Frankenstein

Frankenstein Research Paper
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley is a Gothic novel that is categorized into the Romantic period. It is a novel based on framed narrative where all sides of the story are given by each character. It is a novel where Victor is a Catch-22 for the Monster and vice versa. The downfall of a character or a persona is characterized by their leading actions that took them to theirdeepest waters. It is here that we ask the following; did him or her deserve their nemesis? By alluding to Paradise Lost, Mary Shelley relates God to Victor, and the monster to Adam and Satan, making it easier for the reader to form their nemesis for the following characters. Mary Shelley’s characters show a large resemblance with John Milton’s Paradise Lost characters.

Within Paradise LostVictor and God share some resemblance upon their creation. God created a masterful creature, beautiful in all aspects and divine in the eye. Contrary to God, Victor created a monstrous creature. An unlookable monster that scared away even its own creator, "Accursed creator! Why did you form a monster so hideous that even you turned from me in disgust?" (Shelley 133). Victor created a monster so uglythat even he turned away from it in disgust, giving it no opportunity to succeed what so ever. Unlike god, Victor denies affection to the monster since the very first day of his insolent creation and does not take responsibility for his actions, a complete fiasco when it comes to parenting. On the other hand God did not turn away from Adam and Eve at first. He nourished and took care of them,waited until he had a good enough reason, until Adam and Eve fell into temptation. Until they did wrong God took the necessary actions to control the situation (Frankenstein). Victor had the same role of the creator, yet he did not realize so. The monster Victor created had all power over him, sort of like when a dog has power over its owner. In such situation like Victor’s and the monster’s, God andAdam and Eve, and as well as a dog and its owner, roles are given out but who ever grabs on to the leash first will have the alpha role. While god created Adam, he thought about everything that summed up to be solely “Adam”. On the other hand the monster’s face/appearance serves as proof for Victor’s irresponsibility. His face demonstrates the pure reason of experimentation. God planned hiscreation, like a responsible parent ready to have kids. Victor instead did not think of the possibility of life, more like an unplanned teen pregnancy. Take the monsters appearance in consideration: Victor gives it an enormous silhouette, a distorted face that even scares himself, and a sliced and stitched up body. He never took into consideration how such a creature could possibly interact withhumanity (Frankenstein). Mary Shelley does this to show Victor’s irresponsibility, making the reader feel less pity through each passing page.

The Monster created by Victor is similar to Adam in the way that they were the first of their own kind in the world; they were alone and different from the rest. However dissimilarities between them two set them apart. The monster was created simply forexperimental purposes, science research; while Adam was created with a reason and even given a name, and a companion. In John Milton’s Paradise Lost, God created Adam a companion, a woman that accompanied him through day to day life, “a creature grew [under God’s hands], / Manlike, but different sex, so lovely fair, / That what seemed fair in all the world, seemed now / Mean” (8.470–73) (Jungman202-206). When the Monster asked Victor for a female companion Victor rejected his request replying, “ Begone! I do break my promises; never will I create another like yourself, equal in deformity and wickedness”(Shelley 172). The Monster is left alone to experience love, hate, fear, happiness and sadness in a cruel world that fears alienated strangers. Even Victor, the monster’s creator feared such...