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Gehena Girish

Ms. Mann

AP Literature Block 4

14 August 2017

Curiosity Killed the Cat!

In the novel, Frankenstein, Mary Shelley writes about the endeavors of Victor Frankenstein, an

alchemist who plays with the forces of nature, and faces the consequences of his actions when

his experiments go awry. Victor faces many challenges throughout the novel, but these define his

character as a man of education. In the excerpt from Frankenstein, it is evident that Mary Shelley

paints a picture of Victor Frankenstein as a persevering and greedy man, who will do stop at

nothing to cure his own curiosityeven if it will lead to his own demise.

Shelley characterizes Victor as a determined man, through her eloquent diction. Victor

describes himself as to a great degree, self-taught with regard to [his] favorite studies[he] was

left to struggle with a childs blindness, added to a students thirst for knowledge (4-5).

Shelleys diction in her description demonstrate Victors yearning to learn about the forces of

nature, even though he lacked the resources to learn. As Victor continues to educate himself, he

gives the reader his perspective of failure when attempting to raise a ghost: if my incantations

were always unsuccessful, I attributed the failure rather to my own inexperience and mistake

than to my instructors (12-13). Through her account of Victors thoughts on failure, Shelley

effectively exemplifies Victor as a determined and persevering man.

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Victor is also characterized as greedy for recognition, as Shelley includes Victors

thoughts within the excerpt from Frankenstein. As Victor is explaining his search into the secret

of life, he expresses his interest in how finding the secret to life would bring him attention: what

glory would attend the discovery if I could banish disease from the human frame and render man

invulnerable to any but a violent death! (8-10). Victor continues to For Victor to be thinking of

the fame associated with his experiments over the consequences, this allows Shelley to portray

Victor as a greedy man. Since Victor seeks attention from his work, not the reward of

accomplishment, he can be characterized as greedy.

Shelley also includes a characteristic of Victor that leads to his ultimate demise by the

end of the novel: his curiosity. Within the excerpt, Victor tells an anecdote of the time he watched

natures show of powera thunderstorm. Victor reminisces, remembering how he remained,

while the storm lasted, watching its progress with curiosity and delight (19-20). Shelley also

describes Victor as a man guided by an ardent imagination and childish reasoning (15-16). By

including examples of Victors interest, Shelley effectively portrays the titular character as a man

ridden with curiosityfor the outside world and for the secrets that lay within it.

Throughout the excerpt of Mary Shelleys Frankenstein, Victors character becomes

evident to the reader through the authors diction and description. By implementing literary

techniques into her writing, Shelley effectively characterizes Victor as a man of science,

curiosity, perseverance, and greed, all leading to his own demise.

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