The Pursue Of Knowledge In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

Mary Shelley, in Frankenstein, writes about the accumulation of knowledge in order to solidify one’s position on the earth. This can be seen through the pursuit of knowledge from Robert Walton, Victor Frankenstein and Henry Clerval. Each follows his own path to gain further intelligence. The Monster of Frankenstein learns to speak, opposing his situation of abandonment by the human race. As the monster tells Frankenstein of his adventures, the sophistication of his speech continues to increase further into the story they go. The monster parallels his speech with his own journey in order to find Frankenstein. The monster soon after its creation had kept its eyes closed due to a light pressing on his nerves. At first his sense are dull unable to differentiate between each sense. Then soon he is able to hear the sound of animals and see streams and foliage. Finally after his senses became acute, he is able to tell the true form of objects, the difference between the call of animals and insects from the herbs and to an extent herbs from other herbs.

He eventually says “soon a gentle light stole over the heavens . . . beheld a radiant form rise from among the trees” (Shelly 118). The monster is reflecting his past self when he is telling his story to Frankenstein; he does not give a word for the light-emitting object that is shining upon him because at the time he did not know what it was. The monster once again to describe light and says “. . .the orb of night had greatly lessened” and then in the following paragraph he changes his words and says “The moon had disappeared from the night, and again, with a lessened form”. The monster primarily describes the moon as an orb of the night, however as days passed the monster learned that the name of the orb was “the