Allusions Vs. Mary Shelley 's ' Frankenstein '

Shelley draws inspiration from Milton 's Paradise Lost not only for the vicious creator in the stories but also the creations. In Milton’s epic, God creates the father of humankind and the father of all demons. The characterization of Frankenstein 's monster highlights points of both Adam and Satan; even the monster recognizes this within Shelley’s work when he encounters Milton’s

Mary Shelly's "Frankenstein" narrates a story about a scientist, Victor Frankenstein, and his creation of a monster set apart from all worldly creatures. Frankenstein's creation parallels Milton's "Paradise Lost" and God's creation of man; Victor Frankenstein is symbolic of God and the monster is symbolic of Adam. The parallel emphasizes the moral limitations of mankind through Victor Frankenstein and the disjunction and correlation with "Paradise Lost". Shelly links the two stories together through Victor's creation of the monster and his "fall" from humanity which I will focus on initially. More importantly, the main divergence of the two works lies in the representation of God in "Paradise Lost" and Victor in "Frankenstein". Both the

Victor Frankenstein led a difficult life struck by tragedies. Many catastrophes were marked by the appearance of lightning or the indication of lightning and electricity. The first appearance of this motif came very early in the novel, “ It was not splintered by the shock, but entirely reduced to thin ribbons of wood” (Shelley 22). In the second chapter, Victor reveals that when he was 15, he discovered a tree that had been absolutely decimated. The tree was not destroyed by lightning in the stereotypical, jagged V-shape way; instead, it was completely torn apart and shredded. The first lightning strike in the novel was one of great power and strength if it completely destroyed such an old and large oak tree.

Victor Frankenstein had his reasons for wanting to create life. One of his reasons was lightning hitting the oak tree outside his house. Victor became fascinated with what he saw. “He witnesses the destructive power of nature when, during a raging storm, lightning destroys a tree near his house” (Spark Notes). This incident sparked Victor 's mind about creating life, and his interest in science flourished. Victor became interested in the power of lightning, and wanted to learn more about it. He found the

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

    Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is a novel in conscious dialogue with canonical classics and contemporary works. It contains references to Coleridge, Wordsworth, and P. B. Shelley, but also to Cervantes and Milton. It is the latter's Paradise Lost which informs the themes and structure of the novel more than any other source. Like many of her contemporaries, Mary Shelley draws parallels between Milton's Satan and the Titan Prometheus of Greek myth. However, the two are not simply equated (as in Byron's poem, "Prometheus"), but appear in various facets through both Victor Frankenstein and his creation. Furthermore, God, Zeus, and Adam are also evoked through these

An allusion is a figure of speech that is a reference to a well-known person, place, event, or literary work. These allusions are typically used by an author who intends to make a powerful point without the need to explain it. Mary Shelley 's Frankenstein provides many examples of allusion 's. She connects the story of “Prometheus”, Coleridge 's Rime of the Ancient Mariner, and Milton 's Paradise Lost to her own novel to convey the critical points of the meaning behind the story. Not only does Mary Shelley make use of the mythological symbolism, but includes biblical allusions of the creation of Adam and Eve as well. The

Biblical Allusions in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein Shelley’s novel contains many biblical allusions, which add a deeper meaning to Frankenstein. Allowing the ideas in Shelley’s text to expand to the ideas of the Bible, unravels a complex development of the character. Victor can be interpreted in two ways within the realm of the text: Victor as God, or Victor in betrayal of God. These two different approaches to reading the text, allows the audience to mentally step in and out of both outlooks when comparing Shelly’s work to that of the bible. These two aspects continually compete in the mind of both Victor and the reader.

The Creation’s allusions to Paradise Lost in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein play a key role in defining the book’s theme of Isolation. Paradise Lost, written by John Milton, details the heavily religious story of Adam and Eve, their experiences in the Garden of Eden, and their fall from grace when they eat a forbidden fruit. The Creation and character Adam are parallel as both were created alone, and had asked solely for a mate with whom to be alone with. As The Creation states, “Like Adam, I was apparently united by no other being in existence; but his state was far different from mine in every other respect. (Shelley, 118)” Similar to Adam, he feels out of place in the world, but is abhorred by those around him, and in chapter 16, “I am alone

When Victor made Frankenstein he was trying to experiment and discover new science. He was young and almost crazy trying to recreate life. When Victor was younger he saw a tree get hit with lightning, from that point all he wanted to do is something involving science. When Victor actually did it and made Frankenstein, he didn’t realize that

In Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein, the inter-textual connection to the bible is prominent throughout the whole novel. Shelley connected the monster to Adam, Satan, the story of Eve and Adam and the monster reading Paradise Lost. Seeing as the bible was a highly read and recommended text during the early 19th century, Shelley’s establishment of the references served to establish Frankenstein as a sort of allegory of moralist text. She begins her biblical allusions with the idea of creations, mistakes and sins.

In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein is a fact-seeking young man that is infatuated with the natural world and how things work. He applies his interests to his studies and ends up studying Physics, Chemistry, and Anatomy at the University of

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley often refers to the bible on a number of occasions. However, it is worth noting that many references used by Mary Shelley in Frankenstein can often be identified in Genesis. Much like Genesis, the story of Frankenstein is a viable creation story. The book of Genesis first explains the creation of man and woman, and also recounts the fall of humanity. Unlike Genesis, Frankenstein begins with the fall of humanity, leading into the creation of man. Although it would be simple to compare the novel to such non-religious terms, the religious symbolism cannot be ignored in Frankenstein. Many biblical references within Frankenstein refer to the creation story in the first book of Genesis.

In the Frankenstein, Shelley’s novel, the words of light exist throughout the context to imply knowledge. Victor said, “As I stood at the door, on a sudden I beheld a stream of fire issue from an old beautiful oak which stood about twenty yards from our house; and so soon as the dazzling light vanished, the oak had disappeared, and nothing remained but a blasted stump” (Shelley 40). Victor is speculating how a simple exploits in nature can demolish something so easily and rapidly. He is enormously curious thus his curiosity initiates him comprehend the nature and then he wants to use his knowledge and dominate the secret of life. He is encouraged by the occurrence of the aftermath to pursue a career in the field of science. Victor, who had a desire for learning in science,

Mary Shelley uses John Milton's Paradise Lost as a great tool to help readers understand her characters better. During that time Romantics were given great imagination because of the book. John Milton and the Romantics' tension was influential throughout English literature. Frankenstein represents future choices while Paradise Lost represents theology, tradition, and literature. Martin Tropp, the author of Mary Shelley's Monster, claims that Mary found a pattern in paradise Lost which gave form to her fears and shaped her understanding of the technology that threatened the future. Tropp claimed that the Creature, who was ugly and horrible had no choice but to turn to Satan as a mirror. In the novel, the creature and Satan can be seen in the