The article elaborates on the themes of discovery and self-discovery in Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley's “Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus” (1818) and Susan Heyboer O'Keefe's “Frankenstein's Monster” (2010). M. Shelley's disappointment with the ideals of the Enlightenment urges her to explore the theme pessimistically in the storylines of her three principal characters - Victor Frankenstein, Captain Walton, and the Demon. The desire for power through knowledge leads to a catastrophe in Frankenstein's case: the monster he creates kills his loved ones and begins to pursue him. Captain Walton's ambitious expedition to the North Pole is unreasonably dangerous, though with the help of Victor Frankenstein he learns that thirst for knowledge and vanity often go hand in hand. Finally, the Demon in the novel is presented as an ideal learner. At first, he accumulates knowledge of the world around him, and then procedes to try to determine his own place in it. S. H. O'Keefe develops the theme of self-knowledge in her