One of the many themes that pervades Frankenstein is humanity's sinful desire and attempts to be like God. The desire to be like God does not describe a want for holy behavior and purity, but rather a human craving for power and wisdom beyond mankind's ability. Shelley develops this theme by drawing a recurring comparison between the creature and characters from the creation story as told in Paradise Lost. In giving the creature life, Victor tried to act as God did in creating Adam and Eve. The creature confirms this role when he compares himself to Adam. However, at the end of the novel, Shelley reveals the futility in Victor's efforts. As a mere man, he could never hope to independently create life as complex, beautiful, and pure as God can. Accordingly, Victor's creation, flawed due to human imperfections, more accurately compares himself to Satan in saying, " . . . crime has degraded me beneath the meanest animal," and following up with, " . . . the fallen angel becomes a malignant devil," (Shelley 165). The creature's allusions display the inevitable result of man's aspirations for divinity. Instead of creating a virtuous being, Victor brought to life a vengeful murderer. As such, Shelley warns against man's greatest and first sin, desiring to be like God, by showing that such a desire brings evil, the creature, into the world.
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