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Victor Frankenstein and The Pursuit of Knowledge

Victor Frankenstein and The Pursuit of Knowledge. ‘Man,’ I cried, ‘how ignorant art thou in thy pride of wisdom! Cease; you know not what it is you say.’ (III.vi). The Age of Enlightenment. Also known as the Age of Reason 18 th Century (1700s) Time period of Frankenstein

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Victor Frankenstein and The Pursuit of Knowledge

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  1. Victor Frankensteinand The Pursuit of Knowledge ‘Man,’ I cried, ‘how ignorant art thou in thy pride of wisdom! Cease; you know not what it is you say.’ (III.vi)

  2. The Age of Enlightenment • Also known as the Age of Reason • 18th Century (1700s) • Time period of Frankenstein • Marked by increased pursuit of science • Birth of modern science • Explosion of knowledge, discovery, exploration

  3. Reaction against Religion • Takeoff of science led to attack on religion • Religion criticised as conservative and backward • Extreme cases saw denial of religion (atheism) • Age of Reason led to new confidence in man • Man’s fate in his own hands, not in God’s

  4. Frankenstein: A Critique of Science • A questioning of science’s commitment • Objective truth and discovery regardless of consequences • Right or wrong? • Humphrey Davy: nature as female • http://www.mdx.ac.uk/WWW/STUDY/SHE6.HTM • ‘Humphrey Davy’s Scientific Philosophy’

  5. Mother Nature and Science • Davy: defined nature as female • Nurturing, growing, ‘Mother Nature’ • Two ways to deal with nature through science • ‘Descriptive science’, understanding how Nature worked • ‘Interventionist’ science, changing or controlling the way Nature worked

  6. Science and Gender Dichotomy • Nature as female, the scientist as male • The attempt to control nature being sexism • Nature as female entitles ‘male’ scientist to exploit her? • Money, power, status

  7. Victor Frankenstein ‘Man,’ I cried, ‘how ignorant art thou in thy pride of wisdom! Cease; you know not what it is you say.’ (III.vi)

  8. ‘The Modern Prometheus’ • Frankenstein’s sub-title • Reference to Victor • Why so? • Who was Prometheus?

  9. Dared to steal Fire from the gods… Created Man and gave him the Fire of life to defy the gods…

  10. …and was bound in agony by the gods with his liver pecked out daily by a vulture for his presumption.

  11. Victor Frankenstein: the Modern Prometheus • Dared to steal the secret of life from Mother Nature… • Created ‘Man’ with that secret of life to supersede Mother Nature…

  12. …and was hounded from society, pursued, and destroyed by Nature and creation alike for his presumption.

  13. Victor and the Rape of Nature • Professor Waldman • The modern masters promise very little; they know that metals cannot be transmuted and that the elixir of life is a chimera. But these philosophers, whose hands seem only made to dabble in dirt, and their eyes to pore over the microscope or crucible, have indeed performed miracles. They penetrate into the recesses of nature and show how she works in her hiding-places. (I.iii) • Yet Frankenstein undertakes this penetration • Seeking the ‘secret of life’, using it to his own ends • The rape of nature to gratify personal lust for power

  14. Victor’s Scientific Megalomania • "A new species would bless me as its creator and source; many happy and excellent natures would owe their being to me. No father could claim the gratitude of his child so completely as I should deserve theirs." (I.iv) • Unlocks the secret of life for own benefit • Self-serving, dangerous

  15. Victor and Sexism • Significance of the creation of the Monster • The theft of the secret of Nature’s creation of life • Theft of the female reproductive ability • The ability to create males without females • Victor, a threat to social/biological survival of the race and ideal of the Female • Hence the destruction of Monster’s mate • Preservation of his monopoly on creation

  16. Victor and Mary Shelley • Victor as Shelley’s criticism of modern science • Nature as female to be penetrated and possessed by male scientist • Dead matter to be reassembled at will • Unnatural; life created from dead things • As opposed to God’s creation • Life from the living (Adam’s rib?)

  17. ‘Interventionist’ Science as Violation • William Frankenstein’s death as a loss of innocence • Killed by the creation of Victor • Died in the arms of Nature • Killed in Nature by an Unnatural creation • Nature grotesquely violated by the unnatural

  18. Shelley’s Nurturing Alternative • Ernest Frankenstein as one with appropriate relationship to nature • Became a farmer, working with Nature • Not taking control of it • Henry Clerval as one who appreciates Nature • He was a being formed in the "very poetry of nature."…The scenery of external nature, which others regard only with admiration, he loved with ardour. (III.i) • Nature as a person to be treated with respect and reverence

  19. Robert Walton ‘I shall satiate my ardent curiosity with the sight of a part of the world never before visited, and may tread a land never before imprinted by the foot of man. These are my enticements, and they are sufficient to conquer all fear of danger or death, and to induce me to commence this laborious voyage with the joy a child feels when he embarks in a little boat, with his holiday mates, on an expedition of discovery up his native river.’ (Letter 1)

  20. Attitude to Discovery • Overwhelming desire to explore North Pole • Believes in discovery for its own sake • Also for sake of mankind as a whole • Burning passion based on books

  21. Walton and the Brink of Knowledge • Constantly advised by Elizabeth not to go on voyage of discovery • Inferred from letters to Elizabeth • But insists on going on it, citing noble aspirations and purpose • Is exhorted by Victor to go on, even as Victor relates what happened to him • Eventually forced to turn back by storms • Representing the ability to not go too far

  22. The Storms of Nature • Frankenstein and Walton both accompanied on discoveries by storms • Nature’s reaction to Man’s penetration of her secrets • ‘Female’ Nature resisting ‘male’ science • Whereas Victor pushes on, Walton turns back • Victor suffers consequences thereafter • Forced into Nature’s wildernesses • Exposed to the elements and storms

  23. Knowledge as Pandora’s Box • Knowledge in Frankenstein is a gift with greater cost than benefit • The unleashing of greater forces and evils than expected • For Victor, knowledge of the secret of life brings only death and suffering • For the Creature, knowledge brings only loss of innocence • Greater desire to participate in society • Greater awareness of society’s rejection of him • Greater hatred, frustration, leading to self-destruction and destruction of others

  24. The End

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