frankenstein blog
Research application
I think that one of the most interesting allusions Mary Shelley includes in Frankenstein is that of the "Myth of Prometheus", the ancient greek mythology that talks about Prometheus and his eternal consequence for creating humanity. It also talks about the actual love that he has for his horrid creation, something we all know is not present in Frankenstein. I think that this is a very interesting connection, between these two stories. In my point of view, they are complete foils of each other. In one we see how Prometheus loves and cherishes his creation (even though other higher positioned gods tells him he is crazy) and in the other we see the apparent hate Victor Frankenstein has upon his creature.
I found this connection and implication in the story very clever, not only because of the straight up contrast these two stories have, but also for the way that the creature actually ends up reading this story of love and consequence and notices the huge difference between these two very different scenarios. The creature hopes and expects Victor to treat him like Prometheus treated the humans. He takes this story, just like Paradise Lost, as the example of what should happen and what is correct, once he notices that this is not his case, he starts his rampage of hate and agony, crazy for revenge. Prometheus basically falls in love with humans, he gives them fire, he stands up against Zeus and other important gods, all for humans. Frankenstein can't stand to look at the creature, "I beheld the wretch- the miserable monster whom I had created" (Chapter 5). Victor is willing to destroy him and leave him in complete misery, he can't even imagine putting the monster up against any one else, needless to say, his family. This is basically what happened with Prometheus, it tied up perfectly with what the creature wanted or expected to happen, and what sadly, never would happen.