The Intricacy of Knowledge “Cherish that which is in you and shut out that which is without much knowledge is a curse.” Knowledge is a blessing and curse for the same reason that power can corrupt. It requires maturity and responsibility and is only as valuable as the person using it. In the book Frankenstein, Mary Shelley uses the evolution of Victor and the monster throughout the story to prove that knowledge can be a blessing and a curse. The change in Victor’s emotional state supports the author’s message of intelligence. As he continued his journey, his spirits rose, “I ardently desired the acquisition of knowledge. “I often had, when at home, thought it hard to remain during my youth cooped up in one place and had longed to enter the …show more content…
This is important as learning gives him that purpose he needs which is a blessing. Victor warns the listener about the acquisition of this information, “Learn from me, if not by my precepts, at least by my example, how dangerous is the acquisition of knowledge, and how much happier that man is who believes his native town to be the world than he who aspires to become greater than his nature will allow. (Shelley 41). Victor realizes there are limits to what people can do, and it is in our best interests to stay within them. This is important because he is starting to feel guilty, and instead of feeling powerful, he is now feeling distressed. Victor’s acquisition of knowledge takes over his life, and Victor is aware of it, “every night I was oppressed by a slow fever, and I …show more content…
While conversing with Victor, the monster talks about his encounter with fire, “One day, when I was oppressed by cold, I found a fire which had been left by some wandering beggars, and was overcome with delight at the warmth I experienced from it. In my joy I thrust my hand into the live embers, but quickly drew it out again with a cry of pain. How strange, I thought, that the same cause should produce such opposite effects!” ( Shelley 94-95). The monster first encounters fire and is on cloud nine but then goes to touch it and burns himself. Knowledge is a blessing because the monster learns that fire is warm and makes him happy, but it is a curse because he gets so happy that he touches it and burns himself. After hearing about the murder of William, the monster has an epiphany, “For a long time I could not conceive how one man could go forth to murder his fellow, or even why there were laws and governments; but when I heard details of vice and bloodshed, my wonder ceased, and I turned away with disgust and loathing.” (110). The monster learns about the death of Justine, and he cannot understand it, but when he does, he feels disgusted and in agony. This advances the author’s message about intelligence because the monster was at peace without knowing what murder was but then felt extreme pain when gaining
In the beginning of the narration of Victors life we can infer that victor's happy life as a teen in Geneva, Italy and in the University of Ingolstadt will only lead to suffering as when Walton discovered Victor in the snow he was ill and trembled in fear. Walton explains "his body dreadfully emaciated by fatigue and suffering" (Wollstonecraft xxii). His mind suffered as something grave must have happened for a man to be in such terrible psychological state. To this we can predict Victors scientific discovery will bring fear and nostalgia and will cause his
Due to the monster being shot for trying to help, the monster soon becomes wrathful and wants retribution on those who scorned him. Soon after being shot, the monster’s prior emotions give way to “hellish rage and gnashing of teeth. Inflamed by pain, I vowed eternal hatred and vengeance to all mankind” (Shelley 133). As a consequence of the experience, the monster loses all positive feelings about mankind and becomes vengeful. Similar to Victor, the monster becomes focused on taking revenge and loses his humanity due to these events.
In this, Victor brought up things that no mortal should know about, such as: cloning, stem cell research, and IVFs. Examples of these were shown when the author states, “It was the secrets of heaven and earth that I desired to learn… my inquiries were directed to the metaphysical… the physical secrets of the world” (43). Victor is knowingly tampering with knowledge that is essentially too great for man. He is also essentially trying to be like God, which is the original sin, and as a result, he is put in eternal despair.
Victor even said “Learn from me, if not by my precepts, at least by my example, how dangerous is the acquirement of knowledge”. He admits that he suffered from his relentless search of knowledge.
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.
(page 36) Growing up Victor also had a strong desire to learn about things
It is often said that the more you learn, the more you realize you don’t know. Even Aristotle said, “The more you know, the more you know you don 't know.”. This can often lead to a yearning for more knowledge and sometimes, can be somebody’s downfall. In this case, it was Victor Frankenstein’s downfall. His love for science and his ever-growing quest to learn about the human body ultimately destroyed him, his family, his wife to be, and his best friend.
He became so consumed by obtaining knowledge of creating life, his creation gains authority over him, and his desire for revenge takes over his life. In the beginning of the novel life was going well for Victor. He was a very imaginative boy always wanting to learn. One evening he witnessed a horrific thunderstorm when lightning struck down a tree in his yard.
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?
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.
He uses the little that he knows to fuel his hatred towards humans and his creator. This shows the exponential growth of the problems that Victor has created as a result of his desire for knowledge. Not only did he create the destructive monster, but now the monster is using a hunger for knowledge, the very thing that created it, to do even more damage. This root cause is linked to everything that is causing Victor’s suffering. The monster also compares his relationship to Victor to that of God and Adam, wishing that he had the same supplication to his creator that Adam did, “I remembered Adam’s supplication to his creator.
“If we value the pursuit of knowledge, we must be free to follow wherever that search may lead us” Adlai E. Stevenson. The politician explains his perception of creativity in this quote along with its connection to ambition by relating determination and faith to the discovery of knowledge. He believes that nothing can restrict our drive to seek information when one entirely devotes himself to the pursuit. Similarly, in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein, Robert Walton, and the creature all attempt to acquire arcane knowledge at any and all costs. Their ambition drives them to take risks and even put the lives of themselves and others on the line.
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is a novel about the dangerous pursuit of knowledge, as it explores the consequences of unchecked ambition and the implications of playing God, through the characters of Victor Frankenstein, the creature, and Robert Walton, ultimately emphasizing the idea that the desire for glory can lead to catastrophic consequences. Frankenstein's inexorable craving for knowledge proves to be a risky endeavor as seen through his obsession with reanimating life. When Frankenstein speaks to Walton concering his research and results of those experiences, he says, “Learn from me, if not by my precepts, at least by my example, how dangerous is the acquirement of knowledge and how much happier that man is who believes his native town to be
The idea of knowledge in the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley interprets knowledge as an evil pursuit. The knowlege is misused, due to Victor, the monster, and the interference with nature. Theses reasons are different perspectives that lead to tragedies. The novel Frankenstein identifies Victor's desire to gain knowledge as misusing it.
Victor is trying to express how he can put the past behind him and go on with the present. He feels calm, happy, and hopeful at this point. “Of what strange nature is knowledge! It clings to the mind when it has once seized on it like a like a lichen on the rock” (101). This conveys how powerful nature can affect a person like when overcoming a sense of pain or death.