“Did I request thee, Maker, from my clay to mold me man? Did I solicit thee from darkness to promote me?” said Adam in Paradise Lost (Milton 10.743-745). This quote, used as an epigraph on the cover page of Frankenstein, provided the reader with a premise of the acclaimed novel. In writing Frankenstein, Mary Shelley took much inspiration from John Milton’s Paradise Lost by constantly redefining and questioning the true meaning of good and evil just as Milton did with God, Satan, and Adam by the use of her characters: Dr. Frankenstein and the creature. Essentially, what is the purpose of life and is fate already decided? Dr. Frankenstein’s monster appeared hideous and horrifying from the beginning, so was the creature destined to become evil? …show more content…
They were the first of their kind, explored new surroundings, abandoned by their creator, and longed for a mate. The creature, in his discovery of Paradise Lost, understood that he was the first of his kind like Adam but was not blessed with the fortune to be cared for by his creator or have a community. He knew that he was “wretched, helpless, and alone” (Shelley 90). Thus, in his misery, he demanded to have partner of his own to have an Eve to soothe his sorrows (Shelley 91). The monster held high expectations for his master because of his discovery of Paradise Lost. If the creature had not found the book, he might have not been inspired to seek a mate from his master. Since he did not ask to be created, Dr. Frankenstein owed him a mate, so he did not have to explore the world alone. Without this mate, the monster sought out companionship from the De Lacey family, but he miserably …show more content…
The creature in confusion of his purpose of existence, finally decides “evil thenceforth became my good” (Shelley 159). This is when the final transition from good to evil is began. According to The Bedford Glossary of Critical and Literary Terms, British Romantic Era writers, for example Mary Shelley and John Milton, “embraced primitivism which postulates that people are good by nature but corrupted by civilization” (Bedford Glossary 448). This implies that the creature was created evil due to observance of the De Lacey family and discovery of Paradise Lost. The monster continued to share his insight, and Shelley directly referenced to Paradise Lost when the creature expresses, "I cannot believe that I am he whose thought were once filled with sublime and transcendent visions of the beauty and the majesty of goodness. But it is even so: the fallen angel becomes a malignant devil. Yet even that enemy of God and man had friends and associates in his desolation; I am quite alone" (Shelley
In Frankenstein, Shelley is able to create the antithesis of nature from various aspects of nature itself, creating a monster that is born of death and of decay yet enveloped in Rousseau's ideology. "It was on a dreary night of November, that I beheld the accomplishments of my toils. With an anxiety that almost amounted to agony, . . . I saw the dull yellow eye of the creature open; it breath hard, and a convulsive motion agitated its limbs" (page 56). What was created that night was a creature of vast intellect, raised and educated in the harshest of conditions: Nature. Out of the decay that is nature's ambivalent end emerged a creature that was the antithesis of all that is natural. Mary Shelley had carefully chosen her genre, the Gothic novel was the only ground to act out the play between reason and the dark regions of horror. The stage was set for the creature to assume Rousseau's entire educational philosophy that stated: "We are born weak, we need strength; helpless, we need aid; foolish, we need reason. All that we lack at birth, all that we need when we come to man's estate, is the gift of nature. This education comes to us from nature, from men, or from things . . . God makes all things good; man meddles with them and they become evil"(page 143). This allows society to view the creature with supernatural awe, repulsed at nature's most dreadful characters, decay and death, even when they form life.
...male companion in order to be content and accepted. “I am alone and miserable, man will not associate with me, but one as deformed and horrible as myself would not deny herself to me." This clearly shows the monsters idea of hope. When Frankenstein rips the female creation apart, he’s also ripping the monsters glimmering chance of him experiencing happiness to pieces.
Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein” is more than just a regular novel. It is a book that conveys a deep philosophical message. The novel moved me to my very soul. It turned out to be a book not about an encounter against a monster but a misfortune of a scientist, who reached the goal of his work and life and realized that breathless horror and disgust filled his heart but all of these is on the surface. The inmost philosophical thought is covered and hidden, but is very profound. The author tries to say that life is a gift. After this gift is given no one can take it away and it transforms the accountability of the creator. The novel makes the reader anxious with the question: “Is a human being able to take obligation to provide life?”
