The Role Of Forbidden Knowledge In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

Elizabeth C. Denlinger, a researcher of British Romantic Literature says, “We all know what Frankenstein’s monster looks like: he looks like Boris Karloff. But, at one time, he looked like a Roman senator — and, another time, like a weird clown” (Denlinger). Even though nobody knows specifically how Mary Shelley intended the creature to look like, all descriptions of the creature have one thing in common: he was horrendous and not a pretty sight to see; a complete opposite of God’s human creation. Frankenstein’s monomania for more scientific knowledge is what caused his misfortune. He wanted to explore more. He wanted to dig deep. He had a strong yearning for Forbidden Knowledge after his father has warned him not to. Early in the story, Frankenstein exclaims, “So much has been done, more, far more, will I achieve; treading in the steps already marked, I will pioneer a new way, explore unknown powers, and unfold to the world the deepest mysteries of creation” (Shelley). Frankenstein wanting to “unfold to the world the deepest mysteries of creation” shows that he wants to be like God, for God is the only One who can create life. In the end,

Because he was so ugly and horrifying, everyone rejected and shunned him. This put him under such emotional strain and as a result, he turned evil and violent. In the novel, the creature asks one thing of Dr. Frankenstein: to make him a companion- someone who would be by his side and love him. “You must create a female for me, with whom I can live in the interchange of those sympathies necessary for my being,” says the creature (Shelley 118). Frankenstein initially agrees to the creation of another creature, but later goes back on his promise by saying, “Begone! I do break my promise; never will I create another like yourself, equal in deformity and wickedness” (Shelley 119). As a father figure for the creature, not fulfilling his promise was a terrible thing to