The difference in the Genesis account of human creation could not be more pronounced:
1:26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them
have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the
cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the
earth.
1:27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male
and female created he them.
1:28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and
replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and
over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
Victor's adjective "breathless" may be intended by Mary Shelley to resonate ironically
against the moment in Genesis in which Adam is actually brought to life: 2:7 And the
LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the
breath of life; and man became a living soul.