Man Playing God Through Science (Victor)

Man Playing God Through Science (Victor)

1. Faustian Behaviour

   • Victor's strive
     • For power and knowlegde
     • sacrifices spirituality
   • Dabbles with nature
   • Yearns for the secrets of the world
   • Consumate desire for knowledge
     • "The world was to me a secret which I desired to divine"
       • Anthropomorphism
       • 1st Person Language
         • Elevates Victor's personal quest
   • "not satisfied with previous knowledge"
     • Negates God
       • "The raising of ghosts or devils... the fulfillment of which I most eagerly sought"

2. Heroic in revolutions

   • yet pathetic in their destinies

3. "Lost all soul or sensation but for this one pursuit"

4. "“How dangerous is the acquirement of knowledge and how much happier that man is who believes his native town to be the world, than he who aspires to be greater than his nature will allow.”

   • Victor
   • man’s unbridled assumption of power
     • discerns the inevitability of his ruin.