My post is in response to here.

I agree with both your points on knowledge and how it led to the downfall for the characters. Victor would never have successfully created the “monster” if he never learned about life, death, and decay from his studies at college. Frankenstein would never have had the ability to communicate with humans if he never learned the language from the family.  I especially agree and like your closing statement that “knowledge can be dangerous.” Sometimes knowing a secret; something that you should not know can really hurt an individual. Like knowing that the girl/guy you have a crush on has no feelings for you can demoralize the individual. That would be no different for Frankenstein and I would like to add on to your argument.

Knowledge doesn’t always come from school, and I would argue that secrets are a form of knowledge, and secrets can be painful keeping or finding out. Elizabeth and Victor would never have had the guilt and burden if Justine never told them that she was innocent. Victor was so confident and sure that she was innocent: “”She is innocent, my Elizabeth,” said I, “and that shall be proved; fear nothing, but let your spirits be cheered by the assurance of her acquittal” (Shelley 40). However, Justine confessed and her reason of pleading guilty was so that her soul could be saved:  “I commit my cause to the justice of my judges, yet I see no room for hope. I beg permission to have a few witnesses examined concerning my character, and if their testimony shall not overweigh my supposed guilt, I must be condemned, although I would pledge my salvation on my innocence” (Shelley 42).  Knowing that she was innocent and yet she was still executed played a toll on Victor and led to his journey into the mountain to clear his mind. Elizabeth also could not handle the situation and burden of an innocent person dying. Elizabeth could no longer see the world as it used to be, “on the miserable death of Justine Moritz, I no longer see the world and its works as they before appeared to me” (Shelley 47). Knowing that Justine died wrongly and innocent, Victor and Elizabeth are both shaken by the incident. Knowledge can really be dangerous and maybe sometimes it’s better not to know.