Knowledge

1. Knowledge Price and Use 5th period Emma C. Justin H. Belle N.

2. What is Knowledge? “Knowledge is a noun that refers to the information, understanding and skills that [is] gain[ed] through education or experience. It refers to the hard facts and the data that can be available to anyone if he has the right resources.”

3. In the Novel There are three (main) characters that are in pursuit of knowledge for their own purposes. They are: Dr. V. Frankenstein The Creature Captain R. Walton

4. Dr. Frankenstein Use of Knowledge: In the beginning when he still believed that the Philosopher’s Stone and Elixir of Life, he wanted to acquire the Elixir of Life to make mankind practically invincible. “Wealth was an inferior object, but glory would attend the discovery, if I could banish disease from the human frame and render man invulnerable to any but a violent death!”

5. Dr. Frankenstein cont. When Dr. Frankenstein finds out that the old natural philosophers were “obsolete, ” he diverts his attention to new studies. He was able to gain the knowledge to give life to inanimate objects by studying death. By possessing the “capacity of bestowing animation, yet to prepare a frame of reception of it… [Dr. Frankenstein] at first doubted whether [he] should attempt the creation of a being like [himself], or one of simpler organization; but [his] imagination was too much exalted by [his] first success to permit [him] to doubt of [his] ability to give life to an animal as complex and wonderful as man” (Shelly 32).

6. Dr. Frankenstein cont. Dr. Frankenstein uses his knowledge to create “the Monster” “By creating “a new species [he] would be bless… as creator and source; many happy and excellent natures would owe their being to me” (Shelly 32). Dr. Frankenstein’s use of knowledge is gain glory for himself. Benefitting mankind is more of a secondary reason.

7. Dr. Frankenstein cont. During Dr. Frankenstein’s search for knowledge to create the body, his health declined and he stays secluded from his family, friends, and colleagues. “Every night I was oppressed by a slow fever, and I became nervous to a most painful degree… and I shunned my fellow creatures as if I have been guilty of a crime. Sometimes I grew alarmed at the wreck I perceived that I had become; the energy of my purpose alone sustained me…” (Shelly 34).

8. Dr. Frankenstein cont. Not only does his mental and physical health diminishes, he loses the people he loves in his life: William Frankenstein [murdered by the monster] Justine Moritz [framed and executed for William’s murder] Henry Clerval [murdered by the monster] Elizabeth Lavenza [Victor’s wife murdered by the monster] Alphonse Frankenstein [Victor’s father who dies of grief] “Call on the manes of William, Justine, Clerval, Elizabeth and my father, and of the wretched Victor…”(155). {Manes are spirit of the dead}

9. Dr. Frankenstein Use and Price of Knowledge Use of Knowledge: Creation of a new species to gain glory [the monster] and possibly to benefit mankind Price of Knowledge: Deterioration of his mind and body Seclusion from fellow humans Loss of Loved Ones [indirectly from his creation]

10. The Creature Use of Knowledge: To learn more about the world he is born into. and to use that knowledge in hopes that he would be able to be accepted by the cottagers “I formed in my imagination a thousand pictures of presenting myself to them, and their reception of me. I imagined that they would be disgusted, until, by my gentle demeanor and conciliating words, I should first win their favor, and afterwards their love” (Shelly 81).

11. The Creature Cont. Price of knowledge: The creature learns mostly by the method of Trial and Error. Example: When he was cold and there was a fire left behind by travelers. “One day, when [the creature] was oppressed by the cold, [he] found a fire… and was overcome with delight at the warmth [he] experienced from it. In my joy, [he] thrust [his] hand into the live embers, but quickly drew it out again with a cry of pain” (Shelly 72).

12. The Creature Cont. Another price of knowledge is that creature learns that he will never be accepted by men because he is seen as a grotesque monster with basically nothing. The more the Creature knows the more he despairs. “Of my creation and creator I was absolutely ignorant, but I knew that I possessed no money, no friends, no kind of property… I was not even the same nature as man… Was I, then, a monster, a blot upon the earth, from which all men fled and whom all men disowned?” (Shelly 85).

13. The Creature Cont. Use of Knowledge: To know of the things around him to survive because he was born ignorant to the world. To communicate with humans and be accepted by them. Price of Knowledge: Physical Pain Emotional Pain because he learns that he would never be accepted into the human society because he was no like a human but rather a unsuccessful copy of one. “[Books] produced in me an infinity of new images and feelings, that sometimes raised me to ecstasy, but more frequently sunk me into the lowest dejection”(Shelly 91).

14. Captain Walton Use of Knowledge: Captain Walton embarks on a journey in order to acquire more knowledge about nature and the forces that surround humans. “I may there discover the wondrous power which attracts the needle; and may regulate a thousand celestial observations, that requite only this voyage to render their seeming eccentricities for ever. 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”(Shelly 1).

15. Captain Walton Use of Knowledge: Captain Walton wants the fame and glory that comes with making discoveries beneficial to mankind. “[Margaret] You cannot contest the inestimable benefit which I shall confer on all mankind to the last generation, by discovering a passage near the pole to those countries, to reach which at present so many months are requisite; or by ascertaining the secret of the magnet, which, if at all possible, can only be effected by an undertaking such as mine”(Shelly2).

16. Captain Walton Price of Knowledge: Embarking on the dangerous voyage just to gain knowledge, Captain Walton’s life and his crew’s life is at risk. “Yet it is terrible to reflect that the lives of all these men are endangered through me. If we are lost, my mad schemes are the cause” (Shelly 158).

17. Captain Walton Use of Knowledge: Satisfy his crave for knowledge Accomplish something great Glory Benefit mankind Price of Knowledge: His life and his men’s life [constant danger] Time separated from his family “This expedition has been a favorite dream of my early years… And now, dear Margaret, do I not derseve to accomplish some great purpose?”(Shelly 2-3).

18. Price and Use of Knowledge The uses and price of Knowledge differs for each character in the story but it brings to question the ethics of each individual. Dr. Frankenstein: Was it right to create a creature thinking that he would benefit mankind by doing so? The Creature: Was it justified to steal the books and stalk the cottagers to gain more knowledge? Captain Walton: Should he risk the lives of his men in order to gain the knowledge and glory he long sought since his early years?

19. Bibliography • http://www.freeppt.net/background/book-powerpoint-226.html • http://www.differencebetween.net/language/difference-between-knowledge-and-wisdom/ • http://www.virtualsalt.com/lit/franken.htm • Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft.Frankenstein. New York: Dover Publications, 1994. Print.