Analysis Of The Creature Indulges In Paradise Lost

Before observing the cottagers, the creature was unaware of what ‘family’ really meant, thus he was less affected by the fact that Victor ran away. He didn’t question Victor’s actions nor the reason why he was alone but slowly you start to see that this was no longer the case because the creature stated, “But where were my friends and relations? No father had watched my infant days, no mother had blessed me with smiles and caresses; or if they had, all my past life was now a blot, a blind vacancy in which I distinguished nothing.” These new emotions were not only introduced to him through the cottagers but also through the novels he found in Victor’s jacket, one of which was Milton’s “Paradise Lost”. “Paradise Lost”, was a long, detailed, narrative poem about the creation of Adam and Eve and it was through this novel that the creature began to “question his own existence and place in the world.” Why was he created? Adam and Eve must endure their suffering as a punishment for eating the forbidden fruit so why was he being punished? The creature learned about desire when he notices how unhappy one of the cottagers, Felix, was until Safie, his soon to be wife,

The use of Paradise Lost, in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, allows for a complex development of the Creation’s understanding of his place in the unknown world. The Creation identifies, originally, with Adam as the view of himself as his master’s beloved creation, which alludes to the book of Genesis in the Bible. Through Paradise Lost, the Creation identifies more with Satan in the sense that he was cast away from his creator.

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

The creature feels abandoned by his creator, Victor, and proclaims to him: “Remember that I am thy creature; I ought to be thy Adam, but I am rather the fallen angel” (Shelley 87). Shelley refers to the creature as being abandoned by Victor just as God abandoned angel Lucifer after he committed terrible sin. The reference to Adam in the Bible is a reoccurring theme which reflects how Victor’s abandonment of the creature caused him to do harm. Victor brings his monster into the world as an innocent creature, or so the creature believes. However, society rejects the creature because of his appearance and he is corrupted to a life of misery, thus losing his innocence. Shelley uses this allusion to prove that as humans (or creatures of similar nature, in this case) experience the corruption that exists in the world, their innocence is lost.

Not only is he left alone but he also must learn and adapt to the cruelty of the human world. The monster is left to figure out what feelings are, what fire is, what hunger is, etc. He approaches humans and they fully reject him in horror. They throw rocks and fire and he is forced to be alone, scavenging nuts and berries and hiding in the woods, only traveling when he cannot be seen. Every experience he has had with human beings has been awful and incredibly discouraging. As time progresses he stumbles across a cottage in the woods and he begins to watch a family of three: father, son, and sister (and eventually another woman). It is here that the creature learns what goodness is, what love and family is. He learns to speak English and he reads many novels such as Milton’s Paradise Lost to gain knowledge about his world, a similarity he has with his creator . But he also hears hears stories of the horrible things humans can do and he does not quite understand why or how at this point. From here he develops the feeling of loneliness and just wants to be a part of a family. “The more I saw of them the greater my desire to claim their protection and kindness; my heart yearned to be known and loved by these amiable creatures…” (Shelley 145). He wants someone to love and care for, he wishes for that love and care in return. He does not want to be cold in the woods rejected by any who sees

Displaying a parallelism between God and Satan in the poem, and Frankenstein and the creature in the novel, the allusion to Paradise Lost is used to not only reveal similarities between the creature and the fallen angel, displaying their shared neglect, but also accentuate their differences; which, reveals the creature’s innate desire to have human connection and the burden of isolation. Having no human connection, the creature confides in the poem as he begins to associate himself with Lucifer to assuage his alienation from others. Lucifer and the creature were abandoned by their creator, denied any affection and appraisal, and viewed as an outcast; which, catalyzed their vendetta against their creators and need for revenge. The creature also

“...Hateful day when I received life!' Accursed creator! Why did you form a monster so hideous that even you turned from me in disgust?.... Satan had his companions, fellow devils, to admire and encourage him, but I am solitary and abhorred” (Shelley 119). The monster after discovering that his own creator is horrified by his existence, continues to lose hope about his position in the world. He is left alone with no one to care for him or show him love. “I was dependent on none and related to none….My person was hideous and my stature gigantic... These questions continually recurred, but I was unable to solve them”(Shelley 117). The quote expands on the idea of how the monster has expanded his knowledge from listening and reading literature on his existence and his place int the world. “Sometimes I allowed my thoughts, unchecked by reason, to ramble in the fields of Paradise, and dared to fancy amiable and lovely creatures sympathizing with my feelings and cheering my gloom;...”(Shelley 118). This quote continues on the theme of how the monster is expanding knowledge and becoming much more intelligent and aware of his place on earth. It shows how his thoughts are directly focused and stemmed on a few pieces of literature. It shows that he may be narrow-minded and needs to broaden his horizons to other possibilities and pieces of

The monster notices that humans are afraid of him because of his appearance, he feels embarrassed of himself, as humans do when they don’t seem to be accepted. He admires the De Lacey Family that lives in the cottage, he also learns from them, and hopes to have companion as they do. The monster is like humans, as mentioned, in the way that he wants someone to listen and care about him. He is discovering the world and his capacities, he seeks knowledge and understand plenty aspects of life by learning how to speak and read. “The gentle manners and beauty of the cottagers greatly endeared them to me; when they were unhappy, I felt depressed; when they rejoiced, I sympathized in their joys” (Shelley 47). The monster developed feelings and emotions as humans. The creature is different from humans also, since he never got to grow up as a normal human, and

