings. He uses his isolation to educate himself and gain courage to meet the family. Aghast by the creature’s monstrous appearance, the De Lacey family fled away leaving the

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, illustrates an interesting story focusing in on many different themes, but what most readers may miss, is the similarities between Victor Frankenstein and the creature he created. As the story develops, one may pick up on these similarities more and more. This is portrayed through their feelings of isolation, thirst for revenge, their bold attempt to play god, and also their hunger to obtain knowledge. These are all displayed through a series of both the actions and the words of Frankenstein and his creature.

“Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives” ~ James Madison

Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.

As the novel continues Frankenstein decides to create a monster and the process of this creation physically as well as mentally isolates him from his new community. Frankenstein admits that "Every night [he] was oppressed by a slow fever, and [he] became nervous to a most painful degree; the fall of a leaf startled [him], and [he] shunned [his] fellow creatures as if [he] had been utility of a crime" (Frankenstein Page 55). Once again the reader can sympathize and empathize with the pain the Frankenstein is going through from this isolation. The reader can see Frankenstein 's start of mental deterioration, generating affectionate feeling towards him. However, differently than before the reader can observe

Like most horror stories, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein has a wretched monster who terrorizes and kills his victims with ease. However, the story is not as simple as it seems. One increasingly popular view of the true nature of the creature is one of understanding. This sympathetic view is often strengthened by looking at the upbringing of the creature in the harsh world in which he matures much as a child would. With no friends or even a true father, the creature can be said to be a product of society and its negative views and constant rejections of him. Although this popular view serves to lessen the severity of his crimes in most people’s eyes, the fact remains that the creature is in fact a cold-hearted wretch whose vindictive nature

Who is the real monster?” acts as the dominant question throughout the novel “Frankenstein” written by Mary Shelly as the reader explores the protagonist Victor Frankenstein and his nameless creation. As the novel progresses, the reader notices how the relationship between the two characters goes far beyond a neglectful creature and resentful creation, for the two influence the thoughts, actions and emotions of each other. Furthermore, the creature’s physical appearance acts as his purpose throughout the novel as well as a mirror of Victor Frankenstein’s true identity. Additionally, the creature’s lack of identity begins to initiate Frankenstein’s shame towards his own identity, revealing the flawed character of Frankenstein and determining the resolution to the question “Who is the true monster? Who is the true catalyst of destruction?” During the novel, the reader is able to identify the creature as the most effective foil for Victor Frankenstein because the creature causes: Frankenstein to view the action of the creature as his own work, the shift between pride and shame in Frankenstein, and his physical appearance demonstrates his purpose to reveal the true character of Victor Frankenstein.

Frankenstein's creation is a complex character whose true motives cannot be determined easily. Although one cannot excuse his actions, they should certainly not be viewed out of context. The creature is exposed to the painful reality of loneliness from the moment of his creation. "I had worked hard for nearly two years," Victor states, "for the sole

Knowledge can be very dangerous and destructive if you use it for the erroneous purpose. As in Victor Frankenstein, he used his knowledge to build a “monster” by assembling different body parts to form a human body system and then by the use of electricity to bring it alive. In the beginning Frankenstein thought his creation would be extraordinary, but after seeing the end results and how hideous his creation was he just abandoned him, after doing this, his creation came back to haunt Frankenstein by killing off his family members.

As human it is easy to embrace the adage “Knowledge is power”. The knowledge that we have learned as it should be by rights. However, knowledge can be a curse. Curse of knowledge is defined as the tendency to be biased be one’s own knowledge when attempting to appreciate a more naïve or uninformed perspective (Birch and Bloom,2004). Once we have an unusual of knowledge that the knowledge tends to contaminate or bias, our ability to reason about a more naïve perspective. It’s hard to imagine not knowing something when you know it and it becomes difficult to share your knowledge with others because you cannot recreate your listener’s not knowing perspective. For instance, asking direction can be confusing when someone does not know their mode. In this picture, a policeman is explaining the direction of how to get from one place to another place that the person does not know. This is curse of knowledge because the policeman already has the knowledge of route and he is not taking into consideration that the person is not following in his own mind. Furthermore, people such as in business, education and more have been affected by curse of knowledge. Most of the time we do not know we are affected even do not what is the curse of knowledge. The hypothesis statement is people tend to overestimate their ability to explain their familiar areas of knowledge than other information. The reason that I choose this idea because it is interesting to me when I first saw the word” curse of

“Knowledge will forever govern ignorance and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives”- James Madison

Knowledge, in itself, is nothing. It can even be a burden we are gathering tirelessly and than we carry it through a lifetime, climbing obstacles, overcoming challenges, our knowledge barely helping, and sometimes pulling us back instead.