When I was younger I was always wondering around trying to explore the world around me. Even though my curiosity was unlimited, the rules were not and this got me into trouble. Life is a curious subject that has attracted men from the beginning of time, but with each new step there was a set of consequences that needed to be addressed. Similar to life, Frankenstein’s theme of curiosity is also followed with its theme of ethics. Both go hand in hand, but in terms of Frankenstein they could be classified as conjoined twins. Frankenstein is a book littered with intellectual curiosity and though bounds are crossed, the broken ethics can still be seen. The curiosity that has followed a man from birth is one that has guided many great ideas to come forward. Though curiosity can be a helpful driving point to make the world a better place, in terms of Frankenstein it can also lead down the path of death and despair. From the desires of the youth to the time of his creation, ethics was not in his word, thus curiosity ran wild from birth. His father tried to steer him away from these thoughts when he first noticed his reading of Agrippa, saying “Do not waste your time on this; it is sad trash.”(Shelly24) Even Victor calls this point where his dreams began to wonder to his future problems. The childhood dreams that gripped Victor are ones that should leave him as he continues to grow up, but through his curiosity and his ethics were hidden and only truly came up once his evil deed was completed. When adolescence is over and adulthood begins, life takes a new road of maturity and responsibility, but this isn’t the case with Victor Frankenstein. Though it is important to have hopes and dreams to act accordingly to the dream and take in all the chances. Victor did not weigh his options in his adulthood and instead he blindly followed his dreams that he is not putting thought into the ethics that needed to be addressed. “The world was to me a secret which I desired to divine.”(Shelley 22) Though the curiosity was healthy, following it blindly was not. When his adulthood had reached a certain point a sense of responsibility, he should have settled in him and then also a moral ethics in his work. Though his curiosity was great and he followed it blindly it can in many ways show promise. Though the curiosity proved deadly in Victor’s life for an example, it has proven successful in many others in his life. Through Victor’s striving and intellectual curiosity, he made many discoveries on the human body and not only figured out what makes a person dead, but also what classifies the life. As he puts it “ Life and Death appeared to me ideal bounds, which I should first break through, and pour a torrent of light into our dark world”(Shelly 41) In this, Victor has shown that through his drive and curiosity from early childhood to his now nearing completion, that curiosity has proven that it is helpful. Around the world today through this very same curiosity, man has come to create some of the many helpful creations. Such creations as the light bulb or the automobile were only possible when the intellectual curiosity of either Thomas Edison or Henry Ford was able to flourish into something truly spectacular. As Thomas Edison says, "If I find 10,000 ways something won't work, I haven't failed. I am not discouraged, because every wrong attempt discarded is another step forward". (Edison) The pursuit of a thought, curiosity is a great aspect of mankind, but it has shown in the lives of all mankind to be a deadly hindrance as well. In Frankenstein, Victor knew the error in his way soon after his creation had taken place. “The different accidents of life are not as changeable as the feelings of human nature.”(Shelley 42) After releasing his knowledge into life, he realized his mistakes and the breach of scientific ethics. This breach also happens in today’s life. J Oppenheimer, the creator of the atomic bomb, was awarded a Nobel Prize