I will not hear you. There can be no communicate between you and me; we are enemies. Begone, or let us try our strength in a fight, in which one must fall” (68). At this point in the novel, I sympathize with the monster even though he has become a terrible person. As his creator, Victor Frankenstein should have cared for the monster despite his disgusting appearance, but Victor ran away from his responsibilities toward creature, he did not give the creature what he wanted in his life, because he was feared of being killed by the creature. Frankenstein made the creature to murder the living humans, because the creature was very isolated and he did not had no one to talk to:” I was benevolent; my soul glow with love and humanity: but am I not alone, miserably alone? You, my creator, abhor me; what hope can I gather from your fellow creatures, who owe me nothing?” (68). If Frankenstein would have guided and nurtured the creature then the creature would have never sought revenge on Frankenstein and his family: I was benevolent and good; misery made me a fiend” (68). The creature demonstrated his true personality, due to the abandonation of his creator. However, the creature perceive Frankenstein of being the omnipotent God: “Remember, that I am thy creature: I ought to be thy Adam; but I am rather the fallen angel, whom thou divest from joy for no misdeed” (68). Which demonstrates the melancholy part of the creature that was filled with loneliness and
Throughout time man has been isolated from people and places. One prime example of isolation is Adam, "the man [formed] from the dust of the ground [by the Lord God]" (Teen Study Bible, Gen. 2.7). After committing the first sin he secludes "from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken" (Teen Study Bible, Gen. 3.23). This isolation strips Adam from his protection and wealth the garden provides and also the non-existence of sin. Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein, is able to relate to the story of Adam and the first sin to help her character, the Creature, associate with Adam. The Creature is able to relate because "[l]ike Adam, [he is] apparently united by no link to any other being in existence" (Shelley 124). In other ways the creator of the creature, Victor Frankenstein, also identifies with the tale of the first human, but with a different character, God. "God created man in his own image" (Teen Study Bible, Gen. 1.27) and unlike Frankenstein "God saw all that he had made, and it was very good" (Teen Study Bible, Gen. 1.31). Frankenstein brought a life into the world but did not take the responsibility to lead and guide his creature to benefit himself or the created. Unlike God's creature who did in turn prosper. Instead of prosperity Frankenstein receives a life of loneliness and responsibility of many unnecessary deaths. The Creature, like his creator, lives his life in isolation from society. His only goal is to be loved and accepted by those around him. Through these circumstances the effects of isolation and loneliness are brought to life by the creature and the creator thought their pasts, social statuses, emotions, and dreams and fantasies.
Frankenstein’s creation was a victim of circumstance. One who is brought into the world alone, with no protector to guide him, and is driven to desolation. A person with no mate is miserable, doomed to spend his life without pleasure or company. A man who is thrown out by those he deems his fellow creatures, lives a mean life, alone with infinite misery. Any creature that is demoted to this degree of torment is deserving of our sympathy. The monster is driven to his misery, and because of his anguish, transforms from a docile, loving creature, into a vicious, malevolent animal bent on revenge. Frankenstein’s monster was a victim of circumstance, and so deserves our sympathy.
There was no one left to provide the creature with companionship and was forced to isolate himself from society once again. When the family moved out of their cottage, the creature decided to go on his own adventure and seek out his creator. Upon doing so, the creature encountered a young girl who was about to drown near a lake. When the creature successfully saved the little girl, an older man confronted the creature and shot him in the shoulder. Because of what happened, the creature explained to Frankenstein that his, “...daily vows rose for revenge-a deep deadly revenge, such as would alone compensate for the outrages and anguish [he] had endured.” (Shelley 61). With this burning rage, the creature decided to take his revenge out on his creator, Frankenstein. One by one, Frankenstein’s relatives and closest friends were murdered by the creature, but his father’s death, was the final push. Frankenstein believed that he was the cause for all the murders and that he had to destroy what he created. He told Walton that, “...as [he] awakened to reason, at the same time awakened to revenge.” (Shelley 88). The only way to stop future deaths, was to hunt down the creature and kill him. Fueled with hatred, Frankenstein traveled for months in hopes of finding the creature. However, in his final days, Frankenstein was no longer
Shelley’s allusions display the creatures anguish of being alone in the world and how it causes him to feel: “ Like Adam, I was apparently united by no link to any other being in existence… I was wretched, helpless, and alone.” (93-94), this allusion is crucial because it shows the reader just how awful the influences of solitude are on the creature and how his circumstances have caused him to become grieved and destitute. Another illusion similar to before take place when the monster compares himself to Satan: “Many times I considered Satan as the fitter emblem of my condition; for often, like him, when I viewed the bliss of my protectors, the bitter gall of envy rose within me.” (94), the monster now resents the people of the cottage because they are able to converse and associate with others while the creature is forced to stay secluded from all contact. Allusions such as these enforce Shelley 's purpose of depicting the calamitous effects of solitude on the mind. By now the reader should understand that men need to be around others like themselves because all creatures desire to have a group into which they
