When Victor says, "...I ardently hope that the gratification of your wishes may not be a serpent to sting you€¦ to what is he referring?

is speaking to ,
another person who is hell-bent on discovery and the acquisition of some knowledge that he hopes
will benefit all of humankind. When Victor utters the line you've cited, he seems to employ an
to the Garden of Eden. In the book of Genesis in the Old Testament
of the Bible, God created the garden and then told Adam and Eve that they could eat the fruit
from any tree except for one: they were forbidden to eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good
and Evil. One day, the Devil took the shape of a serpent and spoke to Eve, tempting her to eat
the fruit by telling her that she, too, could possess the knowledge that
God has if she eats an apple from the tree. She does so, and she then tempts Adam to eat as
well, and when God finds out what they have done, he turns them out of the garden and
punishes them . Victor, in indirectly referencing this story, depicts
knowledge as a dangerous thing. Just as in the Garden of Eden, some knowledge is forbidden
(and...