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Essay / Allusion Analysis of Paradise Lost - 1004
In the passage, Milton's book Paradise Lost has been used both as an allusion and as an inter-text. Milton's vision of the Christian creation story triggered an existential crisis within the creature, causing him to question his "birth" and his place in society. The excessive amount of references to Genesis presented in just a few sentences includes naming Adam, God, and Satan and using it as a parallel to his situation. The creature considers itself an allegory of Adam, since both are the first creation of their respective creators: Victor Frankenstein and God. Victor Frankenstein's ability to create and "birth" parallels him with God. On the other hand, Victor orphaned his "Adam" once he saw the incompleteness of his thought process and the flaws of his creation, God, out of mercy, made the man beautiful and attractive, in its own image, but my form is a dirty type of yours, more horrible still because of the very resemblance. The creature shaped himself and his understanding of the world based on the book Paradise Lost, in which he grasped the concept of revenge and punishing his creator by taking away the other important people in the creator's life. Satan lured Adam and Eve out of Eden and the creature murdered the members of his creator's family one by one. Another similarity between the creature and Satan is that both are extremely jealous of the human race. Whether Adam, Satan, or the creature, they are clearly the creation of a creator, and this concept means that one way or another they do not have the same status than the “good”. When examining the adjective used by the creature to describe Adam and himself, an interesting pattern can be noticed. Adam was described as a “perfect creature,” “happy,” “prosperous,” “beautiful,” “attractive,” and “guided by the special care of his Creator”; all this contradicts the description he gives of himself. When talking about himself, he used a selection of negative vocabulary, such as calling himself "miserable, helpless and alone", "lonely", "hated", "your dirty type, more horrible by his very resemblance", “a monster”. so hideous that even you turned away from me in disgust.” As mentioned in the previous paragraph, he was complimenting the beauty of his work when he remarked “in the glow of the half-extinguished light I saw the dull yellow eye of the creature open; he was breathing heavily and a convulsive movement shook his limbs” (49). Instead of doing anything, he flees the room and leads to the creature fleeing, "fresh" into the world, without any indication for it to live nor a strong desire from Victor Frankenstein for the to bring back. God built the Garden of Eden for Adam to live in, established rules and gave him responsibilities, whereas Frankenstein went to great lengths to avoid his creation simply because it is hideous, neglecting humanity in him. Just as Adam received Eve as a mate, so too does the creature long for a mate. “Satan had his companions, demonic companions, to admire and encourage him; but I am lonely and hated” demonstrated his firm desire to no longer be a loner and an outcast. By declining the creature's need and demand for social interaction, this caused the creature to have a twisted view of the world inherited from the three book series he read and caused him to declare war on his creator, similar to what Satan and Lucifer did when they turned against them. by God. From this, it is obvious that Victor Frankenstein does not take responsibility for his creation. In this