This theme was introduced in the very beginning and was further developed as the story progressed. Victor’s pursuit for knowledge eventually becomes the reason for the pain and suffering in his life and the life of his loved ones. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein argues that it is better not to know everything because knowing too much is dangerous.
(Shelley 20). Here we see Victor is reading a book he found while on trip but his dad tells him that the book is complete trash but Victor keeps reading it no matter what he says because he is learning about science and wants to continue to do so. This is isn’t the only time we see Victor want to learn about something. Like when he while he is watching the thunderstorm, he sees lightning strike a tree and completely destroy it. (Shelley 22).
One of the most famous quotes ever heard, said by Wayne Gretzy, is “you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take”. In Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein, Victor gladly would have not taken a shot if he knew it would ruin his life for good. Victor Frankenstein’s continuous ambition and thirst for knowledge provides insight that although knowledge is perceived as good, it can be dangerous. Victor’s quest for knowledge leads to self-isolation, creation of a monster, and eventually the deaths of his loved ones. Victor’s longing to learn, which eventually leads to his isolation from his family and friends, proves that searching for knowledge is not always ideal.
Knowledge can be Blessings and Curse A teenage girl Mary Shelly wrote Frankenstein in the 18th century. A Gothic novel Frankenstein deals with two genres, Gothicism and science fiction. Victor, one of Mary Shelly’s characters represents man’s pursuit of knowledge which ultimately leads towards the path of destruction while another character Robert Walton implemented his knowledge wisely to get benefits for the society. Mary is indicating to the society that mankind has to pay full attention to science and scientific innovations in order to avoid the catastrophic events due to misuse of knowledge.
Eventually, light could be a sign of knowledge and enlightenment that need to be using it cautiously and wisely; however, if it manipulates beyond the capacity of someone’s knowledge, it could be destructive and mortal like Victor does. Victor uses his knowledge to the extent to create a life form although this creature is causing negative effects on him and his family, yet his intelligence which is being creative doesn’t succeed him in life because he goes beyond his capability and couldn’t control the scruffy of the destruction he made instead the new creature ends up murdering loved ones. Even Victor himself affirms that, “[H]ow dangerous is the acquirement of knowledge…, than he who aspires to become greater than his nature will allow”
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.
Coming into the novel, Walton’s search transforms to Victor’s obsession in natural philosophy where he ventures to find the secret of life. Victor intends to let light into the
Victor’s pursuit of knowledge comes from his curiosity of the world, as his idea of creating the master race needed the secret of ever-lasting life. Following chapter 2, Victor analyzes Elizabeth, as she enjoyed the appearance of things, while he was delighted in investigating how they came to be. He says, “The world was to me a secret which I had desired to divine” (25). This characterizes Victor; how his curiosity of things were one of the earliest things he could remember, and how he’s determined to invest into how everything works. The pursuit of knowledge is a dangerous quest, as shown from Victor’s
Throughout the novel, these characters toil with the pursuit of forbidden knowledge by suffering through the ramifications of their decisions to satisfy their desires. The author implies that blind ambition can lead to the downfall of beings who don’t limit their curiosity. These endeavors include determining the secret of life as well as its creation, discovering a passage in the North Pole, and learning to understand one’s place in the world. Victor Frankenstein suffers from the cost of knowledge by allowing his thirst for the unknown to exceed his limits. In like manner, he pushes his own limits and spends countless nights working to construct his creature even though he is cautioned that only God is capable of creating life.
The misuse of knowlege he gains is trying to create life. Victor should not interefere with nature. Creating life from Victor leads to a tragedy, due to the abomination le let choose on the world. Interefering with nature always tries to create balance, in this case Victor's creation led to the fall of lis family. Victor's knowledge was dangerous because the outcome led to mejor destructions.
(Shelly 42, 43) Here, the effects of his continued pursuit of knowledge and neglect of well-being is shown evidently. Once Frankenstein creates the monster, his unquenchable thirst for knowledge is frightened into silence. He then presently returns to the outside world,
This attitude is clearly naive. Walton possesses the same eagerness that destroyed victor and the monster. Victor says to Walton,
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
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.
The Dangers of Knowledge Frankenstein, a novel written by Mary Shelley, is notoriously accredited for its development and implication of multiple themes. Set in the 1700’s, Frankenstein is a gothic fiction telling of isolation, knowledge, and nature. The biggest of these being knowledge and inevitably its consequences. With knowledge comes question; What poses the most danger? The knowledge itself, or the journey to gain information?
