The Theme Of Original Evil In Frankenstein

The creature began to converse freely with the blind father who addressed him with kindness. However, when his two children returned, the daughter fainted and the son "dashed me to the ground and struck me violently with a stick" forcing the creature to "quit the cottage and escape unperceived to my hovel" (115). These acts of cruelty emphasize how often humanity stereotypes individuals. Just because a creature looks monstrous does not mean his intentions match his appearance. After this heartbreaking event, the monster decides to stop seeking love and instead to seek revenge against his creator and attempt to force Victor to create a companion for him. The creature attempts to explain his cruel ways when he exclaims, "There was none among the myriads of men that existed who would pity or assist me; and should I feel kindness towards my

In the gothic novel Frankenstein, Mary Shelley weaves an intricate web of allusions through her characters’ expedient desires for knowledge. Both the actions of Frankenstein, as well as his monster allude to John Milton’s Paradise Lost. Book eight of Milton’s story relates the tale of Satan’s temptation and Eve’s fateful hunger for knowledge. The infamous Fall of Adam and Eve introduced the knowledge of good and evil into a previously pristine world. With one swift motion sin was birthed, and the perfection of the earth was swept away, leaving pain and malevolence in its wake. The troubles of Victor Frankenstein begin with his quest for knowledge, and end where all end: death. The characters in Frankenstein are a conglomeration of those

Victor wants to create life to feel like a god but ultimately realizes that humans beings can not be god. The monster grapples with the fact that he wants to be like Adam but ends up like Lucifer. This essay will prove that man should not play god because man is unfit to play god. God is an all knowing being that knows more than use. It will also prove that the Creature through his struggles of trying to be loved, he will only end up being hated even more.

Shelley also attempts to express that Victor’s failure as a father and creator stems from his inability to accept responsibility for his actions. The monster, who openly regrets his actions and recognizes that he has done wrong, “demonstrates that on one count he is more human than the man who fabricated him--for remorse is one emotion that Frankenstein cannot feel” (Marcus). Victor cannot feel remorse for his actions, because he would be forced to accept responsibility for them. To accept that he is responsible for the creation of such an evil being would require that Victor admit that he has failed in his

Hence, this reflects a similar dilemma as the one God and Satan have in Paradise Lost, Satan can be comparable to Victor’s creature since he can also speak rationally and persuasively and Victor can be comparable to god as he is the creator of his creature. The creature and Victor to have one common trait of both being ambitious, but the creature is vengeful. The creature wants revenge on Victor because he asked him to make him a partner so he is not alone anymore, but Victor denied him of that so in return the creature planned to make Victor feel as lonely as he felt. Though this was a gradual plan which he proposed as concepts of family, love, and care the creature understood overtime. When the creature comes to life Victor leaves it alone as he is disgusted by it, “breathless horror and disgust filled my heart.” (Shelley 42). The creature at the time had little idea of what was happening around him and was just searching for basic necessities of shelter, food and clothing, but his interactions with others he was able to understand how he was perceived. The creature main education came from observing the De Lacey family and the village that they lived in especially from the books that he finds in the hut. The books are significant as they help him recognize the world around him and his feelings. In Plutarch’s Lives he learns about “higher thought” and of kingdoms, seas and large countries which are all very confusing to him as he has only known the village that he

The lack of an origin causes the monster to exhibit characteristics of Satan. While talking to Victor the Monster states, “Remember that I am thy creature; I ought to be thy Adam, but I am rather the fallen angel”(81). The monster demonstrates feelings of betrayal and abandonment as he is seen by Victor as a lesser being due to his “fallen angel”(81) status. A continuous reference to Adam demonstrates the Monsters desire to be loved by Victor for being a successful creation. However, the Monster faces reality in that he was abandoned, since Victor was “unable to endure the aspect of the being [he] had created”(44). The Monster’s expulsion from Victor’s life fuels his insecurities as he begins to “considered Satan as the fitter emblem of [his] condition”(110). Victor’s abandonment parallels to the story of Satan as he was cast out of heaven by God, similarly to how the Monster was cast out of Victor’s life. Not only, does the Monster take on the name of Satan, but also a few of the

and from there he compares his existence to Adam while Victor plays the role as the cruel God. The

