Position Paper- Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and John Milton's Paradise Lost

After reading both Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and John Milton’s Paradise Lost, one can easily recognize the similarities shared by several of the characters. Both books address the idea of creation, which includes both the creator and the being that is brought to life. Mary Shelley never attempted to hide the influence Paradise Lost had on her book, as she uses a quote from Paradise Lost in her epigraph, which says, “Did I request thee, Maker, from my clay/to mould me man? Did I solicit thee/from darkness to promote me?” This not only prompts readers to connect the similarities between the characters, as it also encourages readers to question their own thoughts concerning creation.

Victor Frankenstein is a man searching for knowledge. He craves it, actually, and is so focused on finding it that he forgets about any consequence that may come with this knowledge. Being a scientist, he is extremely excited about the concept of doing something that had never been done before. He wanted to make an impact on the world, and like most people, he wanted to be remembered as a person who made a great accomplishment. Using scavenged body parts, Frankenstein creates a being, which he never even gives a name. He refers to the monster as, “devil”, “wretched devil”, and “abhorred devil”. In Paradise Lost, the character of God is often referred to as “the Victor”, which leads me to believe deeply in the level of influence Milton’s novel had on Shelley’s. God and Victor Frankenstein both create life, and just as Victor Frankenstein cast away his creation, God cast away the Devil. Many readers of Frankenstein immediately grasp the concept of Victor Frankenstein playing God. Frankenstein not only creates life, however. He also destroys it, both directly and indirectly. He creates the monster. After the monster requests a mate, Frankenstein creates another being. Then, he destroyed it, causing the monster to be angry. Seeking revenge, the monster murders Victor’s new bride, and this caused Victor’s father to die of grief. By the end of the novel, however, the monster seems to have stolen the role of God from Victor Frankenstein. The actions of the monster now determine the actions of Victor Frankenstein. Victor ends up devoting his life to chasing the monster, and he dies in the process. As soon as the monster realized that Victor was not capable of playing God, he switched the roles. He warns Victor of his ability to reverse the roles when he says, “Remember, thou hast made me more powerful than thyself; my height is superior to thine; my joints more supple.” In Paradise Lost, Adam asks God for a mate. God gave Adam a mate, and the two continued to live in their natural roles. Because Victor did not care about the happiness of his creation, the monster took over as God, forcing Victor into the role of man, leaving him completely powerless and alone. The monster says to Victor, “Man, you shall repent of the injuries you conflict.”
The monster created by Victor Frankenstein had no control over his existence. Like Milton’s Adam, he is frustrated with his creator. The monster, like Adam, is completely alone. He is capable of love, but lacks a partner. In fact, the monster read Paradise Lost, and after reading Adam’s request for a mate, he decided to ask Victor Frankenstein to create another being like him, since his appearance scared away all of the humans that he met. Victor Frankenstein also shares personality traits with Milton’s Adam. Like Adam, Victor searches for knowledge. After finding this knowledge, though, he realizes that he was would have been better off without it. Victor’s entire life changed the minute he found and used the knowledge that he so desperately wanted. Both Adam and Victor failed to think about the consequences that would come with this knowledge, as both were blinded by the thought of having a new understanding of life.

Finally, the monster in Frankenstein is similar to the Devil in Paradise Lost. Milton’s Devil was created by God, but was cast away. The monster was created by Victor Frankenstein, and was also cast away. The monster and the Devil both seek revenge upon their creators, and devote their entire existence to this cause. Both characters are seen as mutated, grotesque, and despised. They were rejected by the society in which they were created.

In conclusion, I believe one will gain a better understanding of Victor Frankenstein and the monster in Frankenstein after he or she understands the roles that God, Adam, and the Devil play in Milton’s Paradise Lost. The monster first attempted to play the role of Adam, and it was only after that attempt failed that he began to become similar to the Devil. If seen in this light, the monster becomes a more human character than before, and readers are more able to sympathize with this character and his unfortunate condition in life. Likewise, one may also see Victor Frankenstein going from a strong character resembling Milton’s God to a hungry, regretful, and clearly human character that better resembles Adam than God. Without understanding the influence Paradise Lost had on Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, the story of creator vs. creation can be twisted into a horror story about a monster on a killing spree. When one understands the influence, however, it becomes a story about power, knowledge, grief, anguish, pain, revenge, love, hate, and rejection. Most importantly, it is a story about life, touching both sides of the birth and death spectrum.