Frankenstein Project,

The Pursuit Of
Knowledge
By Taylor Piecukonis
 Background Of Frankenstein
The book Frankenstein is about a boy named Victor who grows up to
go to college and finds interest in learning about science. He finds
himself interested in the creation of making life from a dead body.
He ends up making a hideous and scary monster with watery,
glowing eyes, flowing black hair, black lips, and prominent white
teeth. The monsters skin is yellowish and he was extremely scary.
Every human on earth was terrified of him. Victor abandoned the
monster, leaving him to fend for himself, where the monster and
Victor end up facing physical and mental weakness and challenges
throughout the story.
 Quotes...
“In a thousand ways he smoothed for me the
path of knowledge and made the most abstruse
inquiries clear and facile to my
apprehension”(Shelley Ch 4).

Victor’s professor is very helpful and knows that

he wants to gain knowledge. He is explaining
how his professor makes things clear and easy
to learn. Victor is also always studying during
this point.
 Quotes...
“I do not think that the pursuit of knowledge is an exception
to this rule. If the study to which you apply yourself has a
tendency to weaken your affections and to destroy your
taste for those simple pleasures in which no alloy can
possibly mix, then that study is certainly unlawful, that is to
say, not befitting the human mind”(Shelley Ch 4).

Victor is explaining that if he limits himself to one area of

study he will become less knowledgeable. He says that the
human mind has so much more to learn and grasp onto.
 Quotes...
“I ardently desired to understand
them, and bent every faculty towards
that purpose, but found it utterly
impossible.”

The monster is really trying to

understand what is going on with the
visitor. He wants to understand them
but it is complicated for him.
 Quotes...
"In this mood of mind I betook myself to the
mathematics and the branches of study appertaining
to that science as being built upon secure foundations,
and so worthy of my consideration"(Shelley Ch 2).

He wants to gain as much knowledge about science

and the study behind things that are 'unknown'. This
means he has to go somewhere where people are not
willing to take the risk to go because of danger. He
learned that from a young age he was interested in
these topics and always wanting to learn more.
 Quotes...
“I had been accustomed, during the night, to steal a
part of their store for my own consumption, but when I
found that in doing this I inflicted pain on the
cottagers, I abstained and satisfied myself with berries,
nuts, and roots which I gathered from a neighbouring
wood”(Shelley Ch 12).

The monster is learning new things everyday. He now

knows that he has been taking food from the people
and he feels bad for it. He is learning to live while trying
to see what is right from wrong.
Visual + Quote
“They 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”(Shelley Ch 13).

After reading the books the

monster compares himself to one
of the characters where he feels
like an outcast. He feels that the
more he learns through books, the
more he is filled with rage and
anger that no one will be kind to
him because of his looks. He is
starting to feel alone, isolated, and
trapped in his own mind and
thoughts.
 Theme Statement
Though knowledge can lead to success and the power of
oneself, it often causes damage to a person's mind and leads to
unexplainably dark actions.