To what extent is Mary Shelley's Frankenstein a tale of a struggle between good and evil?

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Tim Burton        GCSE English Coursework        11X

To what extent is Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein a tale of a struggle between good and evil

Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein can be conceived as an anomaly for many things with its many underlying themes but most predominantly it is a power struggle between good and evil. The main character named Frankenstein develops a lust for knowledge early on in the novel and although this has its circumstances it is seen as an evil obligation. Mary Shelley sees Frankenstein’s great ambition to create this monster as evil. This creation runs amuck and causes evil in what Mary Shelley sees as a good world. Due to this the novel is a case of the clichéd good versus evil case.

As the novel runs its course you become aware that Mary Shelley is warning the reader about playing God and attaining more knowledge then should be sought by mortal men. The reader realizes that Frankenstein is trying to do this near the beginning of the novel when he writes

“More, far more, will I achieve: treading in the steps already marked, I will pioneer a new way, explore unknown powers, and unfold to the world the deepest mysteries of creation.”

What Mary Shelley sees as evil in the novel is the extremely excessive manor that Frankenstein develops in the willingness to do anything to achieve his goal. This is not a concept unique to Mary Shelley’s novel. Frankenstein plays God at the beginning of the novel by creating the “wretch”. This can be likened to Prometheus’s creation of a human from clay. When he created this man he was punished by the Gods through physical torture. Frankenstein was punished although in a different form. This was through grievances of his family and friends and furthermore to the eventual death of himself. In some respects Frankenstein can be viewed as the modern Prometheus in that instead of using fire like the Greek myth he uses electricity to create the monster.  

Another prominent parody within the novel is that of Frankenstein’s monster being likened to Adam from the bible. God creates Adam as the perfect human being. Frankenstein like god creates the monster. Both God and Frankenstein intend their beings to be perfect yet the monster turns out to be a complete parody of Adam.

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“How can I describe my emotions of this catastrophe or how delineate the wretch whom with such infinite care and pains I had endeavored to form.”

Just as Adam is seen to become evil the monster does the same in committing evil sins. There is evidence of this parody within the novel when the monster says

“I remembered Adam’s supplication to his Creator. But where was mine? He had abandoned me, and in the bitterness of my heart I cursed him.”

This shows the monster has evil thoughts within him and therefore like Adam he is ...

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