Mary Shelleys Frankenstein and John Miltons Paradise...

Mary Shelleys Frankenstein and John Miltons Paradise Lost â€Å"Forth reaching to the Fruit, She pluck’d, she eat:/ Earth felt the wound, and Nature from her seat/ Sighing through all her Works gave signs of woe,/ That all was lost [†¦]† (PL 8. 781-784) 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.†¦show more content†¦In the true Garden of Eden, Eve is instructed by God that she is not to eat from the forbidden Tree. However, being tempted by Satan himself she is forced to make an age-old decision, one in which all know the outcome. Satan tempts her with the prospect of knowledge, saying, â€Å"[†¦] your Eyes that seem so cleere,/ Yet are but dim, shall perfetly be then/ Op’nd and cleerd, and ye shall be as Gods,/ Knowing both Good and Evil as they know†(PL 8.7 06-708). In Frankenstein, Victor is an â€Å"Eve,† dabbling in affairs reserved for God alone, and seeking a forbidden knowledge. This knowledge is the ability to create life, and, in the process, bring death to Death. He relates that â€Å"[he] might in process of time [†¦] renew life where death had apparently devoted the body to corruption† (55). This search to put an end to Death is Eve’s motive as well. Satan tells her that â€Å"[she] shall not Die† if she eats of the fruit, but only lose her humanity to become a god, if death be considered that. Just as Eve is told that she will be a god if she partakes of the fruit of knowledge, Frankenstein works to create a being to worship him as a god. He says, â€Å"A new species would bless me as its creator and source; many happy and excellent natures would owe their being to me† (55). The creation of the monster draws some parallels between Frankenstein and God in Paradise Lost. Frankenstein’s act of â€Å"bestowing animation upon lifeless matter†Show MoreRelated Essay on Shelleys Frankenstein and Miltons Paradise Lost3164 Words   |  13 PagesShelleys Frankenstein and Miltons Paradise Lost   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Even upon first glance, Mary Shelleys Frankenstein and John Miltons Paradise Lost seem to have a complex relationship, which is discernible only in fractions at a time.   Frankenstein is Mary Shelleys reaction to John Miltons epic poem, in which he wrote the Creation myth as we perceive it today.   His characterizations of Adam and Eve and the interactions of Satan and God and the impending Fall seem to have almost taken a Biblical proportionRead MoreBiblical Analysis Of Mary Shelley s Frankenstein 1376 Words   |  6 Pages16 November 2015 Biblical Analysis: Frankenstein Frankenstein by Mary Shelley often refers to the bible on a number of occasions. 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