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In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein and his creation are both symbolically comparable to that of God, Adam and Satan as characterized in John Milton's epic poem Paradise Lost. In Frankenstein, Victor is the one who wants to be the first man to be able to give life. Even though Victor is successful in his creation, just as God is in Paradise Lost, he is a self-absorbed man who takes it upon himself to discover the truths of morality and to obtain more knowledge. Victor’s creation, the monster, is symbolic to both Adam and to Satan in Milton's epic poem. The monster created by Victor was created in the image of man and he was not created to be evil to have the intention of harming others. However, the monster is eventually overwhelmed by his emotions and he is driven to commit violent acts. Victor’s monster is also symbolic of Satan. In the beginning, Satan was created by God to be just and serve faithfully; however Satan too fell out of God’s favor. Both the creature and Satan are rejected, not only from their creators, but also from other people and both are given no chance of redemption. Both the character’s of Victor Frankenstein and his creation are symbolic to the characters of God, Satan, and Adam in Paradise Lost.
In Mary Shelly’s novel, Victor Frankenstein has a few unique traits that allow him to be comparable with the God’s figure in Milton’s Paradise Lost. The main connection between Victor and God is that both beings wanted to create a “first” man. God was the creator of Adam and later, Eve, just as Victor was the maker of his man, or monster. The two characters also reject the product of their “experiments”. God banishes Adam from the Garden of Eden for disobeying him and eating the forbidden fruit from...
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...eness. By changing the setting, Shelley is able to parallel Milton’s Paradise Lost,” along with the comparability of God, Adam and Satan with that of Victor and his creature. Victor’s quest for knowledge and morality led him in to become a God-like figure that was able to grant the gift of life. The creature’s immense desire for recognition from his creator and other intelligent beings led it into exile as it was never able to obtain the recognition of his creator, similar to the downfall and expulsion of Satan from God’s paradise. The creature’s desire for companionship, rejection from his “father,” as well as being created in the image of his creator links the creature to Adam. Although there are differences between Shelley’s Frankenstein and Milton’s Paradise Lost, the symbolic connection between Victor and God and the creature with both Adam and Satan are clear.
First, Before the monster is created Victor says that he hopes this creation would bless him as his creator, and that the creature would be excellent nature and would be beautiful. After the creature is created Shelley creates sympathy for him by Victor’s description of him in a unique yet horrific way, “he’s ‘gigantic,” “deformed,” “yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath” this makes the creature abhorrent to typical humans. When thinking of the descriptions together, Shelley has created a vivid, unnatural image of the monster in the mind’s eyes. The language Shelley uses is powerful and emotive “shall I create another like yourself, whose joints wickedness
Shelley 94). Victor’s various thoughts of rage and hatred that had at first deprive him of utterance, but he recovers only to overwhelm the creature with words expressive of furious detestation and contempt, as he recalled creature’s misdoings to his loved ones. However, Victor pauses to “conceive,” to “feel,” and to “reason” with monster (M. Shelley 94). As Victor follows his creation, he notices the “air [to be full] of exultation” and “the rain” beginning “to descend,” showcasing Victor’s consent to change his view. (M. Shelley 98). Chapter 10 is exemplary of the Romantic Period where story becomes an allegory for real emotions and struggles. Victor’s
Volume II, Chapter II of Frankenstein is a key turning point as Victor and the Creature he created, finally met, however things do not go smoothly as Victor starts to hurl abuse at the Creature. In addition to this chapter we learn that Victor is very hard-hearted as he immediately takes a dislike to his own creation because he had a concept that the Creature he had created was beautiful and fine-looking. Victor also tries to play God just like God in Christianity. God created Adam and Eve - Adam first and Eve after because Adam demanded for another person - we see that later in the book the creature demands a lady creature just like Adam. However, in this later stage of the book, Victor says. He however failed at this because he abandons the Creature which then creates a harsh reality for him and the people around him.
The most important religious comparison in Frankenstein, are the outstanding similarities between Victor as God and the monster as Lucifer. This idea is proven by the monster in the quote where he states, " I am thy creature; I ought to be thy Adam, but I am rather the fallen angel, whom thou drivest from joy for no misdeed." Broken down, this quote shows us that the monster feels that he is the neglected creation and that he has been created to be unhappy, although he has committed no wrongdoing, and he doesn't deserve to be mistreated by society. As it goes in the bible, God created Lucifer as the most brilliant and beautiful angel in the sky with good intentions, but Lucifer turned his back on his creator and began a notorious streak of evil as the "malignant devil." Now if the role of God is switched with that of Victor, and the role of Lucifer is switched with that of the monster, the story is retold in almost the same context. Now to prove that this is not just farfetched speculation, the monster even says in his quote that he ought to be Adam, God's successful creation, rather than the fallen angel (Lucifer). Among other quotes in which the monster deigns Victor as [his] creator, this is a powerful novel reference and this quote beautifully shows the direct motif of religious role-playing in Frankenstein.
The theme of creation in "Frankenstein" touches on the notion of how modern science plays God. This is illustrated through the attempt of replicating a human by means of science, using the main character Victor as the god-figure. Unfortunately, Victor Frankenstein did not consider the effect his creation would have on the outside world and, more importantly, his internal self and his creation.
