The Pursuit Of Knowledge In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

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In Mary Shelley’s Gothic novel Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein is an ambitious scientist who reanimates a dead body and has to live with the guilt of what the creature has become. Frankenstein exhumes great potential in his studies but decides to focus it on the reanimation of human bodies as a result of the death of his late mother. Shelley asks the question of whether the pursuit knowledge of knowledge is worth the danger it may possess. Frankenstein’s area of study also reveals the god complex he has developed throughout his life. A god complex is defined, as someone unable to admit their error, has no regard for the conventions of society, and is trying to control the balance between life and death. In Shelley’s Frankenstein, Frankenstein’s tragic flaws of hubris, ambition, and thirst for fame lead him to “play God” and create the creature that eventually leads to his downfall.
In the novel, Shelley …show more content…
One of Frankenstein’s prominent motivations is his need for fame as seen in the early stages of his studies. Frankenstein directly states, “So much has been done, exclaimed the soul of Frankenstein — more, far more, will I achieve; treading in the steps already marked, I will pioneer a new way, explore unknown powers, and unfold to the world the deepest mysteries of creation (49).” Frankenstein wants to become famous for his advances in the field and become one of the greatest natural philosophers like his role models, “the ancient teachers of this science.” Early on in his youth, Frankenstein idolized ancient thinkers like Cornelius Agrippa and Paracelsus because their works served as his only reading material and the fundamental sources behind his research. As a result of his idolization of these figures, Frankenstein is motivated to pursue controversial studies to be regarded in the same manner as his
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