Allusions In Frankenstein

Frankenstein and its Biblical References
Charles Darwin. Most people have heard of him either in their required biology classes in high school. However, a hundred years ago, most people only knew one theory about how humanity has transpired to where it is today: God. The Scopes Monkey Trial in 1925 was a war between knowledge, or the theories of evolution, and God. This defiance of the so-called “natural order” by scientists has lead to serious consequences, particularly the Butler Act of 1925, in which the teaching of evolution was banned throughout the entire state of Tennessee, or even the outcast of scientists who discovered these theories. Constantly, since the findings of Darwin and many others, there has been this constant conflict between

Victor’s rash decisions in not only reanimating the monster, but also letting the monster run free, create “monstrous” consequences for him. After the deaths of both William and Justine to the monster’s bloody hands, Victor knows that “anguish and despair had penetrated into…my heart; I bore a hell within me” (Shelley, 96). “Penetrated” means something has forced its way into something. These morbid feelings of Victor have violently forced their way into his life. “Penetrated” reinforces the sheer amount of pain that Victor feels at the death of Justine, who ultimately, he believes he killed. Victor’s feelings of both “anguish and despair” reflect the severity of the emotional and mental turmoil that Victor is enduring due to the monster. “Despair” means the loss of hope. “Hell” is where there is an absence of God. Both “Hell” and “despair” reflect Victor’s stray away from religion, hope, and humanity because of his own creation. The consequences of Victor’s actions are not only the death of the people he loves, but also involves Victor’s guilt, and the feelings that result out of his guilt. Similarly to Victor, the serpent, causing Adam and Eve to discover “evil”, faces dire consequences from God. However, unlike Victor, the serpent does not endure these consequences only by himself, but they are cast upon Adam and Eve’s offspring as well: “earth shalt thou eat all the days of thy life” (The Holy Bible Douay-Rheims Version, Genesis 1. 3.14). God curses the serpent to eat dust for the rest of his life. Unlike Victor, the serpent is merely cursed physically and does not undergo the intense mental turmoil that Victor does. Both the serpent and the monster represent “evil”, as the serpent deceives Eve into eating the apple, and the monster kills