The Romantic Era followed the Age of Enlightenment, a time of scientific discovery, political change, and philosophical progress. Romanticism challenged the rationality of the Enlightenment (Britannica). Romantic artists placed emotions above reason. In line with the Romantic tradition, Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley challenges the benefits of science, education, and knowledge. In Frankenstein, Doctor Frankenstein, his creation, and Robert Walton are all ambitious; they have a desire for knowledge. However, this quest for knowledge brings destruction for Doctor Frankenstein, misery for the monster, and danger for Walton. Shelley draws parallels with the biblical story of the Fall; a catastrophe that befell humanity due to the desire for knowledge. Frankenstein has a desire to discover the mysteries of life and the world. This desire for knowledge links him to the biblical character Adam; in fact, Frankenstein is more like Adam than his creation. Ever since Victor Frankenstein was a child, he saw the world as a “secret” (Shelley 923). He began to read the books of Cornelius Agrippa, Paraclesus and Albertus Magnus, authors of magic and occult sciences; these books were not “rational” like the “theory of chemistry” (Shelley 924). Rather, they contain false science. However, Frankenstein eagerly read these books. Possesses curiosity and desire to delve into the mysteries of life. However, Frankenstein later admits that these studies were "illegal"; they were not “suited to the human mind” (Shelley 934). This knowledge is knowledge forbidden to humanity. Likewise Adam was tempted by the prospect of forbidden knowledge. God planted “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” (Genesis 2:9). However, He...... middle of paper ......and: Authorized King James Version with Apocrypha. New York: Oxford UP, 1997. Bloom, Harold, ed. Mary Shelley's Frankenstein: Modern Critical Interpretations. New York: Chelsea House, 1987. Print.Keyishian, Harry. "Vengeful and Glory-Seeking in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein." University of Pennsylvania - Department of English. Network. 07 December 2010. "Romanticism". Encyclopedia Britannica. 2010. Encyclopedia Britannica Online. 07 December 2010 .Schopf, Sue W. ""What a strange nature is knowledge!": Hartleian psychology and the arrested moral sense of the creature in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein." University of Pennsylvania - Department of English. Network. 07 December. 2010. .