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 Reason18th Century (1700s)Time period of Frankenstein

Marked by increased pursuit of scienceBirth of modern science Explosion of knowledge, discovery,

exploration

Reaction against Religion

Takeoff of science led to attack on religionReligion criticised as conservative and

backwardExtreme cases saw denial of religion

(atheism) Age of Reason led to new confidence in

manMan’s fate in his own hands, not in God’s

Frankenstein: A Critique of Science

A questioning of science’s commitmentObjective 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’

Mother Nature and Science

Davy: defined nature as femaleNurturing, 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

Science and Gender Dichotomy

Nature as female, the scientist as maleThe attempt to control nature being sexism

Nature as female entitles ‘male’ scientist to exploit her?Money, power, status

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)

‘The Modern Prometheus’

Frankenstein’s sub-titleReference to Victor

Why so?

Who was Prometheus?

Dared to steal Fire from the gods…

Created Man and gave him the Fire of life to defy the gods…

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

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…

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

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

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 benefitSelf-serving, dangerous

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

Victor and Mary Shelley

Victor as Shelley’s criticism of modern scienceNature as female to be penetrated and

possessed by male scientistDead 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?)

‘Interventionist’ Science as Violation William Frankenstein’s death as a loss of

innocenceKilled by the creation of VictorDied in the arms of NatureKilled in Nature by an Unnatural creation

Nature grotesquely violated by the unnatural

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

‘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)

Robert Walton

Attitude to Discovery

Overwhelming desire to explore North Pole

Believes in discovery for its own sakeAlso for sake of mankind as a whole

Burning passion based on books

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

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

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

The End