Concetti Chiave
- Ambition drives both Victor and Walton towards self-destruction, highlighting the moral consequences of unchecked desires.
- Victor's obsession with creating life blinds him to the ethical responsibilities towards his creation, leading to tragic outcomes.
- Walton, unlike Victor, eventually realizes the dangers of his ambitious quest and chooses to save his crew, showing a contrast in their fates.
- The pursuit of knowledge is a central theme, with characters driven to uncover mysteries, sometimes at the cost of human relationships.
- Frankenstein's experiments are depicted as an overreach of human boundaries, likened to Satan's quest for omnipotence, questioning the limits of lawful knowledge.
Moral consequences of ambition
The central concern of the book are the moral consequences of ambition. Walton and Victor may have good intentions to be “benefactors” to mankind by discovering great thing, but as a result Victor destroys himself and those around him, and Walton puts his crew a risk. They fall victims to their uncontrollable passion to realise their dreams. Both characters are only partially aware of their surroundings and what they are doing. Victor is only able to see with hindsight that his experiments on corpses are immoral and “unhallowed acts”? And Walton’s fantasy that “snow and frost are banished from the North Pole is shown in stark contrast to the real facts. Real problems occur when the ambition of Victor and Walton endanger the lives of other people. Unlike Victor, Walton abandons his “mad schemes”. He saves his crew, but reluctantly. Victor, however, is so “wrapped up” in the process of making his creature that fails even to consider what his responsibilities towards it will be once it comes alive. Victor’s ambitions are “selfish” and quite the opposite of a benefit to mankind!
Knowledge and its pursuit
Knowledge
Walton, Victor and the monster all begin their stories by expressing a deep desire to explain the world around them, which is like an unknown mystery waiting to be discovered. Each has a different focus. The monster wants to “discover the motives” behind the De Laceys “behaviour” and to “unravel the mystery” of language. His humble aims are human, social, and arise from necessity. Victor and Walton, however, have lofty ambitions and are prepared to sacrifice human relationships in order to fulfil them. Victor’s “eager desire” to find the “hidden laws of nature” and Walton’s “ardent” passion to explore the “undiscovered solitudes” of the North Pole take them away from their loved ones and into isolation. However, their sacrifices are much deeper and more disturbing than this.
Frankenstein's pursuit of knowledge
The idea of Frankenstein as one in pursuit of lawful knowledge, knowledge not befitting the human mind was present from the beginning. Although, in the 1818 edition, Frankenstein does not refer to his creative activity as “unhallowed”, he does refer to the “unhallowed damps of the grave” and to disturbing with profane fingers the tremendous secrets of the human frame. He compares his speculations, which, at the beginning, he hoped would result in the domination of nature, with the attempt by Satan to gain omnipotence.
Domande da interrogazione
- ¿Cuál es la principal preocupación moral en "Frankenstein" relacionada con la ambición?
- ¿Cómo se aborda el tema del conocimiento en la historia?
- ¿Qué diferencia a Walton de Victor en su enfoque hacia sus ambiciones?
La principal preocupación moral es que la ambición puede tener consecuencias destructivas. Tanto Walton como Victor tienen buenas intenciones de beneficiar a la humanidad, pero sus ambiciones los llevan a destruirse a sí mismos y a los que los rodean. Victor, en particular, se ve envuelto en sus experimentos sin considerar sus responsabilidades, mientras que Walton finalmente abandona sus planes para salvar a su tripulación.
El conocimiento es un tema central, con Walton, Victor y el monstruo buscando entender el mundo que los rodea. Mientras que el monstruo tiene objetivos humildes y humanos, Victor y Walton persiguen ambiciones más elevadas que los llevan al aislamiento y al sacrificio de relaciones humanas. La búsqueda de conocimiento de Victor se compara con el intento de Satanás de obtener omnipotencia.
Walton, a diferencia de Victor, finalmente abandona sus "locos planes" para proteger a su tripulación, mostrando una conciencia de las consecuencias de sus acciones. Victor, por otro lado, está tan absorto en la creación de su criatura que no considera sus responsabilidades hacia ella, lo que refleja una ambición "egoísta" que no beneficia a la humanidad.
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