Tale of Victor Frankenstein - Essay Example

The Pursuit of Knowledge: A Tempting Evil Mary Shelley’s masterpiece work, Frankenstein, is a ic tale of horror and darkness, set in the wilderness areas of Europe, particularly Switzerland. Unlike the interpretations familiar to the Hollywood movie set, this novel is focused more upon the drama that occurs as Frankenstein’s creature searches for love and acceptance and instead finds only rejection and revulsion, finally taking out his frustrations in revenge against his creator. However, it is not a tale designed simply to arouse fear in the heart of the reader. Instead, it is designed to make the reader think about a number of issues. Written in 1818, the novel presupposes many of the issues that would be raised within literature and science in the years to come, such as the novel The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde written by Robert Louis Stevenson in 1886. In this story, another scientist discovers a potion that enables him to separate himself into two distinct personalities. The purpose of this potion was to provide the scientist with a means of separating the good portion of his nature from the evil, but the evil proves too enticing and he becomes completely unable to control it or withstand it. In the end, the good doctor loses his life in abandoning himself to the strength of the monstrous evil portion of his being. In both cases, normal men bring about tremendous evil on the world as a result of their investigations into “unscientific balderdash” or otherwise unfounded arcane knowledge. Thus, through both of these stories, the authors illustrate how the pursuit of such forbidden knowledge is the well-spring of evil. A great deal of the Western world has been raised with the belief that the pursuit of deep knowledge such as that investigated by Victor Frankenstein in Shelley’s novel is the source of all evil. This idea stems from the Garden of Eden in which Eve, the first woman, stole an apple from the Tree of Knowledge, causing the downfall of all mankind. From the beginning of his studies, Victor Frankenstein purposefully and intentionally turned his back on the natural world as a means of concentrating on discovering the secret of bringing life to inanimate material, a process in which he was “forced to spend days and night in vaults and charnel-houses. My attention was fixed upon every object the most insupportable to the delicacy of the human feelings” (Shelley, 1993: 45) while “my eyes were insensible to the charms of nature” (Shelley, 1993: 49). Despite the warnings he’d received and the obvious challenge to the natural order of things, Frankenstein continued his search for deep knowledge, continued to work on the creature he had started, continued to envision it as a beautiful thing that would give all homage to him and remained unable to foresee the true nature of what he was doing until it was too late and the living monster stood facing him in all its horrendous grotesqueness. Although he creates the monster, he cannot bear to look upon him and becomes so ill following the creature’s animation that he requires long-term care by his friend Cherval before he is fit enough to travel. Frankenstein, having created something so hideous he can’t bear himself to look upon it, abandons his creation and allows it to enter the world unprotected, uncared for and misunderstood at every turn; essentially dooming his creature to eternal loneliness in his monstrosity. This feeling of utter disregard for the well-being of the created wells up immediately upon the creature’s first breath of life. “The beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart. Unable to endure the aspect of the being I had created, I rushed out of the room” (42). Frankenstein only agrees to discuss things with the monster once the threat has been made to his family, forcing the monster to violence as the only means to gain an ear. The creature Frankenstein creates is not as immediately obviously evil. The monster comes into life with a gentle spirit and a predilection for loving the natural things of the world. As the spring warmed the earth during the monster’s stay outside the De Lacey home where he gained the learning he should have gained from Frankenstein, the monster tells Frankenstein “my spirits were elevated by the enchanting appearance of nature; the past was blotted from my memory, the present was tranquil, and the future gilded by bright rays of hope and anticipations of joy” (119). However, his monstrous appearance ensures he is chased from every possible place of refuge and human companionship. After he is chased even from this loving and patient home, the monster becomes possessed by thoughts of revenge against his creator for making him so unacceptable to any kind of company. Even in the silent places, the monster was unable to avoid negative human interaction, becoming injured as he struggles to save a woman from being swept away by a spring-fed stream. Thus, he becomes convinced that there is no where and no place for him to be happy as long as normal humans are present. With his final hope for happiness thwarted in Frankenstein’s refusal to create a companion for him, the monster then dedicates himself