Creation And Mary Shelley's Creator Versus Creation

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Jake Whittaker
Mrs. Henry
English IV Honors, Period 4
8 April 2014
Creator Versus Creation
Humanity, as a race, is far from perfect: we cheat, lie, fight with one another, and at times, even with our creator. Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is a story about a man named Victor who plays God and creates another being. Now it turns out that this “being” is truly a monster in appearance, and, due to this, Victor rejects him. This leads into an epic story of creator versus creation. While on the surface this just appears to be a thrilling story of creation gone wrong, Shelley has a deeper meaning behind it. Mary Shelley’s use of text such as Paradise Lost and her allusions to the Bible suggest that the story of Frankenstein's creature is a recreation of the Biblical creation story and the downfall of humanity. Through this Mary Shelley shows that creation can never live up to its creator’s expectations, and because of this, leads to rebellion.
Before diving in to Frankenstein and the story of the creature being paralleled with Paradise Lost and the Biblical accounts of the creation and fall of mankind, some history on both of these texts will be helpful later on. In the book of Genesis, one sees the story of creation. In the beginning there was nothing and God decided to create something. God started with light, then made water, land that separated the waters, then vegetation and trees, and then made the earth teeming with all sorts of animals and fish. Lastly in his own image, he made mankind. First he made Adam out of dust, and after a while saw that it was not good for Adam to be alone. He put Adam in a deep sleep, and out of his flesh created woman. God had made a paradise for Adam and Eve called Eden where they took care ...

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...ster later goes after every person that Victor loves in an attempt to punish his creator for rejecting him, and kills them to further make Victor miserable. (Shelley) This continues to show the likeness of the monster’s situation, and results of rebellion through the use of other texts.
It is now apparent that Frankenstein is no longer a simple thriller about a rogue monster, but a vessel through which Shelley conveys a message to her readers. That message is that ultimately creation will never be able to live up to their creator’s expectations, and because of this the creation will rebel. She strengthens this argument through her parallels with texts such as Paradise Lost and the Bible which both tell similar stories about rejection and rebellion. As a whole, Frankenstein provides a unique viewpoint on an age old battle between creator and creation.

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