Frankenstein's ambition

Mary Shelley, the renowned author of Frankenstein, explores the consequences of man and monster chasing ambition blindly. Victor Frankenstein discovered the secret that allowed him to create life. His understanding of how bodies operated and the science of human anatomy enabled him to make this discovery and apply it to the creation of his monster. Walton wished to sail to the arctic because no sailor has ever reached it. The monster was created against his will, his ambition was to avenge his creation as a hideous outcast. These three characters were all driven by the same blind ambition.

“Learn from me, if not by my precepts, at least by my example, 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” (Shelley 60). In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, she expresses her beliefs regarding the danger of pursuing happiness through the attainment of knowledge, because true happiness is found in the emotional connections established between people. The pursuit of knowledge is not necessarily an evil thing, but it can cause destruction when it is pursued beyond natural limits. Victor Frankenstein becomes a slave to his passion for learning in more than one way; first his life is controlled by

At first, Victor was in denial of making terms with the creature, saying, “we are enemies. Begone, or let us try our strength in a fight” (Shelley 96). He must accept what he has created instead of running away from it; he needs to confront the root of his fear and find acceptance to embrace

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, also known as The Modern Prometheus, is a gothic science fiction novel set in the eighteenth century. Though the story starts off with letters narrated by Robert Walton, who hopes to find a new passage from Russia to the Pacific Ocean, the main protagonist in the story is Victor Frankenstein. Victor Frankenstein was a swiss boy, born in Geneva, who grew up with a passion to find the “secret of life.” After attended the university at Ingolstadt and learning everything his professors could teach him, he sets out to create life for himself. "What can stop the determined heart and resolved will of man?" (8). Frankenstein, determined to succeed, soon creates a hideous monster and brings it to life. This monster soon sets out and kills many of those close to Frankenstein, including William his youngest brother, Henry Carvel his best friend, and Elizabeth his wife. This story of passion and the pursuit of knowledge exemplifies how with determination, passion can drive us to find the truth, but with the truth Frankenstein and Walton seek, comes the danger of knowledge.

Long before the monster’s creation, Victor drops everything in life to pursue knowledge.   His ego leads him to desert all of his friends and family to design and construct an abomination.  

In Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein, the book explores many themes such as knowledge for good or evil purposes, the invasion of technology into modern life, and the treatment of the poor or uneducated, and the restorative powers of nature in the face of unnatural events. Shelly addresses all of these aspects and how have these aspects have changed the characters but the biggest aspect of the characters changing is the motif of ambition. In Frankenstein, Mary Shelly demonstrates through her characters Victor, Walton and the Creature, that although ambition can be good, extreme ambition can lead to destructive obsession.

Each story has a different goal that they would like to achieve. In our reading from Frankenstein, we sense the theme of intellectual ambition. Victor is eager to create this project. He devotes his mind, body, and soul to completing this task.

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein contains attributes from both the Enlightenment as well as Romanticism. The central idea of the book, the quest for the unattainable, is a very romantic idea, however the ending of the book provides a critique of this grand idea with the deaths of Victor and his loved ones along with Walton’s abandonment of his expedition. Ultimately, the book raises and attempts to provide an answer to the following questions: is the pursuit of the unattainable good or bad and what is the necessary balance between freedom and responsibility. Frankenstein provides support for some Romantic values through Victor’s love for nature and his quest for the unattainable, yet criticizes them when Victor’s life falls apart with his own death and the deaths of his loved ones.

Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein” explores the themes of vengeance, ego, secrecy and the unethical pursuits of knowledge. At the centre of the novel is Victor Frankenstein, whose pursuit of conquering death leads to his demise. His hunger is further fueled by his father’s and professor Krempe’s disdain of alchemy. The professor states,” The ancient teachers of this science … promised impossibilities and performed nothing” (Shelley 37). Thanks to the technology of galvanism, Frankenstein was able to “create life from dead matter” (Jurecic, Marchalik par. 3). The appearance of his creation horrifies him due to,” his yellow skin scarcely cover[ing] the work of muscles and arteries beneath … [his] shriveled complexion and straight black lips” (Shelley 45). Frankenstein flees as he associates the beastly appearance with an evil nature. His abandonment of the creation is the catalyst of his downfall. The monster is a more sympathetic character because of his ability to take responsibility for his actions, his capacity to express more human emotions than his creator and because of the effect of the inflicted abuse by humans.

