Creation Without Love: The Problem of Frankenstein
In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Dr. Frankenstein assumes the role of God by attempting to create new life. He is not, however, prepared for the consequences, and the outward hideousness of his creation compels him to reject the monster. Inwardly, Frankenstein's monster possesses a soul and longs for love and learning. The fact that he must seek both surreptitiously (and is yet still rejected) compels him to lash out -- both at society and at his creator. Along the way, the monster identifies with Milton's Satan -- another creature who lashed out at his creator after feeling spurned. This paper will show how Frankenstein's monster feels rejected by "god" (both the actual God of creation and also Frankenstein in the role of creator-god for the Creature) and how this leads to tragic consequences -- namely, both Frankenstein's and the monster's eventual isolation and death in the frozen Arctic. In short, when love is removed from the act of creation, the creature turns on the creator with a desire to destroy that which never should have been -- because it was made without love.
Even before the novel begins, Shelley uses a quote from Milton's Paradise Lost (the epic poem the monster will later discover and read) which sets the stage for the proceeding action. The quote is one that focuses on the Self and the indignation of the creature lashing out at God for having the wherewithal to create him without his permission: "Did I request thee, Maker, from my clay / To mould Me man? Did I solicit thee / From darkness to promote me" (Milton 10.743-5). The quote comes from Adam but might just as well have come from Satan, who wants to know why God would create things only to spurn them. The underlying issue of the poem is that Satan feels unloved by God and thus spreads misery among...
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