It goes without saying that the works of Milton, especially Paradise Lost, were fresh in Mary Shelley’s mind at the time of Frankenstein’s writing (Small 57). The character traits and conventions displayed by Victor Frankenstein and his creature parallel those of Paradise Lost’s God, Satan, and Adam in more ways than one. It is important for those who wade through the two epics in question to not just read what is in front of them, but also to interpret and learn from the actions of the characters. After all, it is of every person’s desire to achieve his or her own paradise, whether that be in the waking or afterlife. If he or she ever does get that opportunity, surely the last thing they want to wind up down the road is, “Paradise has been lost.”

�� account of creation and fall (Burris). When it comes to Shelley’s Frankenstein, Milton’s pre-Romanticism poetic work (Lynch) that used ''things unattempted yet in Prose or Rhyme” (Milton I. 16) holds much merit when deciphering the true knowledge held within Shelley’s timeless classic. For it is the intricately designed, but at the same time very parallel, characters in both works that make the lessons that they teach all that more significant.

By the time the monster makes this statement, forces beyond its control have already tainted it. The obvious breakdown, though, does not impede on its ability to draw intricate links between himself and Adam. Both the creature and Adam are the product of a creator that made them unique, Victor Frankenstein and God respectively. Mary Shelley contributed to the character links not only with the story’s dialogue, but also by inserting the three line prose, “Did I request thee, Maker, from my clay / To mold me man? Did I solicit thee / From darkness to promote me?” (Milton, X. 743-45) into the novel’s epigraph (Shelley 20). While the snippet from Paradise Lost is never spoken, nor mentioned in the novel, this quote, originally spoken by Adam, can very easily be imagined as coming from the mouth of the creature. Closing sentence????

Even in today’s enlightened world, the idea of “playing God” is still looked upon with great controversy (Rice-Oxley). In Frankenstein, scientist Victor Frankenstein does just that by becoming the creator of his very own creature. Paradise Lost sees much of the same happen on a much

Some topics in this essay:
Paradise Lost, Frankenhooker Wolf, Milton’s Satan, Adam Adam, Satan Victor, Mary Shelley, Milton IX, Victor Frankenstein, Rhyme” Milton, Justine Clerval, paradise lost, victor frankenstein, “paradise lost”, mary shelley’s, john milton, corrupted thanks, creature looked, god victor, shelley’s frankenstein, mary shelley,