God Symbolism In Frankenstein

For as long as science has existed to satisfy man's appetite for knowledge and exploration, there have been people with the belief that science is none other than man's attempt to play God. The 19th century was a time of enlightenment where philosophical thought began and man's concern to better himself in a psychological form developed.

Frankenstein, written by Mary Shelley, explores the theme of the pursuit of knowledge and scientific discovery through the main characters; Victor Frankenstein, the Creature and Robert Walton. This pursuit of knowledge drives the plot of the novel, leading Victor to create the Creature in his attempt to break down the mortal barriers that surround him and unlock the secret of life. Robert Walton’s quest for discovery leads him to the North Pole, far beyond the reach of Humans at that time. Ultimately Victor’s thirst for knowledge and scientific discovery did him more harm than good with Victor’s hatred of his creation driving him to death. Frankenstein’s message to the modern is age is simply put as “humans should not meddle in the business of the gods”. Mary Shelley’s is using Frankenstein and the actions of the characters in the novel to warn us that although we have the technology to for example, create a human being, some things are better left to nature. In our quest for knowledge we can do ourselves more harm than good. Through her novel Shelley tells us that on our path of scientific discovery there are some trails better left unexplored.

When Victor Frankenstein began the process of creating a living being from an inanimate object, he expected the creature to be the beautiful beginning of a new

In Frankenstein, written by Mary Shelley, the creation, made from scraps of corpses, was built by Victor Frankenstein, a man fascinated and obsessed with the knowledge of life. Following the creation’s rouse, Victor immediately abandons him with no desire on keeping or teaching his new being. Because of his lack of nourishment and direction “growing up”, the creation goes through a process of self-deception. He endures a period of deceit by believing that he is a normal human being like everyone around him. But as time progresses, he learns to accept how he is alone in this world and disconnected with everyone. Because of the creation’s lack of guidance and isolation, he grows up feeling unwanted.

In the Bible, the book of Genesis 1:27 states that "God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them." Creating both men and women in His image, God is the only person who can do this successfully, giving us unconditional love and never abandoning us throughout our journey in life. On the other hand, Victor Frankenstein, a young scientist creates a life form due to his love of natural sciences. His desire to create this life form only for an experimental purpose unknowingly leads to disastrous outcomes for both Victor Frankenstein and his creation, the monster. In Mary Shelley's novel, Frankenstein, the protagonist, Victor Frankenstein uses his knowledge

Just as Eve is told that she will be a god if she partakes of the fruit of knowledge, Frankenstein works to create a being to worship him as a god. He says, “A new species would bless me as its creator and source; many happy and excellent natures would owe their being to me” (55). The creation of the monster draws some parallels between Frankenstein and God in Paradise Lost. Frankenstein’s act of “bestowing animation upon lifeless matter”

The book of Genesis was created by God to express his image of companionship, but also bring awareness to the idea of sin. Shelley forms Frankenstein around Genesis, however, she separates the two by stating, “Frankenstein’s monster is created as a test of Frankenstein’s power” (Shelley 34), implying that the monster is simply created to challenge the power of his creator just as God’s power was challenged by Adam and Eve. Following the creation of the monster, Victor wants absolutely nothing to do with it. The monster is composed of decomposing human bodies and therefore it is not anyone’s ideal image and has no one to look up to in the aspect of, “let us make man in our image, according to our likeness” (Genesis 1:26). Due to the monster being created with the limps and interior of dead bodies, it promotes an extraordinary element of not having an original origin. Victor takes advantage of the fact that the monster is not a

Throughout Mary Shelley's, Frankenstein, the characters of the novel parallel to biblical allusions. Victor takes on the role of God, as he works to “pioneer a new way, explore unknown powers, and unfold to the world the deepest mysteries of creation” (33), thus displaying a God-like power. The power Victor holds allows him to create a being solely from his own imagination, therefore giving him similar characteristics to God in the “Story of Creation”. However, Victor differs from God as Victor does not allow the Monster to stay in his life, as Adam and Eve stayed in the Garden of Eden, but abandons the monster directly following its animation. The abandonment significantly affects the

