Allusion in Frankenstein

In Greek mythology, Prometheus is a Titan who stole fire from the gods and gave it to humans. Fire was forbidden to humans, and because of this crime, Zeus chained Prometheus to a mountaintop for eternal torture. Shelley subtitles her novel The Modern Prometheus because of Victor's thirst for forbidden knowledge, his eventual ability to create life, and his miserable consequences; in a sense, this makes him Shelley’s Prometheus.

This is a direct reference to Samuel Coleridge’s “Rime of the Ancient Mariner,” a lengthy poem considered to be one of the first of the romantics. The main character of that poem, also a sea captain exploring the Arctic (“the land of mist and snow”), encounters misfortune, including a ruined ship and starved crew, after killing an albatross. Similarly to Frankenstein, the mariner’s story is a frame story, where the mariner recounts his story to a narrator. In referencing it, Walton shows that he is well read, despite his worries of self-education—and that he seeks to reassure his sister that a similar fate will not befall him.

This is an allusion to Samuel Taylor Coleridge's 1798 poem, “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.” In this poem, the Mariner kills an albatross during a sea voyage. The albatross symbolizes all of God's creatures, and sailors consider the bird a symbol of good luck. Killing the albatross curses the entire ship. Walton assures Margaret of his safety by claiming that he will not return as the “Ancient Mariner.”

Henry Clerval was fascinated by historical tales of heroism. He drew inspiration from a number of historical sources. These included soldiers of the Battle of Roncesvalles who sacrificed themselves for the salvation of their comrades. The knights of King Arthur’s Round Table also demonstrated legendary bravery in battle. Lastly, the holy sepulchre refers to Jesus Christ’s burial site, of which the crusaders attempted to recover from the Turks. All three of these historical references in some way or another exalt bravery and courage over cowardice and excessive pride. Their inclusion here may be seen as an ironic foreshadowing of Frankenstein’s fate.

Frankenstein’s desire to bring “light into our dark world” reveals him to be like the Greek Titan Prometheus, who first gave fire to humanity and betrayed the will of the gods. For this, Prometheus was punished. We’ll soon see the consequences of Frankenstein’s actions. Furthermore, words like “break” and “torrent” reveal how Frankenstein’s violent impulses and lofty dreams are typical of romantic heroes. Since he has a heightened comprehension of the world, he must exist outside society, isolated in his pursuit.

This allusion refers to a story from the anthology of Arabian tales A Thousand and One Nights. In one particular tale, Sinbad escapes from his wife’s tomb, in which he had been interred by villains. This allusion to an Arabian tale, rather than a European one, serves as an important cross-cultural reference. Finding this “passage to life” serves as motivation for Frankenstein and, therefore, the plot of the novel. Romantics were often fascinated by Arabian stories and culture because they considered it exotic. That Shelley grounds the pivotal moments in this novel with allusions to Arabian tales supports the themes of romanticism throughout the tale.

Frankenstein alludes to the Italian Renaissance-era poet Dante Alighieri. In his three-book epic, the Divine Comedy, Dante writes of a journey through hell, purgatory, and heaven. Frankenstein is specifically alluding to Inferno, the first book of the epic, in which Dante describes the cast of demonic figures populating hell — including all manner of monster, beast and devil.

Shelley is referring to Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s [“The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”] (https://www.owleyes.org/text/rime-ancient-mariner) to depict Victor’s situation and feelings. Figuratively, Victor walks on a “lonely road” in the story, since he is the only one who knows about his own wrongful act; he is alone in fearing and dreading the consequences of his actions. At the same time, it is too late for Victor to turn back or to fix the messy situation because his creation, “a frightful fiend” is hunting him down.

Here, instead of an allusion, we see a direct reference to Shelley's contemporary, and her dad's friend: Samuel Taylor Coleridge. The "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" (by Coleridge) and Frankenstein (by Shelley) are both Romantic pieces that delve into the grotesque.  How appropriate it is to include this quote. Just as the character in Coleridge's "Rime" simply looks straight ahead in order to not see the supernatural behind him, so does the main character in Shelley's Frankenstein try to look straight ahead in order not to see "the creature" behind him.

This is an allusion to the poem “Orlando Furioso” by Ludovico Ariosto. In it, a beautiful woman Angelica attracts anyone who sees her because her beauty is so stunning and pure.

This phrasing is likely an allusion to the biblical gospels, in which sinners react to their final judgments by painfully grinding their teeth. Though Victor has not yet been fully punished for his arrogance, one part of his sentence has already been handed down: the death of the innocent Justine.

