Reading Milton in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

Abstract

abstract:This article suggests that Frankenstein engages Paradise Lost with more consistency and nuance than critics have acknowledged. Rather than a straightforwardly agonistic response, the novel instead presents different kinds of Miltonic readers in its characters: the Milton-literate Creature, the Milton-oblivious Robert Walton, and the aware but studiously avoidant Victor Frankenstein. Redistributing labor from Milton's Adam, Eve, Satan, and God the Father to Frankenstein's various characters, the novel raises questions about the world of its characters and of Milton's epic. Practicing both adaptation and critique, Frankenstein dissents from other Romantic responses to prove surprisingly sympathetic to aspects of Paradise Lost's Reformist ethos.