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You’ve heard this before, right? “I’ve created a monster!” That little line traces its roots to Mary Shelley’s creation. So does its meaning. Frankenstein is, at heart, an inquiry into the unintended consequences of unrestrained ambition.

Video Transcription:

In Recap 6, I talked about “the right kind of knowledge.” Just a little heads-up: Frankenstein is mostly focused on the wrong kind …

In Frankenstein, knowledge is dangerous.

Just think about Robert Walton, the sea captain and explorer. In letters home to his sister, Walton recounts the dangers he must face in his journey to the North Pole—and even from the beginning, it’s clear there are many. Eventually, Walton’s ruthless quest for enlightenment leads to his entrapment between sheets of ice—and nearly to his death.

But no knowledge is so dangerous as the knowledge that leads Frankenstein to create his monster. Not only does this act eventually drive Frankenstein to his own death, but it also endangers—and inevitably destroys—everyone in his life who means something to him. He loses a brother, a friend, a wife, and a father—and all because of the monster.

Now let’s be clear. Shelley wasn’t against scientific discovery. But she does seem to be questioning a thirst for knowledge that overpowers every other impulse.

In the end, it’s Walton’s humanity that saves him. So you might say that that’s what Shelley was arguing for: Not the abandonment of knowledge, but a balance between a knowledge of our universe and an understanding of our fellow human beings.