Throughout history we have had times of innovation and creation, we have tried to control nature and have succeeded in some aspects, however; humans are not truly sovereign over nature, and we have never achieved a perfect creation. In both Frankenstein by Mary Shelly, and The Island of Dr. Moreau by H.G Wells, man’s creation ends up destroying them which essentially symbolizes that man cannot truly act as a god because he will surely fail in a catastrophic manner, almost as if man is being punished for acting as a false god; it is also shown in both stories that the creations that man makes are attempts to manipulate and master nature, and we see that whenever man even slightly gives up his control it can lead to unforeseen, almost cataclysmic consequences. These ideas are most clearly displayed by H.G Wells in The Island of Dr.Moreau, because Moreau believes that he is above nature and can control the wild instincts of the beast-men, and he also displays himself as a god to the beast-men. In Frankenstein these ideas are more implicitly shown. H.G Wells does a better job overall of displaying these ideas In The Island Of Dr. Moreau as it is more explicit when showcasing these ideas.

Frankenstein was a vehicle that voiced Shelley’s warnings concerning mankind meddling with the natural order. During the Fourth Industrial Revolution, imaginative humans have acquired the knowledge to modify life, going as far as to craft designer babies through gene therapy. Once the ideal specimen has been created, why not prolong its existence? Mortals like Zoltan Istvan, a political transhumanist, preach this belief in the crusade against death. Quite blithely, this modern Frankenstein proclaims his goal to “control” aging, challenging man to attain his destiny to “become Godlike.” While immortality would emancipate humans from corporeal limitations, mankind would be playing God, tampering with the sacred cycle of life and death. Shelley

Every time a movie is made that portrays any part of the book "Frankenstein" by Mary Shelley, it is more than likely about the monster and his character rather than the creator and his. But, in the book, the scientist, Dr. Frankenstein, was more prominent, especially in view of his personal angst and wars, than the monster. It is true that the monster is a central character, but the man Frankenstein is a much more interesting study. What happens to a person, Shelley seems to ask, when that individual plays God? Throughout the book there is religious symbolism, as one would expect from a book in which the main character creates a living person, where Frankenstein at once has compared himself to God and to Satan in the same breath. This paper examines the religious symbolism in "Frankenstein" as it relates to the doctor, his act of creating, and Frankenstein's personal thoughts regarding who he is.

A romantic life full of pain and abandonment could only be given the monstrous form of "Frankenstein." Mary Shelley 's life gave birth to an imaginary victim full of misery and loneliness and placed him as the protagonist of one of her most famous and greatest works of art. As most people would assume, he is not just a fictional character, but in fact a creature who desperately demonstrates Shelley 's tragedies and losses during the age of the Romantic Era. Since Mary Shelley 's birth there have been numerous losses in her life. One extremely dominating event in Shelley 's life was the death of her mother. Soon after, her father remarried and Shelley entered a battle as the victim of a fight for love. In her

Modern science has dramatically evolved over the past years, there is a concern on whether or not people will try to play God with such developments and what damaging consequences could occur. Body modifications, cloning, Genetic engineering, and various fields in biotechnology are prime examples of fields that are attaining great advancements in a swift manner that increase concerns over the consequences. Progress in science induces people to question what it means to be a human and their own human nature, just as it causes people to question the effects that scientific progress may have on their good fortune, happiness or common welfare.The protagonist of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein is incited to advance the field of

Believers in god believe that you should never sin or turn against him. By creating another being, are you turning against god? Are you seen as evil through gods eyes? Throughout the book, Mary Shelley shows the use of indirect characterization, direct characterization, symbolism, uses of comparisons, and allegory to produce many examples of how playing god has valuable meaning and dangerous meaning.

This idea is demonstrated in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein where Victor Frankenstein’s overconfident attempt at creating life brings to surface a gruesome monster. Frankenstein says, “More, far more, will I achieve; treading in the steps already marked, I will pioneer a new way, explore unknown powers, and unfold to the world the deepest mysteries of creation” showing his immense belief that he can create life, through the long sentence that highlights his propositions. However, once he sees the ‘miserable monster whom [he] had created’, he describes the monster as a ‘demoniacal corpse’; the grotesque visual imagery significantly contrasting his initial tone. He states, ‘I ought to be thy Adam; but I am rather the fallen angel’, the biblical illusion emphasising the idea that he has broken the rules in the natural world and has thus been likened to the serpent who is now cursed. ‘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,’ demonstrates Frankenstein’s reflection, reiterating that his adventurous imagination has elicited feelings of regret and recognition of the importance of natural order.