Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and John Milton's Paradise Lost
“Forth reaching to the Fruit, She pluck’d, she eat:/ Earth
felt the wound, and Nature from her seat/ Sighing through
all her Works gave signs of woe,/ That all was lost […]”
(PL 8. 781-784)
In the gothic novel Frankenstein, Mary Shelley weaves an intricate web of allusions through her characters’ expedient desires for knowledge. Both the actions of Frankenstein, as well as his monster allude to John Milton’s Paradise Lost. Book eight of Milton’s story relates the tale of Satan’s temptation and Eve’s fateful hunger for knowledge. The infamous Fall of Adam and Eve introduced the knowledge of good and evil into a previously pristine world. With one swift motion sin was birthed, and the perfection of the earth was swept away, leaving pain and malevolence in its wake. The troubles of Victor Frankenstein begin with his quest for knowledge, and end where all end: death. The characters in Frankenstein are a conglomeration of those in Paradise Lost. Frankenstein parallels Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, as well as God, while his monster acts an Eve/Satan mixture.
The most predominant theme of this novel is the characters’ ever-present search for knowledge. It is this thirst for learning that spurs Frankenstein’s psychotic attempts to give life to inanimate tissue, ultimately causing his demise. Frankenstein, in this way, mirrors the character of Eve in Paradise Lost. Eve lives her most peaceful life in the Garden of Eden, her only job being to tend the plants in the Garden which she loves so much. In the novel Frankenstein, Frankenstein lives in an Eden of his own, though macabre in nature. His “garden of life” is actually mo...
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...was influenced greatly by Milton’s work, evidence of which lies in the eerie similarities between the two. The allusions to Paradise Lost give the reader a story by which to subconsciously compare the characters of Frankenstein, thus also reiterating one of the main themes; the quest for knowledge and the resultant death. Following the death of Frankenstein, his monster utters his own last words. “‘But soon,’ he cried, […] ‘I shall die. […] I shall ascend my funeral pyre triumphantly, and exult in the agony of torturing flames’” (225).
Works Cited
Milton, John. Paradise Lost. 1667. Electronic Text Center,
University of Virginia Library. 20 Nov. 2005.
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Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. 1818. New York: Penguin Classics,
2003.
“Frankenstein” by Mary Shelly is a novel written in the Romanticism period where it was a time of artistic, literary, musical and intellectual movement. This novel represents a gothic literature which creates a sense of mystery, darkness, fear, and doom. In this book, Victor Frankenstein is a mad scientist who creates life by creating a monster/creature. However, Victor abandons his creature, therefore; the creature seeks justice against Victor for leaving him behind. The understanding of justice in Frankenstein has two point of views either from Victor the protagonist or the creature which in this case is seen as the antagonist.
After learning about the life of Mary Shelley, I have grown to appreciate the novel, Frankenstein, even more since the first time I read it. She led a life nearly, as tragic as the monster she created through her writing. Mary seems to pull some of her own life experiences in Victor’s background, as in both mothers died during or after childbirth. Learning about Mary’s personal losses, I have gained a better appreciation of her as an author and a woman of the 17th century. She had association with some the most influential minds of that
Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein” is more than just a regular novel. It is a book that conveys a deep philosophical message. The novel moved me to my very soul. It turned out to be a book not about an encounter against a monster but a misfortune of a scientist, who reached the goal of his work and life and realized that breathless horror and disgust filled his heart but all of these is on the surface. The inmost philosophical thought is covered and hidden, but is very profound. The author tries to say that life is a gift. After this gift is given no one can take it away and it transforms the accountability of the creator. The novel makes the reader anxious with the question: “Is a human being able to take obligation to provide life?”
The interpretation of the young girl’s ghastly nightmare, fashioned by her own imagination derived the novel “Frankenstein: The Modern Prometheus.” Mary Shelley began, putting pen to paper reveling her cautionary tale, a moral lesson hidden within a horrifying story that would awaken thrill and terror in her audience. Mary felt that if this was not accomplished, the novel would not live up to its title “The Modern Prometheus.” She relates to geographic elements that are subsequent the French Revolutionary era, with a strong connection to Greek mythology. In metaphor she illustrates how creature and creator are one in the same and with the symbolic use of sickness and nature creating the foreshadowing for events to come. Mary Shelley divulges though this novel her personal approach on humanity and life’s lessons; formulating the idea that ignorance is bliss and human injustice is wrong by taking in to account the sexiest views of the later eighteenth-century.
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is a nineteenth century literary work that delves into the world of science and the plausible outcomes of morally insensitive technological research. Although the novel brings to the forefront several issues about knowledge and sublime nature, the novel mostly explores the psychological and physical journey of two complex characters. While each character exhibits several interesting traits that range from passive and contemplative to rash and impulsive, their most attractive quality is their monstrosity. Their monstrosities, however, differ in the way each of the character’s act and respond to their environment. Throughout Frankenstein, one assumes that Frankenstein’s creation is the true monster. While the creation’s actions are indeed monstrous, one must also realize that his creator, Victor Frankenstein is also a villain. His inconsiderate and selfish acts as well as his passion for science result in the death of his friend and family members and ultimately in his own demise.
