Mary Shelley's somber fictional novel, Frankenstein, depicts how monstrosity is not something that a person is born into but rather a learned behavior in which, clarifies the creator's actions leads to his own torment. The first occurrence of a monster is the dark knowledge that Victor possesses when he is trying to accomplish his goal of creating life. The author demonstrates the repercussions of knowledge as Victor discusses with Robert Walton, warning him "How dangerous is the acquirement of knowledge and how much happier is the man is who believes his native town to be the world, than he who aspires to be greater than his nature will allow him" (Shelley 53). Frankenstein is referring to the idea if a man were to be benighted and ignorant of the world outside of their own life, he would be essentially happier and he uses this as a foreshadow for the events he has yet to reveal. He was driven by his obsession and attempting to push the boundaries of modern science but due to his experiment, it ended up costing him the lost of his wife, friend, brother, and father. When there is such obsession, the person is never satisfied with the idea of plateauing and this may lead them to go beyond what others may see as unethical. With ownership of large knowledge, Frankenstein ended up using it in the wrong manner and ultimately destroys his life. As the people are continuing to be taken away by the monster, Frankenstein becomes enraged and has a burning hatred towards the monster he has created. As he is becoming weary of feeling this dreadful burden, the author gives insight into his emotions, saying "When I reflected on his crimes and malice, my hatred and revenge burst all bounds of moderation. I would have made a pilgrimage to the highest peaks of the Andes, could I when there have precipitated him to their base. I wish to see him again, that I might wreck utmost abhorrence on his head " (Shelley 103) When the scientist finally reaches past his tolerance, he becomes consumed with anger and is driven with a monstrous anger to take revenge on the creation he has made. Just as how the monster was isolated from society, he did the same to himself applying the hunt for the monster with such obsession that he no longer cared to take place in a society. The monster feels so much anger as he is constantly losing hope in ever being accepted. When he is consumed of anguish and regrets his very own creation, he describes people saying "There was none among the myriads of men that existed who would pity or assist me; and should I feel kindness towards my enemies? No: from that moment I declared everlasting war against the species" (Shelley 163). As the monster is repeatedly rejected and hardly given any opportunity to freely express himself, he loses the will to become a suitable person that society would accept since he feels no matter what they cannot look past his looks. Through constant bigotry and prejudice, Frankenstein's creation would develop hostile character and become the monster that everyone saw him as. At this point, the monster begins to terrorize his creator's life since he feels like he was abandoned with such a horrible life and that Frankenstein should be held responsible for the pain he had to endure. Within the society that the novel took place in, the people lacked the initiative to look past their initial judgement and refused to take the time to learn about a person's character. This is still applicable in today since people are still bound to their own cliques and are not always comfortable when there is a difference in ideas or morals. Even though knowledge is depicted as evil, with the proper use of it, it frees people from such prejudice and helps to become more understanding of others.
Sunday, January 26, 2014
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