The creature’s moral ambiguity characteristic was a vile ingredient to the construction of this novel Frankenstein because it made the reader 's sympathies with him even after the audience knows he had committed murder because the readers had seen the truth this creature had to face. That he had tried everything within his power to peacefully live with them, to interact, communicate, and befriend them “these thoughts exhilarated me and led me to apply with fresh ardour to the acquiring the art of language”, that even though he was seen as a monster because of the looks he was created with, something he had no control over, he still had hope to be seen as equals, ”My organs were indeed harsh, but supple; and although my voice was very unlike the soft music of their tones, yet I pronounced such words as I understood with tolerable ease. It was as the ass and the lap-dog; yet surely the gentle ass whose intentions were affectionate, although his manners were rude, deserved better treatment than blows and execration;” this hope of his was utterly crushed, and can only set him up for utter disappointment(12.18). Because in the end he only received hates, scorns, violence, and prejudice from his good will. So in the end of the story, Mary Shelley’s forces the readers to see within the creature’s heart and for
There was no one left to provide the creature with companionship and was forced to isolate himself from society once again. When the family moved out of their cottage, the creature decided to go on his own adventure and seek out his creator. Upon doing so, the creature encountered a young girl who was about to drown near a lake. When the creature successfully saved the little girl, an older man confronted the creature and shot him in the shoulder. Because of what happened, the creature explained to Frankenstein that his, “...daily vows rose for revenge-a deep deadly revenge, such as would alone compensate for the outrages and anguish [he] had endured.” (Shelley 61). With this burning rage, the creature decided to take his revenge out on his creator, Frankenstein. One by one, Frankenstein’s relatives and closest friends were murdered by the creature, but his father’s death, was the final push. Frankenstein believed that he was the cause for all the murders and that he had to destroy what he created. He told Walton that, “...as [he] awakened to reason, at the same time awakened to revenge.” (Shelley 88). The only way to stop future deaths, was to hunt down the creature and kill him. Fueled with hatred, Frankenstein traveled for months in hopes of finding the creature. However, in his final days, Frankenstein was no longer able to continue his search, and passed away due to malnutrition. Upon discovering what had happened, the creature came out from hiding, and decided to explain his side of the story to Walton. Now that Frankenstein was dead, the creature decided to wander off and slowly die, isolated from the
Everywhere I see bliss, from which I alone am irrevocably excluded. I was benevolent and good; misery made me a fiend” (Shelley). This statement suggests that the monster is similar to the fallen angel of the Bible because he was cast away by his creator from all goodness, evoking sympathy for the fallen angel and disdain for the creator. If Shelley, an atheist, draws upon such ideas, why then does she incorporate religion into the monster’s education? This aspect of the Christian belief system is used to show the connection between Frankenstein as the monster’s creator and God as Adam’s and the fallen angel’s creator, both of which cast away their creations. By portraying the creators as negative, Shelley takes this religious aspect of her novel and brings it right back to the core of her beliefs: secular humanism. The underlying theme of the monster’s encounter
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.
When Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein is analyzed, critics comes to a conclusion about Victor Frankenstein's creation. The creature invokes the most sympathy from the readers than any other character in the novel. Because he is abandoned by society which manipulates the creature to do evil things despite his good heart. Therefore Shelley's message throughout the novel is that a person is not born evil, they are made evil.
A monster is not a monster unless he intentionally wants to hurt many and his plans are to hurt many. In Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, the monster is portrayed as an evil, hideous creature through everyone’s eyes. Victor Frankenstein creates a monster and once he brings him to life he abandoned him, leaving him to learn and discover the world by himself. The monster has to learn his way around society while being rejected by society because of this looks. Frankenstein’s monster is seen as evil because the way people treated him caused him to act out. The monster is not inherently evil because he helps others, has emotions, and does not fight back when he is attacked.
In the book, the Monster is searching for a way to fit in and find acceptance, so, the Monster turns to reading the bible. It gives the Monster a small sense of solace and he interprets many of the passages to help him define who he is what his role in this world might be. The Monster of "Frankenstein" finally admits that he is but a creature of Victor and says, "I ought to be thy Adam but I am rather the fallen angel" (Shelley, 2000). There is a dual allusion present in this quotation. One is referring to in John Milton's classic Paradise Lost, a tale which is often mentioned in Shelley's "Frankenstein." The other is undoubtedly the Creation of Adam and Eve in the Bible itself, not just the allusion given in Paradise Lost. The aforementioned quotation illustrates the very idea that creation through science is a hollow, damning pursuit as the Monster seems himself for what he is perceived to be.