Shelley warns us that ambition and thirst for knowledge can lead us down a dangerous path. In the letters of Walton, Victor is described as almost inhuman, and is attributed demon-like characteristics as ‘his eyes have generally an expression of wilderness, and even madness... he is generally melancholy and despairing...sometimes he gnashes his teeth’. This vivid imagery demonstrates Victor’s insanity and self-destruction caused by his thirst for knowledge.

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein has become a classic in modern literature. Her tale is full of moral lessons that encompass a wide variety of subjects but one of the most prevalent is the theme of knowledge and its pursuit. Frankenstein, Walton, and the Monster all have an appetite for acquiring knowledge and actively pursue their perspective interests, but it soon turns to the obsessive and proves to be dangerous. Each of the character’s desires demonstrates to be detrimental to them when no boundaries are established. Through the use of consequences, Shelley’s Frankenstein shows that the relentless and obsessive pursuit of knowledge can lead to dangerous and disastrous situations.

The idea of pursuing knowledge clouded Victor’s mind and when his creature is born he is shocked to discover that what he has created is far off his own expectations. Not only did the monster destroy his expectations of developing a creature that went beyond human knowledge, but it also affected his life, dignity, and fears. Victor himself admits to his own mistake when he says, “The different accidents of life are not so changeable as the feelings of human nature...but now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless honor and disgust filled my heart ” (36). Victor Frankenstein realizes what his obsession with pursuing an extensive amount of knowledge has brought him. His destiny to achieve the impossible with no regard for anyone or anything but himself shows that he is blinded by knowledge when creating the monster and is incapable to foresee the outcome of his creation. Victor’s goal was meant to improve and help humanity, but instead it leads to

Although filled with many metaphors and double meanings, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is meant to show readers the most powerful motivators of our actions, in scientists and monsters alike, are loss and loneliness. Loss is a constant theme in Frankenstein, from the death of Victor’s mother to the expiration of Victor himself. Loneliness is constant as well, though it is less outspoken. Victor’s scientific breakthroughs are a direct result of the losses in his life and his loneliness. The monster’s murders and demands are likewise attributed to his loss and loneliness. Victor and the monster make their most important decisions when guided by loss and loneliness.

In the novel Frankenstein, one of the many themes is that ambition can ruin you. Victor spent so many hours reading and studying to create Harambe, that he didn’t even care or notice what was happening in the world around him. While he was in Ingolstadt he stopped writing letters to his family and friends and they haven’t heard from him in four years. “It gives me the greatest delight to see you; but tell me how you left my father, brothers and Elizabeth. Very well, and very happy, only a little uneasy that they hear from you so seldom” (Shelly pg.45). Victor put so much time and effort in creating Harambe and going after his goal that he distanced himself from everyone dear to him. This is how ambition ruined Victor, he gave up on the world

As a subject of terror, Victor’s dynamics are shown again with not being able to recall who he once was. “It is with considerable difficulty that I remember the original era of my being;”(Shelley 118). He has lost his ways, and become someone who he once was not. Victor’s inability to remember also reveals that he does not know why he continues with this debacle. “Neither does Victor explain why he rejected his Creature at its completion, but this too may be inferred: in creating it he has essentially created himself”’(Thornburg 1). Victor has implanted that which he does not want to be onto the creature, turning it into his true terrifying antithesis. Since the creature has only one role model, he learns to quickly be what Victor fears, and manifests himself as terror incarnate. Yet, despite his opposition, the creature