Critical analysis on the Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein sorrow - Essay Example

Critical analysis essay on the Mary Shelleys novel Frankenstein sorrow Many people would expect knowledge to createhappiness and not sorrow. However, after reading the novel “Frankenstein” many would agree that the main theme of sorrow was due to obsession for knowledge. The author expresses the terrible experiences of the major characters: Frankenstein, monster, and Watson. Frankenstein alienates from the people and creates a monsterthat in turn causeshim regretful miseries. The human monsterfaces rejection that makes its life sorrowful. Watson also experiences sorrow for his lust for knowledge. Exploring and critically analyzing the life experiences of the three characters would reveal that knowledge caused their sorrows. Frankenstein experiences sorrowful moments throughout his life that would be attributed to desire to acquire and apply knowledge. Frankenstein is obsessed with scientific knowledge since childhood and spends much time in studying. In fact, he alienates himself from the people and locked himself in own room as well as lab (Shelley 38). This disconnects him from experiences with other people that would promote his happiness. Studies alone cannot give happiness and need to be fostered with the interactions with other people who extend love, affection and enjoyable moments. When there is little contact with people, these experiences are limited and trigger sorrow in the victim. Frankenstein was a victim of these situations as he did not have friends and never worked towards creating some as he committed time to acquiring and applying knowledge. Evenwhen he marries, he spends little time with his family and this limited happiness moments he would have.Therefore, the Frankenstein’s desire for knowledge contributed to sorrowful life as he shunned time spent with friends and family that lead to happiness. Frankenstein was also sorrowful because the monster developed through his knowledge brought misery to him and the society. Frankenstein committed much time to make the monster at the expense of moments with other people, and this could have only been recovered ifit brought him happiness. In contrast, the monster brings him a series of sorrowful experiences to the extent of regret. Itwas not accepted in the society besides being rejected by its father. Frankenstein also avoided it. This made the monster’s life miserable and was the cause of retaliatory activities towards the Frankenstein and the society. It killed the Frankenstein’s wife as well as his best friend (Shelley 88). This brought sorrowful experiences since involved the death of the people closest to the Frankenstein. The wife was the source of love that Frankenstein needed in a married life just like it happens in the normal life. Loss of a wife in real life situation engulfs the husband with sorrow and this would apply to Frankenstein. Themonster killed his wife when he broke the promise and destroyed the wife he agreed to do. Owing to the incidences of death, Frankenstein expresses his grief to Walton, who also had comparable life and pursuit for knowledge. He regretted having made the monster, which he did in secrecy from the knowledge of the society, due to its miseries to him and the society as well. All these sorrowful misfortunes are strongly attributed to Frankenstein’s knowledge since it led to monster that did not bring happiness experiences but grief. Knowledge leads to sorrow as observed through the life experiences of the monster. Frankenstein developed the monster out of his scientific knowledge and obsession to the find the source of life. The monster’s life is full of sadness and sorrow as it strives to fit in the society in vain. Itwas developed to resemble human beingsin all aspects, but is exposed to state of loneliness since other people are reject to get along with it (Shelley 101). As such, the monster could not find love and affection from the people, however how much efforts it tried. In addition, it could not find a wife to love and be loved back. This exposes it to the solitude and sorrowful life. Even though the monster ordered Frankenstein to make a wife for it, the latter destroys the wife during creation. Owing to this the monster remains sorrowful for its life, unable to find love. Rejection by people constitutes sorrow as one is not able to interact with others as a social being. It denies the opportunity to create and enjoy moments of happiness that could only be achieved when in a group. The monster cannot find such a group and therefore has no opportunity to enjoy happiness despite the fact that it was made in the likeness of people and would need happiness. The sorrowful life of the monster is only attributed to Frankenstein’s knowledge. Had Frankenstein not developed the monster, it would not be exposed to have been exposed to sorrowful life. Knowledge was also the source of Walton’s solitude and sorrow. Walton was another character with similar knowledge needs as Frankenstein. Although the author of the novel portrays Walton positively compared to Frankenstein, sorrowful moments are evident in his life. Walton grew up in alienated environments, just like Frankenstein, because he was disconnected from the people. He had lust for knowledge since childhood to the extent that he confined himself to solitude. This limited the time spent with the people who are a source of joy and take away the sorrow. His time and knowledge were applied in exploration for the regions that were out of civilization (Shelley 20). He carried out projects that went out of the normal pathways used by other people and moves away to the desolate seas and unexplored regions. Though spending time in exploring the nature may be fulfilling to people, it may be considered as a way for relieving one’s sorrows. For instance, in the recent times people move to new places to explore nature as a way of recreation. This would be a way of relieving ‘ sorrows, despite there being many reasons for undertaking such events. Comparing this to Walton exploratory activities, he would have suffered sorrows that were mainly due to his pursuit for knowledge. Therefore, Watson lust for knowledge could be linked to sorrow due to his solitude life and exploratory activities. Watsonexpresses sorrow as he yearns for companionship and this link to strong attachment in knowledge. Through the author’s descriptions, Watson is unmarried. This can be a source of sorrow, especially due to the fact that he had no friends to talk with and spend social moments (Shelley 29). It compares his life to Frankenstein and as well he had little communications with people. Communications are desirable to overcome the sorrows as friends or members of the society would provide compassion through encouragement talks. Watson receives little of this, since he only communicates with his sister. Following this, he could need a marriage because the wife could take away his sorrows not relieved through life activities. However, marriagewas negatively influenced due to commitment in studies. He did not create friendships since his childhood and through school life that could lead to marriage. Therefore, sorrows due to Watson’s unmarried status were due to the pursuit of knowledge. In conclusion, Mary Shelley expresses the theme of sorrow throughout her novel “Frankenstein”. The sorrows describedare mainly from knowledge obsession. The characters Frankenstein, monster, and Watson experience sorrow throughout their lives due to knowledge. Frankenstein lived a sorrowful life for committing histime in scientific knowledge to create a monster. He had few friends to cherish his life and the monsterbrought him sorrows by killing his wife and best friend. The human monsterexperienced miserable life due to rejection by people and inability to find a wife to shower love. Watson also experiences sorrow as he pursues knowledge and explorations at the expense of social relationships with people or in marriage. Therefore, the sorrows prevalent in the novel were due to knowledge. WorkCited Shelley, Mary. Frankensteinorthe Modern Prometheus. 1818. Berkshire: Cox & Wyman Ltd, 1994. Read More