Frankenstein Science Quotes

It may appear very strange, that a disciple of Albertus Magnus should arise in the eighteenth century; but our family was not scientifical, and I had not attended any of the lectures given at the schools of Geneva. My dreams were therefore undisturbed by reality; and I entered with the greatest diligence into the search of the philosopher’s stone and the elixir of life.

– Mary Shelley

Frankenstein, Chapter 1. Victor Frankenstein offers a hint here of his desire to act as God and explore outside the norms of science and knowledge. From 1818 First Edition.

It was the secrets of heaven and earth that I desired to learn; and whether it was the outward substance of things or the inner spirit of nature and the mysterious soul of man that occupied me, still my inquiries were directed at the metaphysical, or in its highest sense, the physical secrets of the world.

– Mary Shelley

Frankenstein, Chapter 2. From early in the novel, Victor Frankenstein shows that he is not like others. He is driven to discover the secrets of heaven and earth, which ultimately leads to his downfall.

If, instead of this remark, my father had taken the pains to explain to me that the principles of Agrippa had been entirely exploded and that a modern system of science had been introduced which possessed much greater powers than the ancient, because the powers of the latter were chimerical, while those of the former were real and practical, under such circumstances I should certainly have thrown Agrippa aside and have contented my imagination, warmed as it was, by returning with greater ardour to my former studies.

– Mary Shelley

Frankenstein, Chapter 2. Victor was not inspired by his father to follow science, which was not a big field at the time but almost frowned upon. Rather he was self-inspired.

By one of those caprices of the mind which we are perhaps most subject to in early youth, I at once gave up my former occupations, set down natural history and all its progeny as a deformed and abortive creation, and entertained the greatest disdain for a would-be science which could never even step within the threshold of real knowledge. 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.

– Mary Shelley

Frankenstein, Chapter 2. Victor Frankenstein.

As I stood at the door, on a sudden I beheld a stream of fire issue from an old and beautiful oak which stood about twenty yards from our house; and so soon as the dazzling light vanished, the oak had disappeared, and nothing remained but a blasted stump. When we visited it the next morning, we found the tree shattered in a singular manner. It was not splintered by the shock, but entirely reduced to thin ribbons of wood. I never beheld anything so utterly destroyed.

– Mary Shelley

Frankenstein, Chapter 2. The natural world is beautiful and capable of destruction at the same time. This natural occurrance is what prompts Victor’s fascination with science.

Besides, I had a contempt for the uses of modern natural philosophy. It was very different when the masters of the science sought immortality and power; such views, although futile, were grand; but now the scene was changed. The ambition of the inquirer seemed to limit itself to the annihilation of those visions on which my interest in science was chiefly founded. I was required to exchange chimeras of boundless grandeur for realities of little worth.

– Mary Shelley

Frankenstein, Chapter 3. Victor Frankenstein.

“The ancient teachers of this science,” said he, “promised impossibilities and performed nothing. The modern masters promise very little; they know that metals cannot be transmuted and that the elixir of life is a chimera but these philosophers, whose hands seem only made to dabble in dirt, and their eyes to pore over the microscope or crucible, have indeed performed miracles. They penetrate into the recesses of nature and show how she works in her hiding-places. They ascend into the heavens; they have discovered how the blood circulates, and the nature of the air we breathe. They have acquired new and almost unlimited powers; they can command the thunders of heaven, mimic the earthquake, and even mock the invisible world with its own shadows.”

– Mary Shelley

Frankenstein, Chapter 3. Professor M. Waldman introduces Victor Frankenstein to modern science.

“Chemistry is that branch of natural philosophy in which the greatest improvements have been and may be made; it is on that account that I have made it my peculiar study; but at the same time, I have not neglected the other branches of science. A man would make but a very sorry chemist if he attended to that department of human knowledge alone. If your wish is to become really a man of science and not merely a petty experimentalist, I should advise you to apply to every branch of natural philosophy, including mathematics.”

– Mary Shelley

Frankenstein, Chapter 3. M Waldman to Victor.

No one can conceive the variety of feelings which bore me onwards, like a hurricane, in the first enthusiasm of success. Life and death appeared to me ideal bounds, which I should first break through, and pour a torrent of light into our dark world. A new species would bless me as its creator and source; many happy and excellent natures would owe their being to me. No father could claim the gratitude of his child so completely as I should deserve theirs.

– Mary Shelley

Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein in Chapter 4. Victor doesn’t just have a scientific curiosity about the world and how it works. But he is arrogant and holds moral view of a world where science is the source of light, and the natural boundaries are darkness which must be overcome. He sees himself as a parental figure, bringing new individuals into the world, and a human god.

“By degrees I made a discovery of still greater moment. I found that these people possessed a method of communicating their experience and feelings to one another by articulate sounds. I perceived that the words they spoke sometimes produced pleasure or pain, smiles or sadness, in the minds and countenances of the hearers. This was indeed a godlike science, and I ardently desired to become acquainted with it.”

– Mary Shelley

Frankenstein, Chapter 12. The monster makes discoveries based on experimentation and observation, like Victor.
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