Most Americans have some idea of who Frankenstein is, as a result of the many Frankenstein movies. Contrary to popular belief Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is a scientist, not a monster. The "monster" is not the inarticulate, rage-driven criminal depicted in the 1994 film version of the novel. Shelley’s original Frankenstein was misrepresented by this Kenneth branagh film, most likely to send a different message to the movie audience than Shelley’s novel shows to its readers. The conflicting messages of technologies deserve being dependent on its creator (address by Shelley) and poetic justice, or triumph over evil (showed by the movie) is best represented by the scene immediately preceding Frankenstein’s monster’s death.
In "Paradise Lost", God creates man; in Shelly's story, Victor Frankenstein creates monster. Early in Shelly's book, we find that Victor has found out how to generate life "upon lifeless matter" (27), akin to God's creation of man from dust: "he formed thee, Adam, thee, O Man, / Dust of the ground" (Milton 189). Victor's representation of himself as a father relates well to Milton's illustration of God as the "Almighty Father" (65) and even the monster relates his existence to adam, "Like Adam, I was created apparently united by no link to any other being in existence" (Shelly 74). Lastly, as Adam and Eve fell in Paradise Lost when they ate from the tree of knowledge, the monster "falls"--"but sorrow only increased with knowledge" (Shelly 69). The ...
Victor Frankenstein was the creator of the monster in the book. He was an ambitious man who had high hopes and dreams for himself, but this characteristic was the cause of his downfall. He had a ruthless desire to obtain forbidden knowledge- a knowledge that only God was worthy of having. This lead him to lock himself in his laboratory, disregarding his family, friends, and health. His one purpose was to create life. In his quest to create a human being and bestow the power of life, Victor eventually did create a creature, but this lead to a situation
This novel supports Shelley’s thought about society’s attitude toward female authors and how they were considered inferior. She demonstrates how female authors are shunned by society, just like the creature is shunned. The creature embodies the feminist ideals Shelley weaves into the novel and highlights societies unfair treatment of women. In some ways Shelley identifies with Victor because both of their creations were not what they expected them to be and were worried about the criticism they would receive for it. They both hid their creations for a while, Shelley did not immediately claim the novel and Frankenstein did not claim his experiment
At the boat where Victor’s lifeless body lies, the monster returns only to mourn regretting his mistakes and murders just because his master wanted happiness. He uses his loss of innocence as an excuse for the immoral and terrible things he has done. This is reflected in Paradise Lost since Satan achieves his revenge by tempting Adam and Eve to eat the forbidden fruit. It is at that moment where their promise is broken and the Garden of Eden is lost. Then when Victor rejects his own creation earlier he loses his innocence. This is because he was trying to play God and do the forbidden, which is creating life. It connects to Paradise Lost and the theme because the banishment of love that the monster receives is similar to Satans feeling towards God and his goal, which is to defeat him all because of the misfortune the Monster felt of being created
In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein and the monster that he creates are very similar. For example, Victor creates the monster to be like himself. Another similarity is that the anger of both Victor and the monster is brought about by society. One more parallel between Victor and the monster is that they both became recluses. These traits that Victor and the monster possess show that they are very similar.
As creators of another creature, God and Victor Frankenstein are very similar, in that they both lose part of their "family," and they let the war between them and their creations go on too long. Victor says, " I collected bones from charnel houses; and disturbed, with profane fingers, the tremendous secrets of the human frame." This shows that he creates the monster out of corpses, just as God creates Satan. Furthermore, Victor is disgusted with his own creation, "the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart." Victor rejects the monster, similar to God's disgust with Satan's pride. The monster wreaks havoc on the Victor's life, "; I called myself the murderer of William, of Justine, and of Clerval," leaving him with a burden of guilt, just as God loses his angels to Satan, Victor loses his family and friends to the monster. Victor at some point feels even more guilt because he didn't destroy the monster earlier. If God could so easily order the fallen angels to be pushed out of Heaven, why did he let the war go on for three days? This truly is remarkable, two novels of different time periods, with characters of startling resemblance.
The monster of the novel is often misattributed with the name, “Frankenstein.” However, Victor Frankenstein can ultimately be considered the true monster of this tale. His obsession would lead to the corruption of his soul and the creation of two monsters—one himself, and the other, the creature. In attempting to take on the role of God, nature would become a monster to Victor and destroy his life. These elements of monstrosity in Frankenstein drive the meaning of its story.
Victor Frankenstein, the main character in Mary Shelley’s novel, is the creator of the monster. When Victor created the monster, he believed he created the monster for the betterment of humankind, but he actually created the monster because he desired to prove to the world that an average human can do Godly acts. The desire to create the monster goes back to Victor’s childhood. As a young kid, Victor’s passions always lied in science and chemistry and in college; he became obsessed with the idea of creating life out of inanimate objects. He then decided to specialize in Alchemy. Within Shelley’s book Frankenstein, Victor said:
At first glance, the monster in Frankenstein is a symbol of evil, whose only desire is to ruin lives. He has been called "A creature that wreaks havoc by destroying innocent lives often without remorse. He can be viewed as the antagonist, the element Victor must overcome to restore balance and tranquility to the world." But after the novel is looked at on different levels, one becomes aware that the creature wasn't responsible for his actions, and was just a victim of circumstance. The real villain of Frankenstein isn't the creature, but rather his creator, Victor.