Lessons In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

Lessons are often learned through experience, like learning to deal with the consequences of your action. However, lessons can also be learned by observing the aftermath of other people’s actions as well. This paper will demonstrate how the book Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, has many insightful and intellectual points because of the lessons portrayed throughout the book. These lessons include men should not pursue godly power, with knowledge comes responsibility, and that Evil is not innate.
The first lesson that Shelley portrayed is the idea that men should not pursue godly power. In the beginning Frankenstein’s passion to create life, the task of a god, consumed the entirety of his focus. Before creating his monster Frankenstein’s motivation …show more content…
Frankenstein wouldn’t have been able to create life without his untiring devotion to his studies. He used the knowledge he had learned from his education in the natural sciences to create life. This raises the question just because we are scientifically able to do something, should we do it? Before Frankenstein died he said “Seek happiness in tranquility and avoid ambition, even if it be only the apparently innocent one of distinguishing yourself in science” (220). This is a warning that still applies to science today, just because we are making strides and developments in many fields, we must continue to ask; Is it something we should be pursuing? After reading Frankenstein the answer is clear. We must be extremely cautionary when pursuing scientific …show more content…
The way Shelly told the story of Frankenstein’s life with such detail and vision made it felt like I was experiencing firsthand the trials he was going through. The lessons she portrayed throughout the book were both insightful and inspiring. The perspective from which the story was shared was very interesting and provided a gateway to Frankenstein’s emotions. Every time one of his family members were murdered, I felt sadness as if someone I knew had been lost, which is a testament to how well this book is written. Although I enjoyed the book, I am not fond of all the tragedy included in the story. As the story went on, more and more death occurred. All the demise made reading a gloomy and disheartening experience. I am aware this is a piece of Gothic Literature and is supposed to be a horror story, but I loathe a story with so much slaughter.
After reviewing this book my views of Gothic Literature changed dramatically. Before I had read Frankenstein I thought Gothic Literature was something that was boring and outdated. I had assumed it was literature from the dark ages and belonged in a time before technology. Once completing this book I realized how, Gothic literature is very effective in portraying lessons. However I am not a huge enthusiast of this type of literature just because of the horror that it