Moral Values In Frankenstein Essay Research Paper

Moral Values In Frankenstein Essay, Research Paper

Moral Values in Frankenstein

It is said that every story has a moral, or sometimes if you look hard enough, there are many different morals within one story. In the well-written novel Frankenstein, the teenage author, Mary Shelley, teaches us about moral values. In most cases, moral values result in a positive way, but if there is an obsession for wanting something too much, it could turn into a negative situation. Shelley makes it evident that in most situations, too much desire for a moral value such as knowledge, love or ambition can result in suffering and agony for the characters in the novel.

The first moral value that leads to suffering for the characters of the novel is knowledge. At the beginning of the story, Victor thrives on learning about natural sciences. When he is thirteen, Victor comes upon a volume of the works of Cornelius Agrippa. After he studies the whole works of Agrippa, he moves on to Paracelsus and Albertus Magnus:

But here were books, and here were men who had penetrated deeper and knew more. I took their word for all that they averred, and I became their disciple. It may appear strange that such should arise in the eighteenth century; but while I followed the routine of education in the schools of Geneva, I was, to a great degree, self-taught with regard to my favorite studies. My father was not scientific, and I was left to struggle with a child’s blindness, added to a student’s thirst for knowledge. Under the guidance of my new preceptors I entered with the greatest diligence into the search of the philosopher’s stone and the elixir of life; but the latter soon obtained my undivided attention. Wealth was an inferior object, but what glory would attend the discovery if I could banish disease from the human frame and render man invulnerable to any but a violent death! (pp. 39-40)

It is evident that this is the point in Victor’s life that his knowledge about natural sciences helps him first develop his crazy idea to create life. When Victor is seventeen, he becomes a student at the University of Ingolstadt to study modern natural philosophy. It is there that Victor learns everything he needs to know to make his creation, and eventually turn his life into pure misery. M. Waldman is one of the professors that really enhances Victor’s knowledge and inspires him to go on in his experimentations:

Such were the professors words-rather let me say such the words of fate-enounced to destroy me. As he went on I felt as if my soul were grappling with a palpable enemy; one by one the various keys were touched which formed the mechanism of my being; chord after chord was sounded, and soon my mind was filled with one thought, one conception, one purpose. So much had been done, exclaimed the soul of Frankenstein-more, far more, will I achieve; treading in the steps already marled, I will pioneer a new way, explore unknown powers, and unfold to the world the deepest mysteries of creation. (p. 47)

Victor’s studies become his soul occupation and he soon forgets the wonderful world that surrounds him: “Winter, spring, and summer passed away during my labours; but I did not watch the blossom or the expanding leaves-sights which before always yielded me supreme delight-so deeply was I engrossed in my occupation” (p. 54). Victor forgets his loved ones, which cause them great sorrow and pain, and although he does not realize it, he is also causing himself deep suffering. Victor thrives for knowledge so much that he suffers and experiences agony throughout the story. Another character in the novel whose thirst for knowledge causes pain and suffering is the creature that Victor creates. The creature’s stay with the cottagers’ makes him learn too much about life, especially family and responsibility. Through the lessons to the Arabian girl, the creature learns the English language. He then starts to understand their conversations, and he starts to wonder who he really is. These discoveries of knowledge cause severe pain to the creature: “‘I cannot describe to you the agony that these reflections inflicted upon me; I tried to dispel them, but sorrow only increased with knowledge. Oh, that I had forever remained in my native wood, nor known nor felt beyond the sensations of hunger, thirst, and heat!’” (p. 115) The creature also comes upon some books that also enhance his knowledge of life. As the creature reads the Sorrows of Werter, he learns about death and suicide, which begin to fill him with wonder. He also applies much of the book to his own feelings and conditions, which leads him to the questions of who he is: “‘My person was hideous and my stature gigantic. What did this mean. Who was I. What was I. Whence did I come. What was my destination.’” (p. 123) The creature becomes aware that he knows nothing of his background, and is unable to find out. The volume of Plutarch’s Lives contains the histories of the first founders of the ancient republics and it “‘taught high thoughts; he elevated me above the wretched fear of my own reflections, to admire and love the heroes of past ages’” (p. 123). This book teaches the creature about more than just the human nature that he observes at the cottage of his protectors: “‘I felt the greatest ardour for virtue rise within me, and abhorrence for vice, as far as I understood the signification of those terms, relative as they were, a