Similarities Between Paradise Lost And Frankenstein

1615 Words4 Pages

Free will is an inherited ability everyone obtains from birth. This ability allows humans or any living being the freedom to act on their own behalf without being influenced or forced by an external medium. However, this fragile, yet powerful capability is susceptible of being misused that may result in unsavory consequences to the one at fault. In Paradise Lost and Frankenstein, both texts feature powerful figures who bequeathed the characters in focus, the freedom to do whatever they desire in their lives. Satan and Adam and Eve from Paradise Lost, and the monster from Frankenstein are given their free will from their creators, all encounter unique scenarios and obstacles in their respective texts however, have distinctions in how they handle each particular situation that ultimately conveys a similar message to …show more content…

The characters all in some way made a mistake and learn from them. They were all able to make these mistakes because of free will. The texts demonstrate how powerful free will is and how the characters have a difficult time trying to live with the freedom. The constant battle between being good and evil. For every action that occurs, there is always a consequence of it that the characters learn from. When Adam and Eve consume the fruit from the tree of Knowledge, their punishment is being exiled from Paradise. Humanity now must prove their worthiness to be welcome to Paradise when they die. They have no choice, except to use their free will to perform righteous deeds to others and not commit any evil actions to please God. The monster strongly believes that his purpose in life is to ruin Frankenstein’s life by killing the ones close to him just for him to feel the loneliness and helplessness the monster has live through. However, Frankenstein eventually dies, and the monster is satisfied with the news, yet has no other reason for living and decides to end his

Show More
Related

  • Comparison: Frankenstein & The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

    1670 Words  | 4 Pages

    In the late eighteenth century arose in literature a period of social, political and religious confusion, the Romantic Movement, a movement that emphasized the emotional and the personal in reaction to classical values of order and objectivity. English poets like William Blake or Percy Bysshe Shelley seen themselves with the capacity of not only write about usual life, but also of man’s ultimate fate in an uncertain world. Furthermore, they all declared their belief in the natural goodness of man and his future. Mary Shelley is a good example, since she questioned the redemption through the union of the human consciousness with the supernatural. Even though this movement was well known, none of the British writers in fact acknowledged belonging to it; “.”1 But the main theme of assignment is the narrative voice in this Romantic works. The narrator is the person chosen by the author to tell the story to the readers. Traditionally, the person who narrated the tale was the author. But this was changing; the concept of unreliable narrator was starting to get used to provide the story with an atmosphere of suspense.

    Read More

  • Accountability of Victor Frankenstein in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

    1514 Words  | 4 Pages

    Although humans have the tendency to set idealistic goals to better future generations, often the results can prove disastrous, even deadly. The tale of Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, focuses on the outcome of one man's idealistic motives and desires of dabbling with nature, which result in the creation of horrific creature. Victor Frankenstein was not doomed to failure from his initial desire to overstep the natural bounds of human knowledge. Rather, it was his poor parenting of his progeny that lead to his creation's thirst for the vindication of his unjust life. In his idealism, Victor is blinded, and so the creation accuses him for delivering him into a world where he could not ever be entirely received by the people who inhabit it. Not only failing to foresee his faulty idealism, nearing the end of the tale, he embarks upon a final journey, consciously choosing to pursue his creation in vengeance, while admitting he himself that it may result in his own doom. The creation of an unloved being and the quest for the elixir of life holds Victor Frankenstein more accountable for his own death than the creation himself.