completely to evil, primarily as it pertained to the family of Frankenstein. In the end, the creature tells Walton, ”I had cast off all feeling, subdued all anguish, to riot in the excess of my despair. Evil thenceforth became my good. Urged thus far, I had no choice but to adapt my nature to an element which I had willingly chosen” (239). Unlike Frankenstein’s monster, the evil in Mr. Hyde is immediately apparent upon his first entrance into the story as the talk of the town after he trampled a young girl in the street. “It sounds like nothing to hear, but it was hellish to see. It wasn’t like a man, it was like some damned Juggernaut” (5). Because of the nature of Hyde’s appearance, this creation was left without any kind of conscience or other reason to restrain his actions and was thus free to commit any sort of evil he might choose to engage. Regardless of what the respectable and good-hearted Dr. Jekyll might have felt about these actions, Hyde was capable of carrying them out without feeling any remorse or guilt. He is also able to completely throw himself into his evil as this same incident illustrates, “And next moment, with ape-like fury, he was trampling his victim under foot” (21). Like Frankenstein’s monster, the creature that emerges with the help of Dr. Jekyll’s potion takes on an evil appearance that marks him as evil. While this wasn’t necessarily the case in Frankenstein, it is more than evident within the character of Mr. Hyde. This man, much different from Dr. Jekyll, appears as primitive to many people, even being referred to at one point as a troglodyte. This appearance was not tempered any by Mr. Hyde’s habitual interaction with others. In an age when manners and comportment were of primary importance in determining the worth of the individual, Mr. Hyde made it a point to forego such niceties. As Mr. Enfield tells Mr. Utterson, “my man was a fellow that nobody could have to do with, a really damnable man; and the person that drew the cheque is the very pink of the proprieties, celebrated too, and (what makes it worse) one of your fellows who do what they call good” (6). This illustrates not only the evil of the man Mr. Hyde, but also the level to which manners and proper behavior were held sacred and the effect such a person might have upon the reputation and good-standing of the people they may come into contact with. Although Dr. Jekyll struggled to contain the evil nature within himself, he increasingly found himself losing control to the freedom and guiltlessness of his alter-ego. As the story progresses, Dr. Jekyll is seen to exercise some control over the creature by stopping the potion, but the evil, once released, cannot be so easily contained. Mr. Hyde begins emerging in Dr. Jekyll’s sleep and, once released, this constrained evil bursts out in even greater force, this time committing murder. The details provided from the maid’s story indicate that “all of a sudden he [Mr. Hyde] broke out in a great flame of anger, stamping with his foot, brandishing the cane, and carrying on (as the maid described it) like a madman.  The old gentleman took a step back, with the air of one very much surprised and a trifle hurt; and at that Mr. Hyde broke out of all bounds and clubbed him to the earth.  And next moment, with ape-like fury, he was trampling his victim under foot and hailing down a storm of blows, under which the bones were audibly shattered and the body jumped upon the roadway” (Ch. 4). Mr. Hyde’s ability to completely take over the form of Dr. Jekyll, regardless of whether the potion has been taken or not and regardless of the level of Dr. Jekyll’s awareness, eventually emerging even during the day, leads Dr. Jekyll to the conclusion that his life is over with the close of his final letter as his body becomes completely inhabited by Mr. Hyde. It is perhaps his last act of goodness that causes Mr. Hyde to commit suicide rather than emerging from the Doctor’s laboratory to commit brutal and consistent evil on the city until the time he is caught. Thus, in both tales, the same concept is developed that a search for the deeper levels of knowledge that science was then plunging into were, in reality, doing little more than loosing a great deal of evil upon the world. Frankenstein is seen to convert his own previously sweet and mild-tempered attention onto evil pursuits as he carelessly engages in activities that would make the normal man ill and produces something monstrous in form. This creature that is thus loosed on the world has little choice but to turn to evil to be heard and thus commits a great deal more mischief as he targets innocent victims for his rage. The same can be said of Dr. Jekyll as he seeks a means of removing evil from the world and instead opens a new door through which it might enter. Mr. Hyde is evil by design and, like Frankenstein’s monster, eventually gains mastery over his maker, highlighting the concept that evil, once realized, cannot simply be put back into the box from which it was found. Works Cited Shelley, Mary. The Essential Frankenstein. Leonard Wolf (Ed.). New York: Simon & Schuester, 2004. Stevenson, Robert Louis. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. New York: Bantam Classics, 1982. Read More

