“Frankenstein” Revenge Quotes: Unveiling Vengeance

Betraying Nature: Knowledge as a Cause of Demise in Frankenstein

“Knowing that Nature never did betray/ The heart that loved her; ’tis her privilege […] to lead From joy to joy: for she can so inform/ The mind that is within us […] that neither evil tongues / Rash judgments, nor the sneers of selfish men […] /Shall e’er prevail against us, or disturb/ Our cheerful faith, that all which we behold/ Is full of blessings” (121-34). With these words in his poem Tintern Abbey William Wordsworth presents a romanticist view of nature as a source of healing and joy.

By stating that nature “leads” and “informs” Wordsworth demonstrates a view of nature as influencing the human mind. He also mentions nature has this effect on “the heart that loved her.” Therefore, he is advocating for a relationship based on kinship with nature meaning we must love it in order to reap its benefits. In other words, we can only receive “joy” from nature if we are willing to give love in return.

The Downfall of Victor Frankenstein

But what happens when we attempt to use knowledge as a means of controlling nature? An attempt to control rather than love nature would be in opposition to the kinship to which Wordsworth alludes. It is an attempt to place ourselves above nature instead of in relation to it. Therefore, we would influence nature without allowing it to wield its influence on us. It could not “inform” or “lead” and would leave us vulnerable to “rash judgments” and the disturbance of “our cheerful faith.” Mary Shelley demonstrates this in her novel Frankenstein through Victor Frankenstein’s pursuit of knowledge. It serves as the main cause that drives the plot forward and influences the lives of the characters. While some might argue that other themes, such as prejudice or revenge, are most important in the novel, without Victor’s pursuit of knowledge, the monster would have never been created, and subsequent themes, such as obsession and monstrosity, would not be present. I will argue that Victor “ardently desired the acquisition of knowledge” as a means to not only understand but also control the natural world (28). Furthermore, this desire prevents him from receiving the benefits of nature, which leads to his demise as he becomes a tortured and monstrous figure. Thus, his desire to control nature leads to the prevention of its benefits, resulting in his demise.

Victor’s Obsession with Control

Victor’s desire for control of nature is evident in his admission that he “ardently desired the acquisition of knowledge” (28). The use of “ardent” creates an image of a desire that is burning and violent, almost uncontrollable. Describing it as an acquisition implies ownership. Victor believes that if he owns knowledge of the natural world, then he should be able to do with it as he sees fit. This is seen in his belief that “a new species would bless me as its creator and source; many happy and excellent natures would owe their being to me” (33). The use of the words “creator” and “source” further establishes the control Victor wishes to wield, as he would be solely responsible for the existence of a natural being. In opposition to Wordsworth, Victor is clearly not in kinship with nature but rather seeking to control it and produce his own “excellent natures.”

The Price of Ignoring Nature’s Blessings

Victor distances himself from nature’s beneficial influence. While he gains knowledge, “winter, spring, and summer passed away,” and he admits, “I did not watch the blossom or the expanding leaves which before yielded me supreme delight, so deeply was I engrossed in my occupation.” In these lines, we see how Victor used to reap the benefits of nature in the form of “supreme delight,” but now Victor’s refusal to be in kinship with nature makes him “insensible to [its] charms.” In his desire to control nature to reject a relationship based on kinship, Victor refuses to love it. This, in turn, causes him to lose the benefits it provides. Perhaps this is most clearly seen in comparison to Clerval, “whose being was formed in the very poetry of nature.” Therefore, Clerval is in perfect kinship with nature as he “loved [it] with ardor” and observed it with “feeling and delight.” While he takes in nature’s beauty, he receives its benefits as he exclaims, “This is what it is to live […] now I enjoy existence!” In contrast, Victor’s eyes are “fixed and unobserving” to nature; Clerval describes him as “desponding and sorrowful,” while Victor describes himself as a “miserable wretch.” In Clerval, Shelley creates an ideal that demonstrates how we should live in relation to nature and all the joy this can bring. He is the heart that loves nature, which Wordsworth describes in his poem.

