Philip Kircher
Ms. Smith – 6th
AP English IV
29 July 2014
Dr. Frankenstein: God or Adam? For as long as humans have been on Earth, there has been a certain desire to create life and to “play god”. For the longer part of a millennia, there was an entire field of science dedicated to doing so, known as alchemy. The story of doctor Frankenstein and his monster is a tale that parallels this desire to create life and draws many parallels with that of the biblical tale of God the creator and Adam, his creation or man as both involve a pursuit of knowledge that is forbidden, a fall from grace, and the desire to create a perfect being in one’s own image. The pursuit of forbidden knowledge has long been a theme in literature and such pursuit usually ends with less than desirable results. In the bible, Adam and Eve are placed in the Garden of Eden where there is a tree which contains knowledge, both good and evil. God has forbidden them from eating from the tree, yet they “took of the fruit thereof…” (Genesis 3:6). With this, they obtained knowledge, much similar to Dr. Frankenstein and his desire for knowledge which is forbidden, the creation of another being. His pursuit brings upon him misfortune similar to Adam and Eve as he…show more content… In the case of the bible, Adam and Eve’s sin of obtaining knowledge has them cast out from the Garden of Eden and into the unknown world beyond full of both good and evil. This draws parallels with how once Dr. Frankenstein creates his monster, he casts it out due to its ugliness, going so far as to describe him as a “filthy mass that moved and talked” (Shelley 131). This description could also be a parallel as in the eyes of God, one could say that man had tainted his image by consuming the apple from the tree of knowledge. In this regard, Dr. Frankenstein draws more parallels with the creator himself as opposed to man with his