Frankenstein as the Modern Man

             For virtually all of Western Civilization's history, the rule of God was paramount, with Kings declaring their legitimacy through a mandate of heaven and the Vatican possessing enormous amounts of influence over the hearts and minds of the average person. However, during the Enlightenment, Western Society began to ask the questions that had for centuries been frowned upon by the ruling class: Why, How, What? How big is the universe? Why does the sun go down? What is it that keeps our feet on the ground while birds fly in the sky? These questions had probably always been asked yet, during this time, more and more people searched for answers that are more substantial. A more scientific approach to life was applied in favor of the old, trite answer of "It is God's Will." What was God's will? This split from religious solutions to these questions ensured that Mankind was leaving the Garden of Eden that it had lived in up to that point. For the answers brought more questions and more doubts as to our "purpose" here on Earth, or whether there was one at all. Frankenstein remarks on the God complex that is involved in these questions when he states:.
             "The modern masters promise very little. . . . but these philosophers. . . have indeed performed miracles. . . . They have discovered how the blood circulates, and the nature of the air we breathe. They have acquired new and almost unlimited powers; they can command the thunders of heaven, mimic the earthquake, and even mock the invisible world with its own shadows." .
             The answers we found were sometimes so jarring that many probably wished we had not asked the questions in the first place.
             Frankenstein is symbolic of the zeal with which many learned people sought to explain the natural world and redefine it in scientific light and he goes after the "Big One" - the creation of life itself. Shelley presents him as imperfect in his knowledge, yet ambitious in his ideas, not unlike humanity itself.