Frankenstein

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, certainly makes a number of references to the Bible and sin, in general. She alludes to the Garden of Eden, Satan- the fallen angel, and the forbidden knowledge. And as AP Lit students we debate back and forth about whether Victor Frankenstein is truly evil, whether he is just another victim to fate, and whether he is sinning by trying to play God. But what is sin, exactly? Is sin equivalent to an evil deed? Is it the same as doing something morally wrong? Is sin in our intentions or in the actions we take? And without understanding how sin ties into Frankenstein through Biblical allusions, we cannot understand the text to its full extent.

            Sin is by definition the “transgression of divine law or a violation of moral principle” (dictionary.com). But most of the time, religious passages are often open to interpretation and morality is defined by each individual. It does not explicitly state in the ten commandments that “thou shall not create a monster from dead human body parts”, but Mary Shelley puts in subtle hints that lead the reader to find the answer as to whether Victor Frankenstein was simply ambitious and curious or out right sinning. At the end of chapter III, she writes from the point of Victor Frankenstein, “ Every night I was oppressed by a slow fever, and I became nervous to a most painful degree; the fall of a leaf startled me, and I shunned my fellow-creatures as if I had been guilty of a crime.” As Thomas C. Foster wrote in How to Read Literature like a Professor, an illness or injury is hardly ever just “chance” in literature. It is nearly always a physical manifestation of the character’s internal conflict. If Victor Frankenstein had simply pursued the creation of the monster out of pure curiosity and to expand his knowledge of the sciences, then he probably wouldn’t have suffered from illness nor have felt “nervous to a most painful degree.” On top of this, Mary Shelley chose to write explicitly, “..if I had been guilty of a crime”.

            Sin is nearly impossible to define. It changes from situation to situation and it differs from person to person. However, based on the wording within the passages of Frankenstein, Mary Shelley seems to be pushing her readers into coming to the conclusion that Victor Frankenstein was most certainly committing a sin. Now, was this a sin because he chose to play the part of God and obtain the power to create his own living creature? Or was it the fact that Victor mirrors Eve, who was seduced by Lucifer to pick the apple from the Tree of Knowledge?

Here are the Ten Commandments:

1. You shall have no other gods before me.
2. You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand {generations} of those who love me and keep my commandments.
3. You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.
4. Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
5. Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.
6. You shall not murder.
7. You shall not commit adultery.
8. You shall not steal.
9. You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.
10. You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

-  Exodus 20:1-17

Based on the Ten Commandments from the Bible, one can potentially put Victor’s actions into breaking the first or second Commandments. He had made himself a God by creating his own creature, breaking “You shall have no other gods before me”. And if one views Frankenstein’s monster as a part of Victor, he would have also broken the second commandment “You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand {generations} of those who love me and keep my commandments.” The monster considers Victor to be his creator and his god, and seems to worship him, “Oh! My creator, make me happy; let me feel gratitude towards you for one benefit” (Shelley, XVII). And so, worshipping Victor as an idol, the two of them would be breaking the 2nd commandment.