It is interesting that the creature chooses to compare his homey hut to Satan’s Pandemonium. This might suggest that the creature thinks of himself as a type of wicked creature, such as a devil. The creature sees his first days as similar to burning on a lake of fire—a punishment fit for the devil who rebelled against God. However, at this point in the story the creature has not done anything befitting of this extreme punishment. Rather, his creator abandoned him to a world that believes his is terrifying and hideous. This allusion to Milton demonstrates the creature’s self-hatred and Frankenstein’s cruelty to his creation.

In Milton’s Paradise Lost, Books I & II detail the fall of Satan and his followers after they lose the war against god in heaven. They are cast onto a burning lake of fire where they experience torturing pain and suffering. Satan and some of his chief lieutenants drag themselves out of the lake and build a great palace called Pandemonium. Within Pandemonium, the devils plot their revenge against heaven.

Notice how the creature quickly learns how to use tools and sustain himself with the fire. This interaction with the fire symbolizes the birth of his intelligence. It also alludes to the story of Prometheus in which humanity’s civilization and knowledge was able to grow after the titan god gave them forbidden fire.

In Greek mythology, Prometheus was a titan god who created humanity. To help his creations build civilization and grow, Prometheus stole fire from the Gods and gave it to humanity against Zeus’s will. As punishment, Zeus chained Prometheus to a rock and sent an eagle to pluck out his liver every day. The creature’s encounter with fire symbolizes his growing humanity and emerging intelligence.

In his reading of Paradise Lost, the creature considers which fallen figure he most nearly resembles. He does not associate with Adam, for Adam was made beautiful and was given a home. The creature then feels a closer association to Lucifer, who is, like him, gripped by envy and bitterness. In many ways, however, Victor Frankenstein is more akin to Lucifer than his creature. While Frankenstein has committed the satanic sin of pride by imitating the divine act of creation, his creature has done no such act. While Victor and the creature would both consider themselves to be wholly different from each other, the question of how each resembles Lucifer provides one way for considering how they are also alike.

The Sorrows of Werter, usually translated from the German as The Sorrows of Young Werther, is a 1774 novel by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. The novel, which details the romantic yearnings of a young man, was a widely popular work in its time. The writers of the romantic era were particularly moved by the novel, whose influences can be seen in Frankenstein. Like Shelley’s novel, Werther employs an epistolary style and centers on an emotionally turbulent young man.

Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans, often referred to as Plutarch’s Lives, is a non-fiction work written by the Roman historian Plutarch in the early 2nd century CE. The Lives is a series of biographies of important figures from the classical world, including Romulus, Caesar, and Alexander the Great. While Paradise Lost introduced the creature to the Judeo-Christian tradition, Plutarch’s Lives introduced him to the Greco-Roman tradition.

Paradise Lost is an epic poem written by the English poet John Milton in 1667. The central theme of Paradise Lost is the archetypal fall from grace, a mythic pattern which plays out in Frankenstein. In Paradise Lost, Lucifer experiences a fall when God casts him out of heaven for his pride. Lucifer then tempts Adam and Eve into a fall from grace when he appears in Eden. Nearly every important character in Frankenstein undergoes a unique fall.

Further, and although the creature doesn't seem to realize it here, Adam was natural and in a state of perfected nature (the Garden of Eden).  The creature (as unnatural as it is) cannot compare.

This is an allusion to Milton’s Paradise Lost. In the first book, Satan realizes that heaven and hell are within him with his famous lines: “The mind is its own place, and in itself / Can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven.” This line suggests that heaven is not objectively perfect and hell is not objectively horrible; the state of the place depends on one’s perception. The creature cannot find peace or beauty in nature because his rage colors his perspective. Like Satan, the creature’s anger and envy turn this paradise into hell.

The creature’s identification with Satan becomes more concrete when he likens himself to a “snake, that I may sting with its venom.” The snake, form Satan takes as tempter in the Garden of Eden, is the symbolic of humanity’s fall. The creature hopes to take vengeance on humanity in a similar manner.

In this passage, Frankenstein likens himself to the ancient Greek mythological figure of Icarus. Given a pair of wings by his father, Dædalus, Icarus flies off over the sea. Enraptured by the godlike gift of flight, Icarus flies so close to the sun that the wings catch fire and melt, sending him crashing into the sea to drown. Each element of Icarus’s flight—the lofty flight, the burning, the sinking fall—are reflected in the language of this passage. Both Icarus and Frankenstein are humans guilty of hubris, the sin of excessive pride.