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Biblical Allusions In Frankenstein Essay

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The presence of biblical ideas can be seen throughout the Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein. Whether it be Victor Frankenstein acting as god as he creates life or the comparison of the creature to the fallen angel or devil, the bible has a strong partnership in the novel. In chapter nine of volume two, there is once again an allusion to The Bible as the creature embodies Adam, from the creation of man in genesis two. The creature can be seen asking Frankenstein for “a creature of another sex”(170) to “free [him] from the misery”(170) he feels from being so lonely. This request the creature is asking for from Frankenstein mirrors the same desire Adam had in the second story of creation in Genesis two. Adam is seen lonely and looking for companionship …show more content…

This section of the text where Frankenstein is in “some remote spot of Scotland”(186) alone with no one shows a shift in his character. Victor Frankenstein is now in a land where “the soil is barren… a few miserable cows and oatmeal for its inhabitants”(186) and “there were but three miserable huts.”(187) this description of the land through the use of the words “barren,” “miserable,” “few” and “huts”(187) show just how empty the land is, which reflects Frankenstein's emotions at the time. He has discover the truth about his brother, he has been threatened by the creature and has failed to complete the task of creating a female creature. Frankenstein is alone in the middle of Scotland with nothing but the fear of the creature he carries, instead of standing up to the creature or following through with his promise he is running away, cowardly. This is important to the novel because the reader can see Frankenstein feeling the same emotions the creature has been feeling, lonely. The setting and the connection between the setting and Frankenstein show this lonely and desolate feeling. Once again in Mary Shelley's novel a character has changed, in this case Frankenstein is changing from a scientist to a lonely coward, running away from his fears. In the novel is there a good guy and a bad guy? The characters change so drastically can either character be called the hero or

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In Frankenstein, Mary Shelley employs biblical allusions to demonstrate that only nature can achieve perfection. After contemplating his fate while listening to Safie, Felix, and Agatha, the monster realizes that “no Eve soothed [his] sorrows nor shared [his] thoughts” and that his Creator “had abandoned [him]” (Shelley 141). The monster desperately craves acceptance and companionship just like Adam had with Eve, but Frankenstein refuses to help, leaving the monster to suffer in his isolation without someone to “soothe his sorrows.” Shelley compares Frankenstein to God as a creator of life and reveals that Frankenstein pales in comparison to God, as he leaves his creation without anyone to help him live. Only God can imbue something with true

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Character Foils: Victor and The Monster Often in a literary work, authors use minor characters to emphasize specific traits and characteristics of a main character. In Mary Shelley’s best selling novel Frankenstein, the monster is a minor reflection of Victor Frankenstein. Victor’s personality traits from when he was a child, and as an adult, are carried over and placed into his creation unintentionally by Victor himself.

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Throughout Frankenstein, Shelley uses Victor to warn the reader of the dangers of aspiring to godliness, and the consequences one faces in the aftermath doing so, even going as far as to compare Victor to Satan, tempting the crew of Walton’s ship, in the book’s final pages. The Victor Shelley creates is very similar to the Satan created by Milton in his book, Paradise Lost, which explores the biblical tale of Adam and Eve. In Frankenstein, Victor speaks of his desire to create the Creature, saying, “I deemed it criminal to throw away in useless grief those talents that might be useful to my fellow-creatures.” (152). Shelley’s diction choices, such as the word “useless” exemplify Victor’s excessive hubris, portraying him as a man who creates his Creature for, in his mind, the good of society.

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In Chapter 15 of Frankenstein, the author compares the monster to Adam (the first man) as well as comparing Victor to God. I believe that Frankenstein is not as much a commentary on the bible, but rather on the nature of man. In Frankenstein, Mary Shelley compares the monster and Victor to biblical figures in order to relate that everyone is capable of moral good and evil. As we see in the novel, the monster is much like Adam in that he desires companionship, he is made in the likeness of his creator (a man), and he eventually turns to evil.

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Once noted, the parallels between Frankenstein’s fears and desires and the reality the monster experiences are many. Now that Victor is in university, he no longer has family and friends to fall back upon in the unknown territory of his university. Frankenstein voices is that “[he] believed [himself] totally unfitted for the company of strangers,” irrational as it may be, and believes himself solely dependent on his family and childhood friend for companionship. Without the love guaranteed to him by his family, Victor believes he is unfit to make companions by himself and destined to a life of loneliness. He places much importance on the fact that his father and Elizabeth love him and are concerned with his well-being.

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Christianity in Frankenstein         Throughout the novel, there were many biblical allusions. Christianity play into novel by comparing the creation of Frankenstein's monster to the creation of Adam and Eve. Mary Shelley incorporating this into the novel to show that no one should ever come close as Frankenstein was to receiving "God" status because it will ultimately drive them to destruction. The purpose of these connection is that no one should not play God.

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As you can see, Victor 's departure from home is a dark foreshadowing of things to come. There is nothing affirmative in his departure from home: it is immediately preceded by his mother 's death, the journey itself is "long and fatiguing," and he knows no one at all at Ingolstadt. At university, the obsessive pursuit of knowledge will come to take the place of Victor 's friends and family; it will both substitute for human connection and make any such connection impossible. Frankenstein becomes progressively less human-that is to say, more monstrous ­ as he attempts to create a human being. He tortures living creatures, neglects his family, and haunts cemeteries and charnel houses.

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In the novel, Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, the two main characters, Victor Frankenstein and his creature, both display a sense of moral ambiguity. Each character has committed both good and evil alike, and neither knew the consequences of what they had done. However, Victor Frankenstein is generally the morally ambiguous character by his treatment of his creation and his own imperious personality. He wanted to be able to help science by recreating life or bringing it back, but at the same time, he did not want to consider the consequences of doing so. Victor tries to prove himself as a good moral character in the relationship between his creation and himself.

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