Fire is like a complex character, simultaneously possessing contrasting qualities. Sometimes, authors portray fire as a complex symbol to illuminate the meaning of their work. For example, in her novel, Frankenstein, Mary Shelley depicts fire’s contradictory implications to convey a universal theme. Shelley explores how fire symbolizes knowledge and comfort as well as destruction and despair, ultimately revealing that unharnessed knowledge can be destructive. Throughout the novel, Shelley highlights the disparate meanings of fire through descriptions of the monster’s interactions with fire. Shelley first examines how fire symbolizes knowledge and warmth when she expresses the monster’s emotions upon first experiencing fire. For instance,
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The fire’s warmth comforts and pleases the monster, and he perceives that the fire is innocuous. The fire also provides knowledge to the monster, as the monster understands how to create and use fire, information which he exploits later in the novel. Although fire symbolizes warmth and discovery, it also symbolizes destruction and despair. Shelley explores fire’s destructive ability when she relates the monster’s feelings upon first touching fire. Specifically, when the monster touches the fire, he feels a “cry of pain” and is shocked that the fire which originally comforted him “should produce such opposite effects” (Shelley 72). The fire which warms the monster also burns him, exemplifying the disparate abilities of fire. Just as fire generates warmth and supplies knowledge, it can also inflict pain and destroy its surroundings. Shelley further explores fire’s destructive ability when she reveals the monster’s thoughts upon detecting a hut. The monster expresses his thoughts with a simile: “it presented to me then as exquisite and divine a retreat as Pandaemonium appeared to the daemons of hell after their …show more content…
Shelley first expresses this message when she recounts the monster’s action of burning a cottage. For example, the monster starts the fire when he lights “the dry branch of a tree” and describes the flames which envelop the cottage as possessing “destroying tongues” (Shelley 99). This is an important event that shows how the monster uses his knowledge of fire for destructive purposes. The monster understands fire’s source and its divergent abilities, but channels his knowledge by destroying the cottage rather than generating warmth. The monster’s decision to utilize fire for its negative purposes reveals Shelley’s central theme: unharnessed knowledge can be destructive. Shelley also asserts this theme when she discloses the monster’s plan to end his life. Specifically, the monster plans to “consume to ashes” and “exult in the agony of the torturing flames” (Shelley 166). This event signifies the end of the novel, when despair overcomes the monster to the point which he longs for death. The monster wants to burn to death because he is aware of fire’s destructive capacity and he believes that fire, because it provided him his first sensation in life, is the most appropriate means of ending his life. In spite of the monster’s understanding of fire’s comforting presence, he chooses to exploit fire’s pernicious capability, contributing to Shelley’s central
The fire’s warmth comforts and pleases the monster, and he perceives that the fire is innocuous. The fire also provides knowledge to the monster, as the monster understands how to create and use fire, information which he exploits later in the novel. Although fire symbolizes warmth and discovery, it also symbolizes destruction and despair. Shelley explores fire’s destructive ability when she relates the monster’s feelings upon first touching fire. Specifically, when the monster touches the fire, he feels a “cry of pain” and is shocked that the fire which originally comforted him “should produce such opposite effects” (Shelley 72). The fire which warms the monster also burns him, exemplifying the disparate abilities of fire. Just as fire generates warmth and supplies knowledge, it can also inflict pain and destroy its surroundings. Shelley further explores fire’s destructive ability when she reveals the monster’s thoughts upon detecting a hut. The monster expresses his thoughts with a simile: “it presented to me then as exquisite and divine a retreat as Pandaemonium appeared to the daemons of hell after their …show more content…
Shelley first expresses this message when she recounts the monster’s action of burning a cottage. For example, the monster starts the fire when he lights “the dry branch of a tree” and describes the flames which envelop the cottage as possessing “destroying tongues” (Shelley 99). This is an important event that shows how the monster uses his knowledge of fire for destructive purposes. The monster understands fire’s source and its divergent abilities, but channels his knowledge by destroying the cottage rather than generating warmth. The monster’s decision to utilize fire for its negative purposes reveals Shelley’s central theme: unharnessed knowledge can be destructive. Shelley also asserts this theme when she discloses the monster’s plan to end his life. Specifically, the monster plans to “consume to ashes” and “exult in the agony of the torturing flames” (Shelley 166). This event signifies the end of the novel, when despair overcomes the monster to the point which he longs for death. The monster wants to burn to death because he is aware of fire’s destructive capacity and he believes that fire, because it provided him his first sensation in life, is the most appropriate means of ending his life. In spite of the monster’s understanding of fire’s comforting presence, he chooses to exploit fire’s pernicious capability, contributing to Shelley’s central