The Nature of Frankenstein

Mary Shelly, the author of Frankenstein, reveals a lot about her world view in this book. Her world view is very different than the biblical world view. Examining this closely, readers find differences between the God of the Bible and the God of this book, the nature of man, and the view of the natural world.

Representing God in the book Frankenstein, Dr. Frankenstein has a secret: the secret of creating life. As he uses that secret to make a monster, he does not seem to care about what will happen when it comes to life, which is foolish. Completely obsessed, Dr. Frankenstein gives life to the monster and is so terrified he runs away from his own creation. Differing from the God of the Christian world view, Frankenstein, the God of the monster, runs away from his creation and hates it, seeking to destroy it; whereas the Bible says God is loving and kind to his creation and wants to have a relationship with them. In the book Frankenstein, Mary Shelly, the author, portrays God to be weak and hopeless, which does not match the world view of the Bible.

When he was first created, the monster, who represents man, was innocent and wanted to learn and to be loved. The monster realizes later that he will never be loved, and he becomes malicious and starts killing Frankenstein’s friends and family, while proclaiming that it wasn’t his fault, but that it was his surroundings that made him who he is. Showing in this book what she thinks of the nature of man, Mary Shelly indicates that she believes it’s not people’s fault that they are evil, but rather, their environment is the cause of their evil actions. But the Bible says that man is responsible for his actions.

Calling nature the “all powerful,” Frankenstein reveals his view that nature is like a god. In grief, Frankenstein goes to nature for comfort, whereas the Bible says that humans should take care of nature, but it is God who made nature. Apparently, Mary Shelly believes that nature is nature with a capital N, like a god.

Weak and wretched is how God is pictured by Mary Shelly, and it does not follow the Christian world view at all. Also not following the Bible is that man does not have choice. The view of nature in this book says that there is nothing more powerful, which is not true to the Bible.