I am struggling with a paper on Frankenstein. I have to expand in…

Question Answered step-by-step I am struggling with a paper on Frankenstein. I have to expand in…  I am struggling with a paper on Frankenstein.  I have to expand in writing form about how the pursuit of knowledge is dangerous.  I have 5 pages so far.  The paper needs to be 10 pages minimum and I am out of ways to expand on this topic.  I am adding my paper so you can see what I already have.  ANY suggestions on additional information to add, sources to look at, or any way to lengthen this paper would be appreciated.  I need to complete another five PAGES on this theme!!!!! Is knowledge a blessing or a curse? In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein is obsessed with knowledge, he travels the world and does unthinkable things to get it, with no regard for any actions he commits. Knowledge can be as good to the world as it can destroy it just as easily. Knowledge can be very dangerous because it can lead to isolation from others, it can harm his loved ones and the public and it can cost your life.  The title of the novel, Frankenstein: the Modern Prometheus shows the symbolism of knowledge.  Prometheus was known for his intelligence and is credited with stealing fire from Zeus and bringing it to mankind.  This allowed man to come out of the dark, and cook using fire.  The inclusion of Prometheus into the title of the novel foreshadows bringing light, or knowledge, and the changes it brings.  With Prometheus’s gift, he brought Zeus’s wrath upon himself and on mankind.   The theme of Frankensteins’ pursuit of knowledge has similarities with the ancient Greek legends of Prometheus in relation to the danger of knowledge.  Pursuing knowledge to heights that are dangerous is further propelled by the damage that the monster ends up causing, in the way that the monster kills Frankenstein’s close friends and family members in pursuit of revenge.  Without understanding the repercussions of your actions, you won’t’ know what to avoid doing in society. Victor Frankenstein doesn’t hold himself to any morals, Victor robbed graves for body parts to create his monster to learn more and create life, though he cannot entirely be blamed, he was not taught any morals by his parents, they spoiled him and gave him everything, but never taught him how to behave or how to act. “My mother’s tender caresses and my father’s smile of benevolent pleasure while regarding me are my first recollections. I was their plaything and their idol and something better — their child, the innocent and helpless monster bestowed on them by Heaven”.  Never being taught how to act by his parents, Victor didn’t know how to act as a parent, so instead of taking care of the monster he created in his thirst for knowledge, he searched for more knowledge leaving the monster behind to fend for itself. He was so entitled in his world he thought he could play God.  He knew what he was doing made him a monster himself, but he didn’t care.  Frankenstein could have just reanimated a corpse, but he chose to build the monstrous body.  His ambition for knowledge, to know more and more, unleashes a monster on the world.  His pursuit of knowledge with no care as to its effect on the world made Victor Frankenstein the true monster.  Frankenstein states that “the world was to me a secret which I desired”.  If this was true, then why did Victor fail to love the secrets he unlocked in his pursuit of knowledge?   “The world was to him a secret which he desired to divine.  Curiosity, earnest research to learn the hidden laws of nature, and gladness akin to rapture, as they wre unfolded to him, are among the earliest sensations that he can remember… it was the secrets of heaven and earth that he desired to learn; and whether it was the outward substance ofthings or the inner spirit of nature and the mysterious soul of man that occupied him, still his inquiries were directed to the metaphysical, or in it highest sense, the physical secrets of the world.” Victor searches for knowledge the entire time, without even questioning his decision to abandon the creature, and the consequences of his conquest of knowledge caught up to him in the form of the monster he created. He originally thought “a new species would bless me as its creator and source; many happy and excellent natures would owe their being to me”, but being neglected by its creator, the monster grows to hate the Frankenstein family.  This leads the monster to kill Victor’s brother, William, in a fit of rage. They all die as a result of Victor’s pursuit of dangerous knowledge.  This is symbolic because while only a few people are part of the search for knowledge that is harmful, their inventions have reprocussions throughout society and the world.  The monster asks Victor to create another monster for the monster to be with, Victor accepts but later declines, and the monster is upset and vows revenge against Victor. The monster kills Victor’s best friend, Henry Clerval, and Victor’s wife, Elizabeth Lavenza. All showing Victor’s selfishness and the consequences of his recklessness. Even on the boat to where Victor was heading, he put the entire crew at risk because of his craving for more knowledge, even when they begged him to turn back. Frankenstein could have just reanimated a corpse, but he chose to build a monstrous body. His ambition to know more and create more leads to his demise. His pursuit of knowledge brought out the evil in the world. He was so obsessed with being the best and knowing more that he unleashed evil. Light and fire symbolize knowledge and wisdom in Frankenstein.  The monster learns that fire is dangerous when he is left abandoned by his creator and the village comes to kill him.  The monster’s ambition is to learn, but he learns more about the bad in the world than the good.  His knowledge is of man and the world is tainted by others’ fear. “When I looked around and saw and heard of none like me.  Was I, the, a monster, a blot upon the earth from which all men fled and whom all men disowned?” “A flash of lightning illuminated the object and discovered its shape plainly to me; its gigantic stature, and the deformity of its aspect, more hideous than belongs to humanity, instantly informed me that it was the wretch, the filthy demon to whom he had given life.  Victor never once stopped his pursuit of knowledge eventually leading to his demise, by the monster killing him in revenge for the misery Victor caused the monster. Throughout the entire story, Victor never looks back to question anything, which in turn brought even more consequences. He only wanted to know more but lacked the ability to see what knowledge he truly needed, how to behave with morals he needed to thrive in the world, and he lacked the capability and compassion to care for his creation. In the end, the monster’s pursuit of Victor gained him more morality than his creator, after killing many people on his conquest of Victor, he regrets his actions and intends to kill himself to atone for his actions, which Victor would have never done. “I, the miserable and the abandoned, am an abortion, to be spurned at, and kicked, and trampled on,” Walton writes the words the monster said while standing over his creator’s dead body.  Frankenstein believed that his creation of the creature was the answer to the knowledge he had been seeking, and in the end, he did learn, that knowledge can be dangerous. He states “Learn from me, if not by my precepts, as least by my example, 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 that aspires to become greater than his nature will allow.    Arts & Humanities Writing ENGLISH 101 Share QuestionEmailCopy link Comments (0)