    Read More

  • Frankenstein Compared to Paradise Lost

    613 Words  | 2 Pages

    The characters in Frankenstein are a collection of those in Paradise Lost. Frankenstein parallels Eve in the Garden of Eden in that they would do whatever it takes to gain the knowledge of all things. While, the Creature corresponds to Satan because they both wanted to break free from their creators and receive a chance at their own decisions. In Chapter 15 of Frankenstein, Shelley alludes to Paradise Lost in order to establish a connection between the Creature and Adam, when the Creature tries to 'sympathize with [his] feelings and cheer [his] gloom.' However, he then realizes that it was all a 'dream, no Eve soothed [his] sorrows, nor shared [his] thoughts, [he] was alone.' The creature meets with the fact that Frankenstein abandoned him, and ?in the bitterness of [his] heart [he] cursed him.' Yet, earlier in Chapter 10, Shelley suggests an affiliation between the Creature and Satan. He feels like a 'fallen angel, whom thou drivest from misjoy.' Both Satan and the Creature make a vow to destroy something good. In Book I, Satan vows to 'seek to bring forth evil' out of good. Similarly, the Creature declares that 'if [he] cannot inspire love, [he] will cause fear. This network of characters aids the reader in identifying the intertextuality of the two pieces.

    Read More

  • Frankenstein Comparisons

    656 Words  | 2 Pages

    James Whale's Frankenstein is a VERY loose adaptation of Mary Shelley's 1818 novel. The spirit of the film is preserved in its most basic sense, but the vast majority of the story has been entirely left out, which is unfortunate. The monster, for example, who possesses tremendous intellect in the novel and who goes on an epic quest seeking acceptance into the world in which he was created, has been reduced to little more than a lumbering klutz whose communication is limited to unearthly shrieks and grunts. Boris Karloff was understandably branded with the performance after the film was released, because it was undeniably a spectacular performance, but the monster's character was severely diminished from the novel.

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast Victor Frankenstein And The Creature

    1200 Words  | 3 Pages

    If someone were to ask people who Frankenstein is they would probably describe a tall, hideous monster with bolts sticking out of its neck. But long before movies reinvented their version of the monster, there was a novel by Mary Shelley entitled Frankenstein. In her novel, the monster is shown as child-like and uneducated. But what really makes someone a monster? Who is the true monster of Mary Shelley’s novel? Victor and the Creature present similarities and differences in their action and character throughout the novel.

    Read More

  • Frankenstein Comparison Essay

    707 Words  | 2 Pages

    As time goes on, many things tend to change, and then they begin to inherit completely different images. Over the years, the character, created by Dr. Victor Frankenstein in Mary Shelley’s famous novel, has changed dramatically. The monster, regularly called “Frankenstein,” has been featured in numerous films, such as Frankenweenie and Edward Scissorhands. Although, the characters in today’s pop culture and the monster in the well-known 1800’s novel have similarities, they are actually very different. The many similarities and differences range from the character’s physical traits and psychological traits, the character’s persona, and the character’s place in the Gothic style.

    Read More

  • Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley

    1163 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...ime, such as reading, speaking, and how to find shelter. More importantly however, he learns something that affects his entirety of his short life: how humans truly are. Frankenstein learns that humans can be kind and moral, but more often are cruel, brutish, unfair, and unsympathetic. He learns that he will never be accepted, and learning this drives him to do rather evil human-ish acts. Even as he does these bad things though, he still experiences regret, longing for companionship, and the drive to do good things and be a good person. This inner conflict is present in all humans, as we struggle to do the right thing and avoid temptations and violence. This struggle is what causes the creature to truly be human, encompassing all of humanity’s aspects, including both the good and bad.

    Read More

  • The Effect of Frankenstein's Monster

    1236 Words  | 3 Pages

    Countless situations created in life will always have some consequence, whether the outcome is a positive outcome or a negative outcome. During the novel, Frankenstein, there are many incidents portrayed through the characters that have both a positive outcome and a negative outcome, no matter the type of situation. The majorities of the situations that are conveyed in this novel almost always have a negative outcome because of the way the effects damage and hurt the innocence of the other characters in the story. In this novel many of the negative outcomes are a consequence of a hideous monster, known as Frankenstein’s monster, which was created by the hands of Victor Frankenstein.

    Read More

  • Comparing the Novel and Film Adaptation of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein

    477 Words  | 1 Pages

    Comparing the Novel and Film Adaptation of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. “Horror and science fiction tend to present radically opposite interpretations of what may look like comparable situations.” (Kawin, 1981.) Bruce Kawin helps the reader to understand how a story in the genre of science fiction could be adapted, or bastardized if you like, into a horror. This is similar to the film adaptation of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.

