Do you believe in miracles? It looks as though the author of Frankenstein does. Mary Shelley has written a story about the creation of human life by the hands of a human being. This is easily compared to the story of Adam and Eve. In the book, Victor and the monster, are compared with God and Adam. In both stories life was created by hand, out of nothing. Both the monster and Adam asked their creators for a companion, but while God satisfied Adam’s request, Victor refused his creation’s request.
Lastly, the monster turned evil and seeked revenge unlike Adam, who after committing his sin, accepted his guilt and resigned heaven without revenge. The monster had many differences and things in common with Adam, as well as Victor with God. In the story of Adam and Eve, God was, and still is know a perfect and wise creator. He decided to develop human life and did so “with his own hands”. Adam was a man who was put by God in the land of paradise without wisdom or contact with any other being. He was told by God to choose between right and wrong during his lifetime.
God also gave Adam advice and hints, like, to not eat the apples from a certain tree because that would lead him to evil. Adam took this into consideration, but broke his promise and ate the apple. This is similar to Victor and the monster because, in the book, Victor represented God and the monster represented Adam. Victor like God, created human life “not following the law of nature”, the difference was that the monster did not have his creator there to tell him what he should or should not do and that Adam was made with mud and the monster by chemicals and materials.
Victor was a normal person and became ill after his creation because he became mad (unlike God). It took Victor a long time to make his creation and during that period of time, he “went mad” because of non stop hard work. The monster, like Adam did not have any contact with other human life, but for a different reason. He was not in contact with others because of his physical appearance, unlike Adam who had no choice, since he was the only one alive. “Like Adam, I was apparently united by no link to any other being in existence; But his state was far different from mine in every other respect.
He had come from the hands of God, a perfect creature, happy and prosperous, guarded by the especial care of his Creator; he was allowed to converse with and acquire knowledge from beings of a superior nature but I was wretched, helpless, and alone”( pg. 133). Both were lonely, and needed company. Adam and the monster lived part of their lives alone, but there came a point where they were in need of a mate. Adam asked God to create a mate for him and God satisfieed his request. The couple got along very nicely for a while and God had confidence in them both.
When they both ate the apple from the tree of knowledge, they went against God’s advice, but the important thing is that he never stopped loving them. The monster also asked Victor for a mate. He said he could not manage being alone. Victor at first said no, but then he was convinced and promised to do the work. Unlike God, Victor was scared to recommence his work and could not manage to think of another being like the one created before, coming into the world. He hated his creation. Later on in the story, Victor rebels himself and decides not to make the monster’s mate.
Never will I create another like yourself, equal in deformity and wickedness” (pg. 174). In the middle of his work he destroyed everything. Because of this action, the monster got very upset and threatened his creator. As a result of Victor’s action of destroying his second creation, the monster threatened him with the intention of revenge ” I will be with you on your wedding night” (pg. 176). He seeked revenge not only by being there on Victor’s wedding night, but also by killing his nearest and dearest.
He followed Victor everywhere he went and made him suffer, finding the bodies of the people that he loved. “I saw the lifeless form of Henry Clerval stretched before me”(pg. 184) This affected Victor mentally and physically. He got very ill for a long time. “A fever succeeded to this. I lay for two months on the point of death” (pg. 184). The monster turned evil and went against his creator. Adam, commits a sin like the monster but not as severe. While the monsters sin involved killing people, Adam’s is only the break of a promise (eating the apple).
He also reacts differently in comparison to the monster. Adam accepted his guilt and left heaven without revenge in contrast with the monster, who wanted his creator to suffer. As shown, the monster and Adam have many things in common and many things in contrast. The fact that they were both made by hand is a very important similarity. The main difference is that Adam was developed by a creator who is perfect in every aspect and very wise, and the monster is created by a normal person who only has knowledge from a few books.
This affects the actions and reactions towards different situations of both creations. Obviously, Adam is better off than the monster. Victor is compared with God. The main difference between these two is that God loved his creation and gave him advice in life (to not eat the apple) and Victor detested the monster. One thing they had in common is that they each developed human life “with their own hands”. That is how Victor and the monster are compared with the story Adam and Eve.