Frankenstein And Macbeth Analysis

“Knowledge is power” (Meditationes Sacrae [1597; Works 14.95; 79]) is a famous quote from Francis Bacon with many meanings. Knowledge is magical and beneficial; everyone wants to be able to say that they “know everything” but knowing too much is not always a good thing/has been proved to lead to destruction. Victor Frankenstein in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Macbeth in Shakespeare’s Macbeth are two extraordinary characters that seem to struggle with the power of knowledge. Both crave any amount of knowledge they can receive which inevitably influences their ambitions, causes them to make immoral decisions and lose their sense of reality. In Frankenstein these influences are portrayed through Frankenstein and his decisions to create his

This begins the everlasting dreams and ambitions that Frankenstein has about creating life which leads him to finding the information on how to create a “human”. Likewise the witches grant Macbeth with the knowledge he desires, when they reveal the prophecy. This gives Macbeth the information he needs to begin thinking about his dream to become king and how he wants to fulfill this dream.

Both Frankenstein and Macbeth begin with only the small amount of information that they have been able to learn, which leads into the downward spiral that they both experience. They continue to crave information to the extent of believing anything that they are told or read about. They are so driven to achieve their ambitions that they never stop to think about what they are actually doing, which eventually leads to both Frankenstein’s and Macbeth’s downfall.

After Frankenstein is able to figure out the key to creating life, his ambitions expand to his desire to actually use the knowledge and create his own “creation”. The knowledge that Frankenstein obtains comes from the excessive work that he does, because creating the monster becomes his greatest task. Though, Frankenstein never thinks about the consequences of all the information he obtains, which ends

Frankenstein is so afraid of the monster that he begins imagining that the monster is looking through his window, though the monster is nowhere to be found. Frankenstein begins losing his sense of reality because he can no longer differentiate between what is real and what his mind is creating.

Similarly, after Macbeth kills Duncan he sees ghostly figures of the daggers that he had used to kill the king. Macbeth is so nervous of his decision that he begins to lose his sense of reality, conjuring up the ghostly figures of the daggers out of fear and resentment.

Both protagonists’ have to try and cop with the inhumane decision that they had done, though instead of being able to move on they are haunted. In both cases they are so nervous and afraid of their decisions that they conjure the “ghostly” images, which cause them to slowly start losing their minds out of fear. This is their own sub-conscious minds punishing them for the inhumane acts they had