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus, explores the monstrous and destructive affects of obsession, guilt, fate, and man’s attempt to control nature. Victor Frankenstein, the novel’s protagonist and antihero, attempts to transcend the barriers of scientific knowledge and application in creating a life. His determination in bringing to life a dead body consequently renders him ill, both mentally and physically. His endeavors alone consume all his time and effort until he becomes fixated on his success. The reason for his success is perhaps to be considered the greatest scientist ever known, but in his obsessive toil, he loses sight of the ethical motivation of science. His production would ultimately grieve him throughout his life, and the consequences of his undertaking would prove disastrous and deadly. Frankenstein illustrates the creation of a monster both literally and figuratively, and sheds light on the dangers of man’s desire to play God.
knowledge is found at the heart of the novel, Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. Mary Shelley constructs her novel in a form of tripartite that consists of three speakers Victor, Victor’s Creature, and Robert Walton. The pursuit of knowledge is conveyed by the alluring antagonist Victor in his endeavor to go beyond human adeptness and discover the elixir of life. The pursuit of knowledge is shown through another character, Frankenstein’s Creature whose pursuit of knowledge prompts him to become aware of himself. Robert Walton through the pursuit of knowledge learns that his own strive for success leads him to learning that his selfish pursuits are effecting the people around him. The pursuit of knowledge is proved to be dangerous to all three speakers Victor, Victor’s Creature, and Robert Walton and all three prove to the reader how destructive knowledge can be.
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley is a very complex book riddled with underlying messages. From the characteristics of each individual to the main storyline Shelley depicts a world of opposites. Victor Frankenstein, a privileged young man, defies nature when his obsession with life and death has him attempting to bring someone/something to life. He succeeds and quickly goes from obsessed over its creation to disgust with its form. He then rejects his creation, which sets the stage for the terrifying events to come. This is the embodiment of a modern novel as it contains alienation, disillusionment, and a critique of science.
In Frankenstein, Mary Shelley highlights on the experiences her characters undergo through the internal war of passion and responsibility. Victor Frankenstein lets his eagerness of knowledge and creating life get so out of hand that he fails to realize what the outcome of such a creature would affect humankind. Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein, highlights on how Frankenstein’s passion of knowledge is what ultimately causes the decline of his health and the death of him and his loved ones.
Some things don’t stay in hell. The touch of Lucifer plagues the unholy doctor’s heart. Like all humans, born to sin, Victor Frankenstein digs his own hole into hell. William Hazlitt’s lecture on Milton’s Paradise Lost clarifies the essence of Lucifer, Satan in the text, as a being of pride and willpower, not malignity and chaos. Frankenstein, possessing the same traits, seeks to become a god of his own. However, he cannot stop fate. The troubled mad man could not help playing God; Frankenstein’s pride will prove to be his own damnation when the horrendous creation rips apart his Eden.
...ilton's "Paradise Lost" to her advantage in this book. Drawing on Christian beliefs and a societal reverence for the epic gives "Frankenstein" a comparison that draws out moral limitations in our humanity. Although many moral limitations can be detected from each of the characters, the limitations I focused on were, in my belief, the most specific to Shelley's overall romantic and gothic state of reasoning. In this era, and even today, the thought of human limitation gives people a better understanding of our place in the world. The individual ego creates a dangerous place for many of us, a place Shelley describes through Victor Frankenstein's creation. Above all, I think Shelley's story relates human limitations and public progression to remind society that we have an obligation to remain in admiration of our creator, nature, and the miracle of our own existence.
...Frankenstein and the creature. The situations that each character experience are lessons about how seeking prohibited intelligence comes with extreme consequences. Frankenstein is a Gothic novel which means it involves the supernatural; however, because it contains religious qualities it is more appealing to the common people’s idea of knowledge. Mary Shelley achieves her goal of informing the audience that man should not seek or possess the level of knowledge that God acquires. One should learn from the situations present in the novel because life comes with an enormous amount of knowledge; going after the unknown is an act of rebellion against God.
In the book, the Monster is searching for a way to fit in and find acceptance, so, the Monster turns to reading the bible. It gives the Monster a small sense of solace and he interprets many of the passages to help him define who he is what his role in this world might be. The Monster of "Frankenstein" finally admits that he is but a creature of Victor and says, "I ought to be thy Adam but I am rather the fallen angel" (Shelley, 2000). There is a dual allusion present in this quotation. One is referring to in John Milton's classic Paradise Lost, a tale which is often mentioned in Shelley's "Frankenstein." The other is undoubtedly the Creation of Adam and Eve in the Bible itself, not just the allusion given in Paradise Lost. The aforementioned quotation illustrates the very idea that creation through science is a hollow, damning pursuit as the Monster seems himself for what he is perceived to be.
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 creature is. Ever since Victor Frankenstein was a child, he viewed the world as a “secret” (Shelley 923). He began to read books by Cornelius Agrippa, Paraclesus, and Albertus Magnus, authors of magic and the occult sciences; these books were not “rational” like the “theory of chemistry” (Shelley 924). Rather, they contained a false science. Nonetheless, Frankenstein enthusiastically read these books. He possesses a curiosity and desire to delve into the mysteries of life. However, Frankenstein later admits that these studies were “unlawful”; they were not “befitting to the human mind” (Shelley 934). This knowledge is forbidden knowledge to mankind. Adam, likewise, was tempted with the prospect of forbidden knowledge. God planted the “tree of knowledge of good and evil” (Genesis 2:9). However, He...
Mary Shelley’s gothic novel Frankenstein is a novel narrated by Robert Walton about Victor Frankenstein and the Monster that he creates. Frankenstein grew up surrounding himself with what he loved most, science. He attended Ingolstadt University where he studied chemistry and natural philosophy, but being involved in academics was not enough for him. Frankenstein wanted to discover things, but did not think about the potential outcomes that could come with this decision. Frankenstein was astonished by the human frame and all living creatures, so he built the Monster out of various human and animal parts (Shelley, 52). At the time Frankenstein thought this creation was a great discovery, but as time went on the Monster turned out to be terrifying to anyone he came in contact with. So, taking his anger out on Frankenstein, the Monster causes chaos in a lot of people’s lives and the continuing battle goes on between the Monster and Frankenstein. Throughout this novel, it is hard to perceive who is pursuing whom as well as who ends up worse off until the book comes to a close.