Frankenstein: Ignorance Is Bliss

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Thalia Rivera Frankenstein: Paper #1 Due date: Monday, April 29th 2013 Ignorance is Bliss Ignorance is bliss, exactly what does that mean? You may have heard of the saying “what you don’t know won’t hurt you” this is basically what ignorance is bliss means, its lack of knowledge in a certain situation. We, the people, live up to this statement (believe it or not). Face it, if the media didn’t inform us about all the stuff happening in this world we would believe that we all live a happy and normal life, but since they do key us in on all the stuff happening, like North Korea, and the Boston bombings, we’d rather prefer not to know and keep make believing that the world is at peace. Some people would argue that they’d rather not know and continue living their own life with a peaceful mind, but others would argue that people need to know about all these real life events to keep us from harm and keep us prepared for any future massacres. In Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein “ignorance is bliss’ is a big theme in the story. She agrees with the statement because in the beginning of the novel the main character, Victor, joins these seamen on their voyage and he lectures a man named Walton on how having too much knowledge can be dangerous. According to Shelly, in order to not set our self’s up for failure and punishment; we must stay in our comfort zone and believe that ignorance is bliss. Victor warns Walton not to follow in his footsteps, saying, “Learn from me, if not by my precepts, at least by my example, 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 become greater than his nature will allow…” (pg. 39) Clearly expressing that ignorance is bliss, Victor is radically saying that it’s better to stay within your lifestyle. Victor’s ambition to learn more about

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