Ambition

Question 1

1. “what glory…banish disease…invulnerable to any but a violent death.” c2

Answer 1

1. Initial desire to eradicate disease
2. Reveals his ego, frames his ambition in grandiose terms, would rather seek acclaim
3. Initial veneer of altruism becomes overshadowed by unchecked ambition
4. Hubris
5. Wishes to transcend the limit of mortality and play God.
6. Shelley was dubious about the enlightenment

Question 2

2. “Life and death appeared to me ideal bounds, which I should first break through and pour a torrent of light into our dark world.” c4

Answer 2

1. Mere obstacles to bring down to being enlightenment
2. Defy the natural order
3. Transcend human understanding
4. Disregards any ethical considerations
5. Destructive nature of unchecked scientific pursuits

Question 3

3. “No father could claim the gratitude of his child so completely as I should deserve their.” c4

Answer 3

1. So monumental that his achievements would surpass the gratitude one receives from his child
2. Arrogance and delusions of grandiosity
3. Believes he will be revered as a creator, detachment from reality
4. Ambition blinds him to the ethical implications of his experiments
5. So obsessed with acclaim that he neglects his duty as a creator.

Question 4

4. “Do you share my madness? Have you drunk also from the intoxicating draught?…..dash the cup from your lips.” letter 4

Answer 4

1. Vivid metaphors, ambition has clouded his judgement, mental turmoil, self-awareness
2. Anagnorisis
3. Urgency and insistence, dissuade Walton
4. Forcefully rejecting the drink, urgency
5. Succumb to the allure of ambition