Mary Shelly's Combination
Mary Shelly's Combination Of Knowledge and Humanity In the novel, Frankenstein, Mary Shelly is not trying to reinforce the biblical thought of a forbidden knowledge, but is rather introducing the thought that science is capable of being very dangerous if it becomes divided from humanity. The reason that it could be conceived that Mary Shelly is reinforcing the idea of forbidden knowledge is because of the constant statements that Victor Frankenstein makes about how dangerous the acquirement of knowledge is. For example he stated "how dangerous is the acquirement of knowledge, and how much happier that man is who believes his native town to be the world, than he who aspires to become greater than his nature will allow" (p. 81). These statements show that knowledge is dangerous, but it is other statements made by Walton, Victor Frankenstein, and the creature that make up Mary Shelly's main argument that the acquirement of knowledge without the consideration of humanity is the true danger, not the actual pursuit of knowledge. Mary Shelly first showed the importance of the combination of humanity and knowledge through Walton when he wrote home to his sister claiming that he was missing something very important from his life.
A friend would be capable of aiding Walton on his voyage and together they could benefit from one another's knowledge. Moreover with this new, natural science that Victor was learning, he advanced quickly and took the pursuit of knowledge alongside humanity. Waldman at the University of Ingolstadt, M. He even thought that his "new species would bless [him] as its creator source; many happy and excellent natures would owe their being to [him]" (p. Waldman distinguished the ancient teachers of science with the modern teachings of science to Victor and gave Victor an new interest in modern science as a whole (p. The pursuit of knowledge for the creature was the actual pursuit of humanity, but because there was no human intervention aiding the creature, it was forced to attempt it's pursuit of knowledge be itself. Science created by the individual for one's own gain, much like Victor Frankenstein's creature, will not have the different perspectives necessary to make that science applicable to all of humanity. Walton knew that the absence of a friend would cause him much suffering and felt it "as a most severe evil" (p. Therefore science pursued in this manner will either cause damage, or will need to be reconstructed by others to reach it's full potential. For two years he studied at the university, and even "made some discoveries in the improvement of some chemical instruments, which procured [him] great esteem and admiration at the university" (p. After he had advanced and created science, Victor finally thought of humanity and what he had accomplished. Victor had completely abandoned all thoughts of other people and humanity and only thought of himself. Victor's father did not allow Victor the chance to incorporate different points of view within his studies, by not explaining to Victor the problems that existed with his studies.
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