THE THEME OF EXPLORATION IN FRANKENSTEIN ANDJOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH
1 In Mary Godwin Shelley's 1818 Gothic masterpiece Frankenstein; Or, TheModern Prometheus, the main protagonist, Victor Frankenstein, a youngstudent of the alchemical arts and sciences, takes the reader on anexploration into the unknown, for his primary goal is to create life fromthe dead which, after much experimentation, produces a creature of hideousproportions and intellect bent on nothing but revenge. Likewise, ProfessorHardwigg, the main protagonist in Jules Verne's Journey to the Center ofthe Earth, published in 1864, leads the reader on another "journey" intothe unknown, only this time into the bowels of the earth, where Hardwiggand his companions discover another world, much like Victor Frankensteinwith his experiments concerning the mysteries of life and death. The beginning of Frankenstein opens the proverbial door to thestrange and horrifying tale related by Victor Frankenstein to CaptainWalton, an English explorer surveying the polar regions of the far north.One day, as the ship's company is looking out over the empty ice fields,they are astonished to see a sledge drawn by dogs speeding northward with
In his last breath before dying, Victor warnsCaptain Walton once again not to make the mistakes he did, for one mustseek "happiness in tranquillity" and not in the ambition to explore whereman does not belong. On the most basic level, the novel is a greatadventure tale, filled with obstacles, encounters and the wonders ofscience, much like Shelley's Frankenstein. That night, an ice floe carriesanother sledge with a weakened man to the ship, and once the man (VictorFrankenstein) discovers that the first sledge has been sighted, he turnsquite agitated. But as the storyprogresses, the reader learns that the pursuit of knowledge can often be avery dangerous affair. This inspires him to set out withhis nephew Henry (Harry) and Hans, their Icelandic guide, to Iceland, wherethey find the glacial mountain as described in the manuscript and thevolcanic shaft that allows them to descend into the depths of the earth. Inconclusion, Victor and Hardwigg, one hidden away in the confines of thelaboratory and the other in bowels of the earth, are obviously "deeplysmitten with the thirst for knowledge" which is reflected in their variousexplorations as "divine wanderers" eager to utilize their own exploratorynatures and inner longings to penetrate the unknown. Yet Victor remains the herothroughout the novel; Shelley describes him as the "divine wanderer, asymbol of his exploratory nature and inner longings to penetrate theunknown, and possessing a spirit enlivened by a supernatural enthusiasm"(Scholes, 156), which is mirrored in his quest to explore and understandthe nature of life and death regardless of the outcome of his experiments . It could be said that Verne was indeed the model for ProfessorHardwigg, the great explorer whose thirst for knowledge pushed him toexplore the deep unknown, much like Victor Frankenstein, a possible modelfor Mary Shelley herself who read voraciously and was inspired by theexploratory antics of Conrad Dippel, a relatively obscure German alchemistthat served as the basis for the character of Victor Frankenstein. He discusses the views inEurope at that time which were beginning to move towards the belief thatman's origins were far more ancient than had previously been believed. Victor Frankenstein, from the beginning of the novel, is "deeplysmitten with the thirst for knowledge," a symbol of his desire to taste theforbidden fruit mixed with "curiosity (and) earnest research to learn thehidden laws of nature" (Shelley, 127). When Hardwigg stumbles upon a human skull, Harryshares his understanding of the importance of this find with the reader bydescribing what was then occurring in the field of paleontology, being thestudy of ancient life through the fossil record. Victor is also compared to Prometheus, the Greek god who first brought fireto earthly mortals, both of whom held the desire to grasp "the secrets ofheaven and earth.
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