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   dalepowell1962 Teacher
   College - Freshman

   eNotes Editor

   The answer to this question is not as simple as it may appear. To answer it, let's say what the answer is NOT.  Unlike the films say, it is not because the monster was made from dead body parts:  the origin of the body is ambiguous at best, but I would say it is eluded in the text.

   I think the key is the terms in the book's subtitle:  A Modern Prometheus.  In Greek mythology, Prometheus took the power to make fire from the gods- a power only they possessed previously.  Here, Frankenstein has taken the power to give life, a power held previously only  by gods or God- and given it.  Therefore, Victor in his psychotic thinking reasons that since the creature isn't from God, it must be from evil. Of course, the killings done by the creature reinforce his thinking.

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   Posted by dalepowell1962 on Wednesday August 12, 2009 at 3:44 PM