Hi my name is Kelsey Ainsworth and I am Senior. I am a psychology major with a sociology minor.
I will say I have never truly known the story behind Frankenstein and after reading the first half of the novel I have found it to be quite complex and well thought out when it comes to the different themes shown throughout the first 12 chapters. One theme that stood out to me was this idea of knowledge being, you could say, “evil.” At a young age Victor strives for knowledge and later goes onto to a University where learns everything there is to know about modern science. At this point in his life is when we see the idea that knowledge can become “evil” due to Victor barricading himself for several years in works of creating this monster. He had been so consumed and dedicated to his work that once he had finished creating this monster he had become mentally as well as physically ill. He had the mindset of creating this new life to attain power which we know in today’s society can corrupt people if not handled correctly. Victor obviously did not handle his situation the way it should have been; he avoided society and focused all his attention on knowledge and power. Power can cause people to become controlling and insane, all which lead once again to this idea of “evil.” As the story goes on, we see Victor slowly evolving into a more crazed individual; so my questions is, can attaining to much knowledge and power cause not only a human being to become ill but can it cause society to get all wrapped up in itself and forget about the importance of maintaining a mentally and physically sound country?