Frankenstein, having created something so hideous he can’t bear himself to look upon it, abandons his creation and allows it to enter the world unprotected, uncared for and misunderstood at every turn; essentially dooming his creature to eternal loneliness in his monstrosity. This feeling of utter disregard for the well-being of the created wells up immediately upon the creature’s first breath of life. “The beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart.

Unable to endure the aspect of the being I had created, I rushed out of the room” (42). Frankenstein only agrees to discuss things with the monster once the threat has been made to his family, forcing the monster to violence as the only means to gain an ear. The creature Frankenstein creates is not as immediately obviously evil. The monster comes into life with a gentle spirit and a predilection for loving the natural things of the world. As the spring warmed the earth during the monster’s stay outside the De Lacey home where he gained the learning he should have gained from Frankenstein, the monster tells Frankenstein “my spirits were elevated by the enchanting appearance of nature; the past was blotted from my memory, the present was tranquil, and the future gilded by bright rays of hope and anticipations of joy” (119).

However, his monstrous appearance ensures he is chased from every possible place of refuge and human companionship. After he is chased even from this loving and patient home, the monster becomes possessed by thoughts of revenge against his creator for making him so unacceptable to any kind of company. Even in the silent places, the monster was unable to avoid negative human interaction, becoming injured as he struggles to save a woman from being swept away by a spring-fed stream. Thus, he becomes convinced that there is no where and no place for him to be happy as long as normal humans are present.

With his final hope for happiness thwarted in Frankenstein’s refusal to create a companion for him, the monster then dedicates himself completely to evil, primarily as it pertained to the family of Frankenstein. In the end, the creature tells Walton, ”I had cast off all feeling, subdued all anguish, to riot in the excess of my despair. Evil thenceforth became my good. Urged thus far, I had no choice but to adapt my nature to an element which I had willingly chosen” (239). Unlike Frankenstein’s monster, the evil in Mr.

Hyde is immediately apparent upon his first entrance into the story as the talk of the town after he trampled a young girl in the street. “It sounds like nothing to hear, but it was hellish to see. It wasn’t like a man, it was like some damned Juggernaut” (5). Because of the nature of Hyde’s appearance, this creation was left without any kind of conscience or other reason to restrain his actions and was thus free to commit any sort of evil he might choose to engage. Regardless of what the respectable and good-hearted Dr.

Jekyll might have felt about these actions, Hyde was capable of carrying them out without feeling any remorse or guilt. He is also able to completely throw himself into his evil as this same incident illustrates, “And next moment, with ape-like fury, he was trampling his victim under foot” (21). Like Frankenstein’s monster, the creature that emerges with the help of Dr. Jekyll’s potion takes on an evil appearance that marks him as evil. While this wasn’t necessarily the case in Frankenstein, it is more than evident within the character of Mr. Hyde. This man, much different from Dr.

Jekyll, appears as primitive to many people, even being referred to at one point as a troglodyte. This appearance was not tempered any by Mr. Hyde’s habitual interaction with others. In an age when manners and comportment were of primary importance in determining the worth of the individual, Mr. Hyde made it a point to forego such niceties. As Mr. Enfield tells Mr.

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