The Lesson to Learn from Victor Frankenstein's Story

Since the beginning of his existence, man has embarked on an endless pursuit of self improvement, domination, and most tragically, forbidden knowledge. In Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein, protagonist Victor Frankenstein’s ambitious desire to conquer man’s greatest fear, death, leads him down a road of overwhelming regret. Despite this air of negativity throughout the novel, Mary Shelley subtly illustrates that though the Faustian quest for forbidden knowledge becomes the detriment and fear of an individual, Victor Frankenstein, it also positively matures into the restraints that continue to preserve the human condition.

As a young man, Victor Frankenstein was inspired to find the elixir of life by the works of famous alchemists like Cornelius Agrippa, Albertus Magnus, and Paracelsus. Though he gradually loses such interests, Frankenstein’s admission into the University of Ingolstadt revives his passion in “natural philosophy, and particularly chemistry, in the most comprehensive sense of term,” which, “became nearly [his] sole occupation” (49). Frankenstein’s uncontrollable obsession with reanimation becomes the basis of his Faustian journey.

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After successfully bringing life to his humanoid creature, “disgust filled [Frankenstein’s] heart. Unable to endure the aspect of the being [Frankenstein] had created, [Frankenstein] rushed out of the room” (59). Evidently, though Frankenstein successfully brings his creature to life, he is frightened by the creature’s hideousness, a fear that he had not prepared for prior to and during his experimentation. While Frankenstein may have achieved one of man’s greatest goals, his addiction for forbidden knowledge and lack of preparation lends to a series of complications, including the fear that begins to control his life.

Burdened by the insurmountable terror of the creature, Frankenstein enters a state of depression and deep self-reflection in which he removes himself from society. Seeking vengeance for his creator’s abandonment, the creature murders Frankenstein’s brother, William, and housekeeper, Justine. Inflicted with guilt, Frankenstein is incapable of developing the courage to come forward with the truth. However, when confronted by the creature’s request for a female companion, Frankenstein asserts that he “never will create another like [the creature], equal in deformity and wickedness” (205). Dreading a potential society of monsters, Frankenstein is able to grow the intestinal fortitude to deny the wish of his creation. It is at this instant that as a Faustian character, Victor Frankenstein is able to find the strength and courage to restrain himself from the obsession that he had once become a subject to.

As much as Frankenstein’s new found audacity restrains himself from future experimentation, his silence does no good for restraining a society that is constantly seeking forbidden knowledge. Avoiding the monster, Frankenstein finds himself in the North Pole, fighting off the elements. It is here when Captain Robert Walton, an explorer seeking a Northern Passage to the Pacific Ocean, rescues and rehabilitates Frankenstein (3). Recovering from austere conditions, Frankenstein breaks his silence and begins to tell the tale of his scientific endeavors. Victor, warning Walton, insists that he “learn from [him], if not by [his] precepts, at least by [his] example how dangerous is the acquirement of knowledge” (53). Having understood the ramifications of attaining inhuman knowledge, Victor Frankenstein musters up the courage to deny Walton’s endeavors , an attribute that he could not attain earlier. In a sense, the argument here could be made that Frankenstein’s life story is a necessary sacrifice to prevent others from attempting to attain godly powers. Consequently, by doing so, the human condition is not held back but protected.

Even though Frankenstein’s quest for forbidden knowledge becomes his own undoing, the example he sets becomes a deterrent for those who have similar motivations. Victor Frankenstein’s example becomes a precedence for what man should and should not seek.