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

Plutarch's Lives offers the monster knowledge of man’s history of war. He finds the cruel actions of some men appalling and esteems those of virtuous and peaceful natures. From The Sorrows of Young Werther by Goethe, the creature gains new insights into the depths of human emotion. He sympathizes with the main character’s melancholy because he is able to identify with Werther’s loneliness and pain from being unloved. The novel prompts him to introspectively make new realizations about himself -- he has been utterly alone throughout his life and longs for the compassion he observes in the DeLaceys. The most significant reading the monster is enlightened by is Paradise Lost by Milton, through which he uncovers his strongest feelings. He is fascinated by the relationship between creator and creation, God and Adam, that he himself lacks. “Did I request thee, Maker, from my clay To mold me man? Did I solicit thee from darkness to promote me?” (Milton X.743-45). This question posed by Adam to God reflects the creatures psychological identity crisis as he contemplates the absence of purpose to his being. Furthermore, he finds it unsettling that he was abandoned without the guidance that creator was supposed to instill upon the created. “He had come forth from the hands of God a perfect creature, happy and prosperous, guarded by the especial care of his Creator; but I was wretched, helpless, and alone” (Shelley 116). The monster realizes he is not like Adam after all because his creator did not create him in his own image, but was in fact disgusted by the creature’s very existence. Eventually, after endless suffering, the monster comes to be disgusted with himself as

By observing the peasants he learns how to speak and decides to reveal himself to the cottagers one day after he has "[won] their favour" by completing helpful tasks from the shadows. The novel Shelley read when she was younger, Emile, states that "when the home is a gloomy solitude, pleasure will be sought elsewhere. " This can be seen in Shelley's novel as the creature was abandoned by his creator and left isolated and so he has found comfort in observing a seemingful kind and gentle family. However this all changes drastically when the creature decides to reveal himself and the supposed kind family of peasants turn against him. The creature reveals himself to the blind man when the rest of the peasants are away, the creature attempts to sell himself to the blind man as a loving and charitable person and tries to convince the blind man to help and protect him however, when the other peasants arrive home they do not leave time for pleas and simply attack.

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.

This innocence allows Adam and Eve to live in the Garden of Eden, free from all conflict under the condition that they follow the only rule God gave them. This rule was to simply stay away from the tree of knowledge. However, Satan came to Eve in the form of a snake and tempted her to eat from the tree knowledge. This tree grants the consumer knowledge and curiosity, which negates the innocence Eve once held. Adam, learning of this, is quite furious, yet he eats the apple as well. The apple granted the two beings the ability to know of lust, shame, and mutual distrust. Their punishment would be banishment from the garden, pregnancy for Eve, and labor work for Adam. Hence the title, Paradise Lost, meaning the simple and gracious life they lead has crumbled due to their actions. With this, we are able to connect the monster to Adam. The quote “I am thy creature: I ought to be thy Adam” (66) is said to Victor by the creature when they encounter each other atop Mont Blanc. This quote essentially explains how the monster began as an innocent creature knowing nothing, much like Adam, and suffers considerably as he discovers how people view him. He is a monster, a symbol of terror to the human race. As readers go further into the book, they learn that the monster reads Paradise Lost

His curiosity for social interaction is energetic and capable as he educated himself through a family living in the woods and reading books he stole from his creator. With the creature’s intention to interact, it is interrupted; visually, the creature is unappealing and treated in a manner that is not kind. The creature explains in one of his experiences of interaction that he will never have the ability to be understood about his looks, "As I fixed my eyes on the child, I saw something glittering on his breast. I took it; it was a portrait of a most lovely woman. In spite of my malignity, it softened and attracted me. For a few moments I gazed with delight on her dark eyes, fringed by deep lashes, and her lovely lips; but presently my rage returned; I remembered that I was forever deprived of the delights that such beautiful creatures could bestow and that she whose resemblance I contemplated would, in regarding me, have changed that air of divine benignity to one expressive of disgust and affright” (16.32). The creature was drawn to the eyes of the woman but became conscious of the idea that he cannot belong in a world where people look at him in disgust and fear. This effect on the creature creates an image in his mind that life will never change for him and that people won’t change either. Another example representing the results of his interaction with others is the family

He not only realizes his situation is desolate and lonesome but also that beauty equates to happiness and equality with mankind. He develops a low self-esteem, refers to himself as a “blot, a blind vacancy” and wishes to “shake off all thought and feeling” ( 110, 109). The Creation maintains his kindness in saving a young girl from drowning, but considering he is shot down in his rescue attempt, and rejected by the De Lacy family, the[KS3] Creation decides to no longer employ sympathy and kindness, but to inflict the same pain on the family and justified punishment on his creator. Frankenstein similarly reveals that knowledge can be the “serpent to sting you” referring to the fact that his own Creation ‘turned’ on him, and his once glory and pride became his worst nightmare (Shelley 39). The Creation and Frankenstein become corrupted through their gains of knowledge whether it is of the nature of galvanism or