The Symbolism Of Knowledge In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

The story is not just a story about the dead coming alive, but a symbolic representation of the effects of the industrial revolution. At the time, Shelley wrote Frankenstein Europe was enamored by scientific exploration and experimentation. Science at the time had good intents for the general masses by making goods cheaper and making the jobs easier and more productive. This is show by Victor Frankenstein when he attempts to give life to a lifeless matter, and the joy he felt in science for the possibilities which he could now explore. Knowledge is what starts change but the power of the knowledge can change men to use it without regard to the outcome. He creates a monster for his own gain and recognition with little regard to the outcome. His longing for power is symbolic of the elite looking for recognition for putting machinery in factories with no regard to the workers and the outcome for doing this. Machines are now the creation that will make things cheaper, which will sell more, putting the worker with no value or power in the company.

He dreamed of penetrating the secrets of nature to find eternal life and later this became an obsession. Though the discovers in science, he was able to bring the dead back to life. When he was working on his creation, he saw it as beautiful and without flaws. That all changed when he gave life to his creation. His beautiful creature became something to fear and a sense of disgust. What changed was not the creature but Frankenstein himself. Because of his desire to create life, he did not think about what he was creating until he had achieved it. He had sought to become a God by creating