Concetti Chiave
- Faustus is a mythological character frequently featured in plays and novels, known for his quest for infinite power and knowledge.
- He makes a pact with the Devil, trading his soul for anything he desires, but ultimately faces eternal damnation.
- Frankenstein is depicted as a modern Faustus, an over-reacher who defies human limitations to improve mankind's destiny.
- Despite warnings from his peers about the immorality of creating life, Frankenstein pursues his ambitions, likened to romantic ideals.
- Captain Walton mirrors Frankenstein's over-reaching nature, risking everything to uncover the North Pole's secrets, paralleling Victor's journey.
Faustus and his pact
Faustus is a very famous mythological character which is very often used in plays and novels (for example his figure was used by Marlowe and Goethe).
He’s a scholar with an enormous knowledge, but he wants infinite power and knowledge in order to have the love of the girl he loves, who is the most beautiful woman in the world and to do this he signs with blood a pact with the Devil, selling his soul and having in return whatever he wants; but then he wants to have his soul back, but he can’t and he’s convict to the eternal damnation in Hell.
Frankenstein as an over-reacher
Frankenstein is himself a sort of Faustus, because he’s the typical over-reacher (a romantic term which means someone who wants to reach over, go beyond the limitations of human nature and wants to go over the best scientists). His mates tell him their job is to preserve life and not to create it, in fact it’s illegal and immoral. But for the romantics he’s a very positive character because he wants to go over improving the destiny of mankind.
Captain Walton's ambition
But this theme of the over-reacher is double important in the novel, because Frankenstein is not the only one to behave this way: the other figure is captain Walton, who isn’t satisfied with the normal sailing, he wants to find the secret passage to the North Pole and to do this he risks his life and his crew’s one : exactely in correlation with Victor Frankenstein
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