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The books in Frankenstein

Mary Shelleys Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus, is a book riddled with other literary works
throughout. Shelley uses these intertextual references to add to her story and emphasize certain events
and themes in the book. In chapter 15, when the monster finds the bag of books abandoned in the
forest a convenient coincidence for the purpose of Mary Shelley's story he gains access to three texts
from which he derives his first general understanding of the world. The three texts are: Milton's
Paradise Lost, Plutarch's Lives, and Goethe's The Sorrows of Young Werther. He regards these books as
his treasures, and they are of infinite importance to him. Having acquired language and a sense of
human family and communal life from his observation of the de Laceys, he is now in a position to extend
that knowledge on a wider historical and cultural basis.

The choice of books that he finds is not accidental, and Mary Shelley has selected them for the following
reasons. Firstly, they are to enlighten the monster in very specific ways and secondly, they are to enrich
the thematic content of her novel. From Plutarch's Lives, the creature derives what he calls high
thoughts'. The subjects of The lives are idealistic men who founded the early classical republics. He
learns about towns and cities where large groups of men and women live together, so he discovers the
idea of human society. He finds out about the vicious behaviour of some men in public and comes to
admire virtuous men and peaceful lawmakers.

The Sorrows of Young Werther by Goethe offers the creature new insights into the world of the feelings.
Its domestic settings appeal to his experience with the de Lacey family. He sympathises with both the
height of the hero's happiness and the depths of his despair. The novel prompts him to ask questions
about his own identity and destiny.

By including Paradise Lost, Shelley introduces another story of creation that readers can compare the
creation to which Victor gives life, to God and Adam. Paradise Lost emphasizes the unique creator-
creation relationship that the creature has with Victor. This relationship is made unique because of the
hatred the creature feels toward Victor in response to the disgust and neglect Victor expresses toward
the creature. Thus, Paradise Lost by Milton arouses the creatures strongest feelings. He is fascinated by
the story of God the Creator at war with his own creations. He compares himself unfavourably with
Adam, who enjoys the love and protection of his creator. He also compares himself with Satan, in that
he lacks the love that the de Laceys share.

Indeed, the books in Frankenstein has a remarkable effect on the creature. The creature is enthralled
with Werther's meditations upon death and suicide; with Plutarch's elevated regard for the heroes of
past generations; and with the grand themes presented in Paradise Lost. He reads all of the books as
though they were true histories, and regards Milton's story of the struggle between God and his
creations as completely factual. In his mind, the biblical story defines his own. He does not see himself
as Adam, however, but as Satan: unlike Adam, he is alone, without a Creator to protect him or an Eve to
sustain him. He is full of envy, wretched, and utterly an outcast.

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