Caleb

Frankenstein and Paradise Lost Synthesis Paper Does a creator who brings life to the lifeless resemble God, or does he hopelessly pine away cursed by creation? Is the monster more closely related to humans or the embodiment of everything against them? What could a horrible, disgusting behemoth and a belly-buttonless man have in common? Will those kids ever learn to share, and give that rabbit some Trix? The answers to such pondering are not simple or convenient; we have all had that eureka moment come to us in a half-dream whilst dozing off tucked into bed or from the warmth of a remote shower on a cold morning contemplating whether or not to just stay there all day. No, this is not the stark raving mad rantings of a lunatic, but only the musings of a mildly sleep-deprived British Literature student. In the book Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, an crucial allusion to Paradise Lost by John Milton is made. In this scene, the monster compares himself to both Adam and Satan, but I believe it is equally important to understand Victor Frankenstein as both God the creator and Satan the fallen. The first comparison between the two works, and the most obvious one, is the parallel between the creator and creation. In Paradise Lost, God creates Adam in His image, and in Frankenstein, Victor creates his monster when he discovers how to bestow the spark of life. Very soon after his creation, the monster is quickly abandoned by Victor, who makes it quite clear how disgusting he thinks the monster is. Similarly, God creates Adam from another world, and there is a literal physical barrier between the creator and creation. Unlike Victor however, God goes through great lengths prior to Adam's creation to establish a world in which he can belong and have divine guidance to thrive in. Adam is born into the Garden of Eden, which Milton regularly describes as an absolutely beautiful sight, with the task to be the caretaker to the rest of God's creation. There is only one rule, and it is to not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. In Paradise Lost, Adam knows and loves his creator, and is given a means to communicate with Him; God even sends his angels to counsel a confused Adam as temptation to break this rule draws near, imparting knowledge of Satan. Frankenstein's monster is born to a world unprepared for him. He has no task or purpose, and after Victor runs away horrified, no connection to human society. While both him and Adam are born with free will, the monster does not receive any sort of guidance, and is completely left to his own devices to interpret the world around him. Adam has free will in the sense that he has the choice to do what he wishes, but he is shown the right way and given a rule to follow. The monster is left to discover everything about the world he now exists in on his own, but his free will is limited by his horrendous looks. Both man and the monster arrive at disastrous conclusions in their pursuit of knowledge. Though it was Eve who first ate the fruit of the tree of knowledge, Adam eventually also ate it. In doing so, they both learned of evil and sin, but simultaneously their perfect nature became flawed which separated them from God and brought about death. In an effort to learn anything about the world he was brought into existence, Frankenstein's monster lived in a shed, observing a family. In doing so, he learned how to speak and read, but ultimately he ended up rejected by people he had anonymously helped based solely on his appearance. Also with his newfound ability to read, the monster is able to decipher Victor's journals only to find out how he was created and the complete disgust his master has for him. The sharp pangs of rejection do not stop there though. The monster is shot for saving a drowning girl, and Victor refuses him a bride. The knowledge the monster gained through experience only shows how alone he is to be in the world. Unlike Adam, the monster had no guidance in his