Which part of the excerpt hints at Frankenstein's desire to act as God? Frankenstein
by Mary Shelley (excerpt)
It may appear very strange, that a disciple of Albertus Magnus should arise in the eighteenth century; but our family was not scientifical, and I
had not attended any of the lectures given at the schools of Geneva. My dreams were therefore undisturbed by reality, and I entered with the
greatest diligence into the search of the philosopher's stone and the elixir of life. But the latter obtained my undivided attention: wealth was an
inferior object; but what glory would attend the discovery, if I could banish disease from the human frame, and render man invulnerable to any
but a violent death!
Nor were these my only visions. The raising of ghosts or devils was a promise liberally accorded by my favorite authors, the fulfillment of which !
most eagerly sought; and if my incantations were always unsuccessful, I attributed the failure rather to my own inexperience and mistake than
to a want of skill or fidelity in my instructors.
The natural phenomena that take place every day before our eyes did not escape my examinations. Distillation, and the wonderful effects of
steam, processes of which my favorite authors were utterly ignorant, excited my astonishment; but my utmost wonder was engaged by some
experiments on an air pump, which I saw employed by a gentleman whom we were in the habit of visiting.