Therefore, Clerval’s presence serves to highlight the opposite extreme, which is embodied by Victor as someone who can no longer love nature and is doomed to suffer the consequences. This lack of love for nature as the cause of his demise is first seen in his obsessive behavior. He describes his studies as “that application which at first had been a matter of duty…now became so ardent and eager, that the stars often disappeared in the light of morning whilst I was still engaged in my laboratory.” One can clearly see the unhealthy attachment Victor has to his acquisition of knowledge; the transition from “at first” to “now became” shows its development into an addiction. Moreover, Victor says, “None but those who have experienced them can conceive of the enticements of science…In other studies, you go as far as others have gone before you,…but in a scientific pursuit, there is continual food for discovery and wonder.” The use of enticements furthers the view that science is like a drug to Victor, and his focus on a continual pursuit is reminiscent of an addict who is constantly chasing their next high with no end in sight.

This also causes isolation as Victor ignores his family and friends as he says, “I wished […] to procrastinate all that related to my feelings of affection until the great object, which swallowed up every habit of my nature, should be completed.” In this case, the object is the monster, but also a culmination of Victor’s pursuit of knowledge. In his eyes, creating life serves as proof that his acquisition of knowledge is complete. His desire to accomplish this is destructive as it “swallows him up” and leaves him unable to enjoy affection. Again, unlike Clerval, Victor does not know what it is to live and cannot enjoy existence because he is not in kinship with nature. This leaves Victor vulnerable to the damage of his obsession. These damages extend to the physical and the emotional as Victor states, “My cheek had grown pale with study, and my person had become emaciated with confinement…I seemed to have lost all soul or sensation but for this one pursuit.” His obsession with being a creator causes him to become something monstrous. Victor has become a shell of himself as he is now unrecognizable from the man presented at the beginning of the novel. Clerval remarks on this as he tells Victor, “How very ill you appear; so thin and pale; you look as if you had been watching for several nights.”

The damages of his obsession are visible on his body. Therefore, his body reflects the damage that has been caused to his soul. Victor understands this as well, as he describes his desire for knowledge as a “fatal passion.” He is unable to experience happiness and can no longer detach himself from his pursuit and the consequences it has caused as he says, “I shunned the face of man; all sound of joy or complacency was torture to me; solitude was my only consolation-deep dark solitude.” Therefore, these quotes show how the desire for knowledge has corrupted Victor physically and emotionally, turning him into a creature obsessed with a goal he no longer enjoys but cannot relinquish. What began as an “ardent desire” has become a form of “torture.” Through his suffering, Victor comes to understand the dangers of his “ardent desire” as he views his goal of controlling nature through knowledge as unnatural. “How dangerous it is the acquirement of knowledge and how much happier that man is who believes his native town to be the world, than he who aspires to become greater than his nature will allow.” By referencing what a man’s nature will allow, Victor is implying that some pursuits are inherently unnatural. If the “acquirement of knowledge” is viewed as Victor’s desire to control nature, as this paper argues, then Victor’s statement suggests not being in kinship with nature is a harmful state for man.

Victor understands that being above nature instead of in relation to it is not “allowed” and, therefore, leads to suffering. Moreover, Victor states that “If the study in which you apply yourself has a tendency to weaken your affections, and to destroy your taste for those simple pleasures which no alloy can possibly mix, then that study is certainly unlawful, that is to say not befitting the human mind.” By placing “pleasures,” “affections,” and “the human mind” above the “study” Victor shows his transition from prioritizing knowledge to prioritizing happiness. The fact that it does not benefit the “human” mind supports the earlier point that Victor’s acquisition of knowledge is unnatural and causes him to become unhuman. His use of the word “unlawful” further establishes that wielding control over nature should not be allowed and by being against the law should be punished. In Victor’s demise, we see a cautionary tale for the dangers of attempting to achieve an unnatural relationship with nature. Through his acquisition of knowledge, Victor seeks to control rather than be in kinship with nature and pays the consequences for it. The many benefits of nature mentioned by Wordsworth are not received by Victor, causing him to become a tortured and monstrous figure. Therefore, the pursuit of knowledge in and of itself may not be harmful, but when it is used in an attempt to control the natural world, we become susceptible to the disturbance of our “cheerful faith.” 

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