How Is Paradise Lost Presented In Frankenstein

After reading Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, readers can begin to understand that Paradise Lost, being an incredibly influential story in the time period that Frankenstein was written, also greatly impacted a certain character in the story; namely, the Creation. Upon finding Paradise Lost in the woods and reading it in an attempt to better understand the human world, he comes to believe that his situation strongly relates to Adam’s, yet he still longs for the opportunities Adam was presented. In this respect, Victor Frankenstein is found to be Satan’s equivalent. In the novel Frankenstein, the Creation is found to explicitly state that he emphasizes with Adam. However, more subtly, he tells how he wishes he had more in common with the biblical

The Creation, or Herb, tells how very lonely he is, being the only being of his species, and he finds that Adam shares the same feelings of misery. When Herb was created, his Creator, Victor, found him to be so foul and disgusting that he was abandoned, left to venture through the world with no knowledge or understanding of even the most basic human principles. Adam, on the other hand, had come into the world by the will of God, and lived a cheerful life. He learned everything he wanted to know from angels, and his Creator took special care to ensure his safety. The Creation’s disappointment to find the obvious barriers he had been presented, where Adam was presented with only opportunities, is displayed in the following quote: “Like Adam, I was apparently united by no link to any other being in existence; but his state was far from mine in every other respect. He had come forth from the hands of God a perfect creature, happy and prosperous, guarded by the especial care of his

In Paradise Lost, Satan considers himself to be an innocent victim, and is able to think selfishly in Heaven, where all angels are supposed to be equal and happy. The Creation has seen humans, especially the cottagers, live with kindness and camaraderie towards one another, and to him, who has been abandoned and alone for the entirety of his life, this seems like Heaven. Therefore, it makes sense that he would be confused as to why Victor, who had previously lived in a wonderful family, who could only express love towards one another, would go to such selfish means as to create life just because he could; to plague humanity with a murderous monster in hopes of bringing his mother back from the dead. Like Satan, Victor exhibits a blatant disregard for the safety of those who aren’t personally connected to him. Satan believes that he can overthrow God, which only exemplifies further his tremendous vanity and pride. Because the Creation read Paradise Lost as a history and not a work of imagination, he firmly believed that by creating life where there should be none, he was firmly defying God, and overthrowing the laws he had put in place. Just as well, it seemed, the Creation thought that only the Devil would make a creature as horrible as himself, and leave him to fend for himself while the Creator lived in peace with his fellow humans. These ideas can be found in the