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The Thirst For Knowledge In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

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The thirst for knowledge :
We have explored from many different angles of the contrast between Frankenstein and the monster . However , every story has a beginning , and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein starts off with a man called Robert Walton who is on his interest for his own greedy thirst of knowledge . Shelley begins Walton story though emotional letters written to his beloved sister . Through these letters , we can understand in great details that Walton’s set a ship to the cold and icy Arctic ocean to discover the North Pole . Walton thought he is a genius and he is the only man in the earliest memories of his youth desired to learn about the world , and natural sciences . Walton quoted , “This expedition has been the favourite dream …show more content…

This is the warning given by Victor to Walton before telling his new friend the story where he suppressed search for the knowledge has taken him . While we and Walton are listening to his story , we found a familiarity between the two men . Both of them are from a family that encourage them and are both captivated by natural philosophy . We and Walton could feel the “delight and rapture” as Victor discovers the key thing to revive a life . We are suffering by the scary details when Victor is creating the monster and we are wondrous when the monster came to life . From this point , Victor is now being chase to explain his creation . The anxiety fills the space between the narrator and contemplation which also feels our trembling heart as well .
In the story , Walton is the pathway for us to know about Victor and the monster in the very beginning of the story . However , he also plays a role that is parallel to Victor in many ways . Both Victor and Walton are explorer ,they chase after their dangerous knowledge . Victor’s influence to Walton is rather weird . For a moment , he warned Walton to be courageous on the path , regardless of the danger , and the next moment he serves as an example of the dangers of thirsting of knowledge and ambition . This is a deep impression of the contrasting emotions felt between the chase and consequence

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