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is very much a commentary on the Enlightenment and its failure to tame the human condition through reason. The human condition can be defined as the unique features which mold a human being. The creature is undoubtedly a victim of this predicament. He grapples with the meaning of life, the search for gratification, the sense of curiosity, the inevitability of isolation, and the awareness of the inescapability of death. These qualities and his ceaseless stalking of his master conjure up the metaphor that he is the shadow of the Enlightenment. Indeed, the Enlightenment is represented through Frankenstein whereas the creature is the embodiment of everything it shuns. These include nature, emotion, and savagery. The two characters are understood as counterparts and yet strikingly similar at the same time. The creature is considered a monster because of his grotesque appearance. Frankenstein on the other hand is a monster of another kind: his ambition, secrecy, and selfishness alienate him from human society. He is eventually consumed by an obsessive hatred of his creation. Both characters also commit primordial crimes. Although rationality pervades through Frankenstein's endeavours, it can be argued that he becomes less human the more he tries to be God. The secret of life lies beyond an accepted boundary from which none can return. By creating life Frankenstein ironically sets the stage for his own destruction as well as that of his family. The

In Shelley’s Frankenstein, the monster commits a number of immoral acts out of rage. These actions are directly related to the monsters creation and upbringing. The burden of fault for the monsters actions rests on Victor Frankenstein’s shoulders alone.

The creature feels abandoned by his creator, Victor, and proclaims to him: “Remember that I am thy creature; I ought to be thy Adam, but I am rather the fallen angel” (Shelley 87). Shelley refers to the creature as being abandoned by Victor just as God abandoned angel Lucifer after he committed terrible sin. The reference to Adam in the Bible is a reoccurring theme which reflects how Victor’s abandonment of the creature caused him to do harm. Victor brings his monster into the world as an innocent creature, or so the creature believes. However, society rejects the creature because of his appearance and he is corrupted to a life of misery, thus losing his innocence. Shelley uses this allusion to prove that as humans (or creatures of similar nature, in this case) experience the corruption that exists in the world, their innocence is lost.

     There are many different themes expressed in Mary Shelly's Frankenstein. They vary with each reader but basically never change. These themes deal with the education that each character posses, the relationships formed or not formed in the novel, and the responsibility for ones own actions. This novel even with the age still has ideas that can be reasoned with even today.

In Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein, the inter-textual connection to the bible is prominent throughout the whole novel. Shelley connected the monster to Adam, Satan, the story of Eve and Adam and the monster reading Paradise Lost. Seeing as the bible was a highly read and recommended text during the early 19th century, Shelley’s establishment of the references served to establish Frankenstein as a sort of allegory of moralist text. She begins her biblical allusions with the idea of creations, mistakes and sins.

John Milton’s Paradise Lost is an epic poem that describes the fall of Satan and the expulsion of Adam and Eve from Paradise. Satan is the protagonist of Paradise Lost and has several characteristics in which readers may identify with him. Throughout the poem, Satan is not only a tragic hero but also the key character that drives the plot and portrays many flawed human qualities. As an angel fallen from the high esteem of God and a possessor of hubris that leads to his downfall, he represents a tragic hero but also a character in which readers may identify with.

In Frankenstein – A Critical Study from a Freudian Perspective, it compares the monster and Victor and concludes that the monster and Victor is the “mirror-inversion”, it states that they “both are intelligent and well educated, and both start out with the impulse to be good” (Johnson 3), for example: Victor is a “dutiful son and the monster in his efforts to help the de Lacey family”, and “Yet both end up as murderers, haunted and hunted by each other” (Johnson 3). I agree with this, Victor and the monster are like contradictory parts of a same person; the monster is active and energetic but also violent and cruel, it is like the evil side of Victor. And this is the reason that Victor constantly tries to get rid of the monster but fail to do so: the monster represents Victor’s dark side, and Victor can’t escape from his own negative thoughts. Moreover, every time when Victor makes the decision which relates to the monster, the monster is like a mirror that reflects Victor’s irresponsible, timid and selfish characters, and it’s the growing of these negative characters which lead Victor to frequently make the false decision. Overall, the monster makes Victor comes to a deep understanding of his characters: if Victor does not create the monster, he would never know how destructive his mind is; also,

John Milton's epic “Paradise Lost” is one that has brought about much debate since its writing. This epic tells the Biblical story of Adam and Eve, although from a different perspective than what most people usually see. Milton tells the story more through the eyes of Satan, whom most people usually consider the ultimate villain. The way in which Satan is portrayed in this story has caused speculation as to whether Satan is actually a hero in this situation. He certainly has heroic qualities throughout the story, yet still is ultimately responsible for Adam and Eve's sin. Satan can easily be classified as a hero in this story, as well as the main antagonist, depending on the viewpoint of the reader. Milton introduces Satan as an important