The Horror of Creation

The first volume of Frankenstein made me think about how people often perceive the relationship between God and humanity, particularly through the lens of Christianity. God created Adam and Eve in His own likeness, but very soon after came the fall of humanity and Adam and Eve's banishment from the Garden of Eden.  Humanity is doomed to remain separated from the Creator and forced to live a life of imperfection and sin. Frankenstein also creates new life but is immediately disgusted with what he has done stating, "now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart" (36). He abandons his creation, fleeing without a second thought to the consequences of his own actions, or his obligations to what he has given life. Frankenstein goes on to declare, "I had gazed on him while unfinished; he was ugly then; but when those muscles and joints were rendered capable of motion, it became a thing such as even Dante could not have conceived” (36). It is possible that Frankenstein flees in disgust because he has crossed a boundary in his failed attempt to play God, but a more controversial and disturbing thought is whether God felt this same disgust and failure after creating humanity. 


I also found it interesting that Frankenstein immediately knows Justine is innocent, and that this monster he created is responsible for his brother's death. He declares, "I considered the being whom I had cast among mankind, and endowed with the will and power to effect purposes of horror, such as the deed which he had now done, nearly in the light of my own vampire, my own spirit let loose from the grave, and forced to destroy all that was dear to me" (51). This reminded me of how God immediately knew the moment Adam and Eve had sinned by eating from the tree of knowledge, and how God forced humanity upon the world with this same will and power to effect "purposes of horror".  It is only after Frankenstein's monster starts moving and is actually fully awakened, reaching out for him that he is disgusted, is this similar to God abandoning us only after we have become aware of the world and exercised free will?