Frankenstein Pursuit Of Knowledge Essay - 1673 Words

Among the many themes explored in Mary Shelley s timeless classic â€Å"Frankenstein†, the one I find to be most relevant and the one that truly resonated with me was the dangers that stem from the pursuit of knowledge. This theme resonated with me for many reasons because, while the pursuit of knowledge has allowed humankind to exert and enjoy unparalleled and unprecedented power over the animal kingdom and the world itself, it’s a seemingly benign aspect of human nature that can paradoxically render humankind obsolete. while exploring the many dangers rooted in the pursuit and frankly the obsession of knowledge one cannot help but see the correlations between Mary Shelley s infamous character, the ‘creature’ and the Industrial Revolution†¦show more content†¦While one can draw a distinction between the knowledge pursued during the Industrial Revolution and the specific and esoteric knowledge employed by Dr. Frankenstein, I will not make such a di stinction in my analysis and utilize the word knowledge in its rudimentary sense. As Shelly writes, â€Å"The labours of men of genius, however erroneously directed, scarcely ever to fail in ultimately turning to the solid advantage of mankind†.(Shelley, 28) It is with this orientation of knowledge, a derivative of the labors of ‘men of genius’, that I will utilize in my analysis. During the previously mentioned inflection point experienced during the 18th and 19th centuries, civilization’s marginal pursuit of knowledge became an obsession of not only the traditionally defined genius, an individual endowed with intellect in each of their endeavors, but of the brief employment of acute genius contained within each human in periods of crisis or enlightenment. While Industry allowed for any person with the capacity of imagination to obsess over the pursuit of knowledge, it also created an artificial partition between mankind and ecology as did Frankensteinâ⠂¬â„¢s creature in Shelley s novel. â€Å"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, 31) writes Shelley as she bestows the reader with an introspective approach to the analysis of theShow MoreRelatedFrankenstein Pursuit Of Knowledge Essay1403 Words   |  6 PagesInformation War: The Truths of Knowledge in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein What exactly is the pursuit of knowledge? One might say that the pursuit of knowledge is when one conducts irregular experiments and actions. One might say that the pursuit of knowledge is the process of the collecting information needed in completing that test. 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