    Read More

  • Shelly's "Frankenstein" and Milton's "Paradise Lost"

    1145 Words  | 3 Pages

    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 correlations and disjunctions prove three human moral limitations: omnipotence, ambition, and (in relating to Christianity) human imperfection. Furthermore, each limitation relates to the author's warning to humanity of our progression as a society.

    Read More

  • Comparison Of Frankenstein And Death Of A Salesman

    854 Words  | 2 Pages

    A human blossoms to succeed in life, they blossom to come to one point where we may look upon life and remember all the times we owned, one blossoms to be someone, great, and one strives to accomplish this with their ability. In further Frankenstein want to succeed. To look upon one’s life without any regrets is a hard assignment to accomplish. The characters mentioned are all different but yet the same in purpose: trying to succeed. The main character of Frankenstein and Death of a Salesman seize similar qualities; wanting to succeed in life, have the same relationship with another key figure in the plot line, and possessing the qualities of a tragic hero.

    Read More

  • Essay On Antigone And Frankenstein

    1631 Words  | 4 Pages

    “When I looked around, I saw and heard of none like me. Was I then a monster, a blot upon the earth, from which all men fled, and whom all men disowned?” (Shelley, Frankenstein 109). In Frankenstein, the Monster receives a life in which he cannot control the outcome, even though he tries to. While the Monster deals with fate, Antigone in Antigone exhibits full use of her free will. The two characters possess free will and both of them can claim victim to fate. However, the Monster has more of a right to make the plea of destiny while Antigone should own up to her deliberate actions. The Monster’s denial of acceptance by both his creator and society as well as his responding acts of violence can claim to exist as results of fate while Antigone’s actions exhibit free will from her decisions to break the law and act upon her pride.

    Read More

  • The Theme Of Darkness And Eve In John Milton's Paradise Lost

    776 Words  | 2 Pages

    Eve’s dream predicts exactly what happens and we are able to understand why and how it happens. Ultimately, Eve gives in to Satan’s inclination because she believes that it will help her find her identity and gain independence and power from Adam. However, Eve also had the choice to choose her free will and obey God. Since the dream foreshadows events to come, Eve potentially had the ability to rebuke Satan and his manipulation but in the end, she still chose to eat the apple to gain power. Eve could have eventually developed a better relationship with God and discover who she is, but instead she chose temporary

    Read More

  • Paradise Lost

    1171 Words  | 3 Pages

    Eve and Satan both tempt their victims using the same arguments. Once Satan finally corners Eve, and after all of his flattery, he suggests that she eat the fruit of the Tree of Forbidden Knowledge, saying,

    Read More

  • Theme Of Characters In Paradise Lost

    915 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the bible, Adam and Eve are seen as more equal beings, though Eve is tempted, she is not necessarily seen as any worse than Adam, and Adam seems to have no real recognition that what Eve is doing is wrong. In Paradise Lost Eve is the gullible, rash, and selfish one, whereas Adam is intelligent, discerning, and selfless. Eve can almost be fully faulted as the culprit in this endeavor, and Adam is just along for the ride due to his undying love for her. The serpent recognizes Eve as the weak one by saying “behold alone/ The woman, opportune to all attempts” (Milton, 480-481). Furthermore, it is Adam who recognizes the depravity and depths of what Eve has done and he recognizes it immediately “soon as he heard/ The fatal trespass done by Eve, amazed, / Astonied stood and blank, while horror chill/ Ran through his veins” (Milton, 889-891). He chooses to eat the fruit due to his love for her and his inability to fathom being apart from her, not because of ignorance. The result of them eating the fruit does not immediately open their eyes to the knowledge of good and evil, instead they have sex and revel in their actions. It is not until later on that they are hit with what has really been done and the implications it will have for them. The conversation held between Adam and Eve ends on a sour note for Eve as Adam says “Him who to worth in women

    Read More

More about Similarities Between Paradise Lost And Frankenstein

Open Document