Dangerous Knowledge

In Frankenstein, Victor grew up as a very well read boy. As we see in the beginning of his story he was fascinated by the works of Cornelius Agrippa, “I opened it with apathy; the theory which he attempts to demonstrate and the wonderful facts which he relates soon changed this feeling into enthusiasm.” (pg. 47, ch. 2) It is those very readings which encouraged victor to pursue a path in science. However as foreshadowed in the beginning letters of Walton, this is what leads to the adversity stricken upon Victor in the following chapters. When Victor is seventeen he leaves Switzerland to go study at the University of Ingolstadt to further is knowledge in natural philosophy and chemistry. During this time is when he begins to construct the monster. Many months would pass and he would receive many letters from his family, all of which he never bothered to reply. “…But my eyes were insensible to the charms of nature. And the same feelings which made me neglect the scenes around me caused me to forget those friends who were so many miles absent, and whom I had not seen for so long a time.” (pg. 67, ch. 4) Victor is so infatuated with his creation that he neglects his family and major aspects of his personal life.
As much as Victor neglected his friends and family he also neglects his self-health. All of Victor’s time was taken up by his work on the monster. He would work day and night, “…So deeply was I engrossed in my occupation. But my enthusiasm was checked by my anxiety, and I appeared rather like one doomed by slavery to toil in the mines…Every night I was oppressed by a slow fever and I became nervous to a most painful degree.” (pg. 68, ch. 4) It is through those passages we see how the occupation of creating the monster has had a negative impact on Victor. Although he pays no attention to his family and even finds no time to tend to his own wellbeing, Victor finds no time for anything but his work. It is clear how dangerous knowledge brings hazard in to Frankenstein’s life. Victor has stopped any