Knowledge and Imagination in Mary Shellys Frankenstein

Title â€Å"He who knows nothing is closer to the truth than he whose mind is filled with falsehoods and errors†.(Thomas Jefferson).In Mary Shellys Frankenstein, the theme of the sublime is featured throughout the text. It is seen in the use of knowledge, imagination, and solitariness which is the protagonists primary source of power. This perpetuates their quest for glory, revenge, and what results in their own self-destruction and dehumanization. Ultimately, the final cause being irreversible harm. Childhood is a time of freedom. However, for Victor, childhood is merely a remembrance of what is lost: Before misfortune had tainted my mind, and changed its bright visions of extensive usefulness into gloomy and narrow reflections†¦show more content†¦Here, the monster is fascinated with language. This represents his innocence and how innocence is literal, simplistic, spontaneous and immediate, while experience is permanent. To learn more, the monster reads the Delacey’s (Felix, Agatha and Mr. Delacey) through observation. He learns French by listening to them speak. He acquires language by listening, but he also observes the Delacey’s and learns how to be civilized. His education is like a vignette, he learns language and civility by reading people, and he asks himself: And what was I? Of my creation and creator I was absolutely ignorant; but I knew that I possessed no money, no friends and no kind of property. I was, besides, endowed with a figure hideously deformed and loathsome; I was not even of the same nature as man. (Shelly 80) The monster clearly understands his position in the world, the tragedy of his existence and abandonment by his creator. Although knowledge is deemed a â€Å"Godlike science†, there are two sides to knowledge that essentially turns the creature into a â€Å"monster†. The monster describes the effects of knowledge: Sorrow only increased with knowledge. [†¦] of what a strange nature is knowledge! It clings to the mind, when it has once seized on it, like a lichen on the rock. I wished sometimes to shake off all thought and feeling. (Shelly 81) Knowledge is permanent,Show MoreRelated Mary Shelleys Frankenstein Essay1312 Words   |  6 PagesMary Shelleys Frankenstein In order to illustrate the main theme of her novel â€Å"Frankenstein†, Mary Shelly draws strongly on the myth of Prometheus, as the subtitle The Modern Prometheus indicates. Maurice Hindle, in his critical study of the novel, suggests, â€Å"the primary theme of Frankenstein is what happens to human sympathies and relationships when men seek obsessively to satisfy their Promethean longings to â€Å"conquer the unknown† - supposedly in the service of their fellow-humans†. ThisRead MoreEssay about Frankenstein, the Modern Prometheus?1373 Words   |  6 PagesFRANKENSTEIN, THE MODERN PROMETHEUS? 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