Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Frankenstein: Allusion

"I ought to be thy Adam, but I am rather the fallen angel, whom thou drivest from joy for no misdeed." pg. 69

I thought Mary Shelley's allusion to the Bible story of Creation at this point in the story was extremely commendable. I can't think of a more applicable situation. Victor really was like the God of the creature. The way that God guided Adam and instructed him should have been the same for the way Victor guided the creature. He should have nurtured him and instructed him on how to live life, how to interact with his surroundings, and he should have helped him develop his mind. Instead, the creature was left to fend for himself. He had to discover right and wrong the hard way and it was really detrimental for his development. Though he began as a "benevolent" character, his experiences of loneliness and shunning by humans in his lifetime had transformed him into a harmful creature. He could not understand why his attempted goodness was only responded to with hatred by humans, so he turned into a monster instead. Had God left Adam in the Garden to fend for himself without any direction, man would still be a savage and selfish creature. The creature developed in exactly this way because of Victor's lack of care for him.

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