Allusion In Frankenstein

Allusion is a literary device that purposefully references other works of literature in a story. There are four main types of allusion: religious, historical, literal, and mythological. This literary device is used by many authors, usually in the form of religious allusion. In older works of literature, religious allusion would usually refer to the Bible or some other form of Christianity. For example, a mix of religious and mythological allusion is quite prevalent in Frankenstein. In Frankenstein, Mary Shelly alludes to the book of Genesis, the myth of Prometheus, and the book Paradise Lost, through the character’s words and the plot of the story, to further develop the character and help the reader increase their understanding of the story

The allusion to Genesis is found in multiple places throughout the book and at times, is referenced alongside Paradise Lost. The first reference can be found in the Author’s Introduction, where Mary Shelly described the dream that the book was inspired by. She describes any human attempt to “mock the stupendous mechanism of the Creator of the world”(Shelly, pg.viii) as “supremely frightful”. This alludes to Genesis 1 where we are told that God created the heavens, earth and man. Here, she could have been subtly foreshadowing the consequences of Victor’s discovery of knowledge. Another reference to Genesis is made in Chapter 15, where the Creature likens himself to Adam. He says that similarly to Adam he was “united by no link to any other being in existence” (Shelly, pg.92), but unlike Adam he had very different circumstances.

One of the first references can be found in Chapter 3, Victor briefly mentions how the evil influence of “the Angel of Destruction” was upon him as he made his way to be educated about the philosophies his father wanted him to stay away from. The “Angle of Destruction” alludes to Satan, one of the characters in Paradise Lost who is out to get God’s creation, Adam and Eve. The purpose of this allusion could have been to foreshadow the destruction he could face from his discovery of knowledge. Another reference is made in Chapter 11, as the Creature is telling his story of what happened following his abandonment. The Creature compares how he felt finding the hut to how appealing “Pandaemonium” was to the “daemons of hell” (Shelly, pg.73). Pandaemonium was the capital of Hell where Satan and his fellow fallen-angels reside, in Paradise Lost. The purpose of alluding to this was to further develop the Creature’s character and align him more with Satan. He is further equated with Satan in Chapter 15 where he considered Satan as “the fitter emblem” (Shelly, pg.92) of his situation. The Creature has been turned away from by his creator and seeks revenge, as Satan did. Yet, the Creature was missing a key aspect of what helped give Satan power, companionship. He is well aware of this and tells Victor how much this bothers him, saying “Satan had his companions… to admire and