as influenced in her creation of Frankenstein very strongly by Ovid and Milton. Ovid’s influence supplied her with yet another doppleganger, this one resembling the monster’s mad creator. The story that Victor Frankenstein was drawn from is that of Prometheus, who was the Greek creator of mankind and the one responsible for giving the gift of heavenly fire to his creation. The creation of the monster is similar to this passage from Ovid: “Whether with particles of heav’nly fire, the god of nature did his soul inspire; Or earth, but new divided from the sky, and, pliant, still retain’d the th’ ethereal energy; Which wise Prometheus temper’d into paste, and, mix’t with living streams, the godlike image cast… from such rude principles our form began; and the earth was metamorphosed into man.” Lines from Frankenstein that reflect the above passage are; “I collected the instruments of life around me, that I might infuse a spark of being into the lifeless thing that lay at my feet.” “…that I may extinguish the spark which I so negligently bestowed.” (Desert Aine 2, 1-2)The spirit of Milton’s Paradise Lost permeates Frankenstein. On page 240 the monster states; “the fallen angel becomes a malignant devil. Yet even the enemy of God and man has friends and associates in his desolation; I am alone.” The monster compares himself to Milton’s character of the devil, yet he sees himself as even lower because he has no companion in his solitude, whereas the devil has cohorts even in his state of damnation. (Desert Aine 2, 1-2)Three themes appear from the two works that correlate with Frankenstein:-The molding of a living being from clay-The growth of malice and the desire for revenge-The isolation of the hostile being and the consequent increase of his hostilityShelley even had the monster study Paradise Lost in his period of iso...
