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During class this week we have been working on determining the different themes of Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein. Shelley uses multiple themes to construct the novel. The main themes that we came up with in class were a focus on knowledge and people are afraid what is different and out of place.
Starting with knowledge, I think that dealing with knowledge is a key factor in understanding Frankenstein. The two characters that are symbols of knowledge are Victor and Walton. Both Victor and Walton use an abundance of knowledge. The motivation of their knowledge is driven by greed. They wanted to be the first one to create something or the first to discover something new. They drove their selves to reach their goals, by pushing their knowledge to the limit. However once Victor has enough knowledge to create the monster, he regrets it in the end. He has so much knowledge that he does what nature cannot. Bad things happen to Victor because he went past the knowledge limit. Although Victor and Walton share the need for knowledge, they are very different cases. Walton uses his knowledge to discover, however he doesn’t tamper with nature. Victor uses his knowledge to create, and he changes and alters nature. Other characters in the novel experience changes in knowledge. For example, the monster in the story gains knowledge as he progresses in his new life. So, in the monsters case, knowledge helped him in life but it also hindered him. In the case of knowledge helping the monster, he learned how to keep himself warm and how to survive in the wild. In the case of knowledge hindering the monster, he learned how to have many emotions and feels certain things that without knowledge he would have never experienced. For example, if the monster didn’t have knowledge he wouldn’t be feel like he was alone in the world.
Finally, people are afraid of what is different and out of place is an important theme in Frankenstein. Once Victor Frankenstein created the monster he was afraid of his creation. Another example would be when the monster enters the town and everyone screamed and fainted. They didn’t have a chance to talk or get to know the monster. The townspeople reacted without knowing anything about the monster. The monster is different and was out of place, therefore he was not accepted.
Theme is a very important part in Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein. Two of the many key themes in the novel were about knowledge and people fear what is different and out of place. Our class time discussing theme was well worth it.
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5 comments:
Nice job summing up the conversations and discussions we had in class. As I was reading I was starting to wonder if these two themes could actually be connected, mainly with fear of difference relying on knowledge. Your main example for the fear of difference was the reaction by those who saw the monster. Their reaction you said was because "they didn’t have a chance to talk or get to know the monster." In other words, they lacked the true knowledge of what the monster was truly like. I think this then leads to another theme this novel holds: that our actions affect those around us. By screaming and fainting, making the monster feel out of place and unwanted, the people caused him to become an angry, destructive creature; which wouldn't have happened had he become accepted. We see this also through Victor, mainly that those he loved most ended up dead from his decisions.
I think there is another interesting concept that develops throughout the novel involving knowledge. Although I will agree that the monster was shunned by the lack of tolerance of his appearance by the people, the main way he was isolated from human kind was actually his aquisition of knowledge. When he gains knowledge, he learns that he can never live with the humans, and is further distanced from the people he wishes to join; this concept is an interesting paradox.
Mary's contrast between Victor's abuse and Walton's clever thoughtful knowledge is used well as a theme to warn us of overstepping human boundaries, as we've discussed in class. Knowledge is useless if one doesn't consider the possibilities of the results of their application, as well as an acceptance of the consequences. Perhaps Ms. Shelley warns us of this because she has had a personal experience, as it's a common reason for many authors to include a certain theme in their story. When author's are interviewed, some account their personal life, and their stories relate. Your blog on how Mary Shelley applied this knowledge theme in her story was well put. More people should be Waltons and not Victors.
The distinction between Walton and Frankenstein serves as a sort of lesson to the reader. Frankenstein's entire story is a warning to Walton not to take the same destructive path. However, we can read Frankenstein's direct warnings as if they were told to us. Despite his warnings, however, Frankenstein still seems like he wants Walton's journey to continue, especially when he berates to potential mutineers. To me, this is a clear indication that while knowledge can be misused, we should still pursue it.
Brian Reuland
I really think your post summed up Frankenstein very well, and your discussion on the knowledge and the characters was very good. One thing I'd like to say is that I don't think that all knowledge in Frankenstein is a bad thing. I think you touched on this sort of when you talked about the fear that is presented in the townspeople. In my mind at least, I think that knowledge of the monster's past would have been very helpful in preventing the events that occur in the novel. I guess the way Shelley sees knowledge is that you need enough of it to understand the situations that you find yourself in, but not so much that you create bad situations for yourself.
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