Frankenstein Science Quotes

How we cite our quotes: (chapter.paragraph)

Quote #7

None but those who have experienced them can conceive of the enticements of science. In other studies you go as far as others have gone before you, and there is nothing more to know; but in a scientific pursuit there is continual food for discovery and wonder. (4.2)

Gee, way to crush the spirits of the humanities majors, Frankenstein. We kind of think that if you decide there's nothing more to know, you're doing it wrong—whether "it" is science or underwater basket weaving.

Quote #8

I prepared myself for a multitude of reverses; my operations might be incessantly baffled, and at last my work be imperfect, yet when I considered the improvement which every day takes place in science and mechanics, I was encouraged to hope my present attempts would at least lay the foundations of future success. (4.7)

Frankenstein actually gives us a nice little description here of the scientific method. Sure, your experiment might not work—but then at least you have more information than you did! (Just don't use that as an excuse for a bad grade on a bio test.)

Quote #9

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. (12.9)

Okay, neat little passage here. (1) Using words like "discovery," "found," and "perceived" puts the monster in the role of a scientist here, trying to understand the world through trial and error. (2) He thinks of language itself as a science—which, when you think about it, kind of fits: it's a way of understanding and learning more about the world.