Beyond Free Will in Shelly’s Frankenstein
One of the greatest gifts God has given to man is free will. Free will is the ability to choose our own life’s path, to make decisions, and to suffer our own consequences. God has intended free will to allow us to live our own life by the rules we choose. However, does free will reach a certain point as which to not crossover? Man has always envied God, and has always tried to become god-like. Does this ambition compromise our free will? In Mary Shelly’s classic novel Frankenstein, Viktor Frankenstein’s tries to bring the dead back to life, and he is successful in animating a creation of his own. The consequences of his ambition compromised his free will and destroyed his life. Viktor Frankenstein reached the point of free will which man is not intended to cross over. Viktor Frankenstein is a fool for trying to play God.
Free will was a gift granted to man right from the start of history. In the story of Genesis, free will granted by God allowed Adam and Eve to eat from any tree in the garden, including the tree of knowledge. However, God did set a rule. “The Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.”1 Now, in this story, man is tricked by the serpent, representing the devil, and eats from the tree of knowledge. He does not die in a sense, but is cast out of paradise and is forced to work off the land for the remainder of his now mortal life. In a letter from Paul to the Galatians, Paul writes, “You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature.”2 In thes...
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...”9 Giving life is God’s job, and any man who tries to become god-like in this sense will surely suffer the consequences of his actions according to Mary Shelly. I completely agree, and I will conclude with a retrospective quote from Viktor Frankenstein. “Learn from me, if not by my precepts, at least by my example, how dangerous is the acquirement of knowledge, and how much happier that man is who believes his native town to be the world, than he who aspires to become greater than his nature will allow.”10
1. Genesis 2: 16-17 (NIV)
2. Galatians 5: 13a (NIV)
3. Shelly, Mary. Frankenstein, Norton Critical Edition, p. 30
4. Shelly, p. 32
5. Shelly, p. 49
6. Shelly, p. 115
7. Shelly, p. 116
8. Shelly, p. 137
9. Luke 7: 14-15 (NIV)
10. Shelly, p. 31
Works Cited:
Shelly, Mary. Frankenstein. Quality Paperback Book Club, New York. 1994.
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