Kimball Post 2 - Frankenstein

In the beginning of the novel, knowledge in general, thus including science, is seen through awed eyes. Frankenstein loves discussing the human frame and finds pleasure in discovering what makes each body tick. As the book goes on, it seems as though knowledge begins to lean to the side of the well known cliché "ignorance is bliss". As we switch to the monster's point of view, we see that he is shaken to his core when he realizes that the beautiful world and interesting beings, that surround him and provoke constant thoughts as well as a yearning to learn more, want nothing to do with his unsightly complexion. While wandering through the wilderness the monster takes in all of the sights and learns from the beauty he sees. Although, when he visits a village he's immediately chased out by the villagers, for reasons unknown to him at the time. He begins to understand the different ways and customs of the world, some of which offend and hurt him, causing him pain inside as he realizes that he's hideous in the eyes of the humans. When he finally looks as his own image in a puddle of water, he says, "I cannot describe to you the agony that these reflections inflicted upon me: I tried to dispel them, but sorrow only increased with knowledge...Of what a strange nature is knowledge! It clings to the mind, when it had ones seized on it, like a lichen on the rock" (p.85).  Knowledge may also empower the monster and I anticipate that it will. He hopes that "knowledge might enable [him] to make them overlook the deformity of [his] figure" (p.80). If the monster had never left the confines of the laboratory, while he wouldn't have found out about the world around him, his mind and esteem would have stayed in tact and he wouldn't have been damaged by the social norms of the outside world. It's hard to choose the right path for the monster, when basing it off of his feelings and emotions, because while knowledge is extremely important, often it can hurt just as much as it helps.