In his obsession with natural science, Victor Frankenstein
becomes absorbed in a dangerous realm. For, to surpass what is natural is to venture
into the desires reminiscent of Satan's in Paradise Lost in which
he dreams of the new world to be created which he may make his own. Also, like the
fallen angel in his desires, Victor is not content with the results "promised by the
modern professors"; rather, he desires what "the masters of science" have--immortality
and power.
This absorption of Victor into his insatiable
desire to learn the wonders of science to the exclusion of his loved ones points to the
unnaturalness of scienfific pursuit that the Romantics felt, for they were believers in
intuition, the beauty and value of human friendships, and in the importance of family
and loved ones. Moreover, Victor's obsession with natural science to the exclusion of
personal relationships foreshadows the tragic events of Shelley's
narrative.
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