The Monstrosity of Knowledge, Power, and Nature
Ignorance serves as a wall separating a life of bliss from one of tragedy and pain. Choosing enlightenment darkens one’s future, especially when such information violates natural law. In her novel Frankenstein, Mary Shelley asserts the dominance of nature as the corruptive effects of extensive knowledge and impulsive exertion of power hinder Victor Frankenstein and the Monster in their respective pursuits of happiness.
Curiosity-fueled knowledge gives Frankenstein and the Monster the unwarranted power to defy natural processes. When Frankenstein attains mastery of generation, his reckless superiority foreshadows his misfortune. Victor shows great interest in the philosophical regardless of its …show more content…
He displays his inconsideration for its immorality when he says, “I doubted at first whether I should attempt the creation of a being like myself…but my imagination was too much exalted by my first success to permit me to doubt of my ability to give life…” (32). Although Victor satiates his thirst for knowledge, he abuses this intellectual advantage by creating a being that can only mock the qualities of a true human. By ignoring mankind’s boundaries for the sake of surpassing his teachers, he foolishly dismisses the possibility of negative consequences, including the Monster’s suffering and his. Meanwhile, the Monster learns about his surroundings merely through experience and observation until he stumbles upon the De Lacey family. Similar to Frankenstein, he desires and fervently pursues deeper insight. While the family expands his comprehension of language, foreign policies, and history, his …show more content…
When the Monster gradually understands his unnatural disposition and the judgmental and violent capabilities of humans, he transitions from altruistic actions to animalistic behaviors. After experiencing immediate rejection from his beloved De Laceys and maker, he wonders, “I was…endued with a figure hideously deformed and loathsome…Was I then a monster, a blot upon the earth, from which all men fled and whom all disowned?...the agony that these reflections inflicted upon me…sorrow only increased with knowledge” (85). When he realizes the extent to which his physical attributes incite trepidation and disgust among humans, he views himself as a stain on the canvas of society. This metaphor further encourages him to live up to the expectations humans have placed upon him; he narrates, “I was like a wild beast that had broken the toils, destroying the objects that obstructed me, and ranging through the wood with a stag-like swiftness” (97). This primitive association makes him believe that only a female abhorred figure can assuage his loneliness. Thus Frankenstein receives the power to provoke the Monster into murdering his loved ones if he does not employ his resurrecting skills to make a female counterpart. While the concept of monstrous reproduction pressures Victor into abolishing the
Ignorance serves as a wall separating a life of bliss from one of tragedy and pain. Choosing enlightenment darkens one’s future, especially when such information violates natural law. In her novel Frankenstein, Mary Shelley asserts the dominance of nature as the corruptive effects of extensive knowledge and impulsive exertion of power hinder Victor Frankenstein and the Monster in their respective pursuits of happiness.
Curiosity-fueled knowledge gives Frankenstein and the Monster the unwarranted power to defy natural processes. When Frankenstein attains mastery of generation, his reckless superiority foreshadows his misfortune. Victor shows great interest in the philosophical regardless of its …show more content…
He displays his inconsideration for its immorality when he says, “I doubted at first whether I should attempt the creation of a being like myself…but my imagination was too much exalted by my first success to permit me to doubt of my ability to give life…” (32). Although Victor satiates his thirst for knowledge, he abuses this intellectual advantage by creating a being that can only mock the qualities of a true human. By ignoring mankind’s boundaries for the sake of surpassing his teachers, he foolishly dismisses the possibility of negative consequences, including the Monster’s suffering and his. Meanwhile, the Monster learns about his surroundings merely through experience and observation until he stumbles upon the De Lacey family. Similar to Frankenstein, he desires and fervently pursues deeper insight. While the family expands his comprehension of language, foreign policies, and history, his …show more content…
When the Monster gradually understands his unnatural disposition and the judgmental and violent capabilities of humans, he transitions from altruistic actions to animalistic behaviors. After experiencing immediate rejection from his beloved De Laceys and maker, he wonders, “I was…endued with a figure hideously deformed and loathsome…Was I then a monster, a blot upon the earth, from which all men fled and whom all disowned?...the agony that these reflections inflicted upon me…sorrow only increased with knowledge” (85). When he realizes the extent to which his physical attributes incite trepidation and disgust among humans, he views himself as a stain on the canvas of society. This metaphor further encourages him to live up to the expectations humans have placed upon him; he narrates, “I was like a wild beast that had broken the toils, destroying the objects that obstructed me, and ranging through the wood with a stag-like swiftness” (97). This primitive association makes him believe that only a female abhorred figure can assuage his loneliness. Thus Frankenstein receives the power to provoke the Monster into murdering his loved ones if he does not employ his resurrecting skills to make a female counterpart. While the concept of monstrous reproduction pressures Victor into abolishing the