29 February 2012

Sympathy for the devil: Paradise lost and Frankenstein


              Shelly’s portrayal of the monster is like that of Milton’s character of Lucifer. Like a jealous child, the daemon sometimes comes off as more bitter than malevolent, and like Satan he strikes at the favored family of his creator. The monster hanging over the grave of his creator in the books final scene seems to mirror the image of Madam Frankenstein hanging over the corpse of her own late father shortly before her deliverance from great misfortune. Frankenstein’s monster was not so lucky and no savior came for him.
  Are we therefore meant to see the daemon as a victim of his circumstance, and the avatar of Frankenstein’s punishment for being a negligent parent (which is own parents never were)? Or is the daemon (much like Satan himself) simply so eloquent and self-serving that he entices an undeserved feeling of pity in an effort to try gain our forgiveness for things which are inherently unforgivable. Who are we meant to blame for the horrible misfortune of the family Frankenstein and their friends (the human race) - Frankenstein( God), or his monster(Satan) ?

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