Adam, Eden, Other Biblical Business

Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory

(Click the symbolism infographic to download.)

The monster is compared to Adam and the creation of man. OK, sure, this would mean Victor is also paralleled with the creator, possibly God, and as some claim, maybe even a Christ-figure given the self-sacrifice of his death. But then Shelley screws with us and compares the monster to the fallen angel, too (that would be Satan). What’s the point of confusing the hell out of us? This gets back to that duality business. The complex role of Christian allusions in the text steer the reader away from any one meaning, and remind us that, if we want to wrap up our analysis in a neat little package, we’d better think twice. These allusions establish the duality of both characters; no one is strictly good, and no one is strictly evil. Instead, these characters show a capacity for both good and evil, which, last time we checked, is sort of the human condition.