Books Within Books: Literature in Frankenstein

Some of the most significant insight that provides the reader with a deeper understanding of the Creature is illustrated in the literature that he reads in order to further identify with humankind. Mary Shelley's choices in literature for the Creature each contribute a new dimension by which the reader can further understand him. These works additionally provide an avenue through which the Creature himself can learn about human nature. Not only does the creature relate to the books that he reads, he learns new levels of emotion through them.

The Sorrows of Werter ends in the suicide of the main character. Since the Creature often finds himself questioning his purpose in life and whether it is worth living, the book effectively serves as a parallel to his torment. The volume of Plutarch's Lives that the Creature reads covers the "histories of the first founders of the ancient republics." Through this book the Creature says that he begins to see the world beyond what he knows. Paradise Lost deals with God's creation of
Man.
This is perhaps the most appropriate book for the Creature, as he finds himself in similar predicaments as Adam and Satan.

The Sorrows of Werter teaches the Creature "despondency and gloom." The book also compels the Creature to examine himself in contrast to the world around him - he questions his place in the world as well as his identity. The creature is continuously isolated and rejected by those he has felt compassion towards. When he saves the girl that falls into the water, her father goes after him. Although he brings the cottagers wood for kindling, they chase him away. The reader can interpret the Creature's quote, "Cursed, cursed Creator! Why did I live?" as a reflection of the despondency that he discovers through The Sorrows of Werter. He contemplates what he could have done and mentions that he could have ended his own life.

Plutarch's Lives develops the framework by which the Creature comes to understand the world around him. He says that the work taught him "high thoughts." His world was a microcosm that consisted of the cottagers. However, the book elevated the Creature's understanding of the rest of the world that he never acquainted himself with.

When the creature likens himself to Adam as a bitter product of Victor's obsession to play God, he says that God made Adam beautiful, yet Victor made him so hideous that even he was disgusted by the Creature. However, the reader can interpret this analogy as one that reflects the true Victor Frankenstein. In Christian belief, God is perfect, whereas Victor, as a human, is imperfect. The hideousness that the Creature refers to in himself illustrates the internal Victor.

He later likens himself to Satan because he can relate to Satan's envy over the bliss that his protectors possess. The Creature can both be compared and contrasted to Satan. In spite of the bitterness that he shares with Satan, he possesses the benevolence to help out those in need.

The Creature alludes to Paradise Lost by calling Victor his "cursed creator" on more than one occasion in the book. This allusion provides a deeper insight into Victor's motives for replicating the human form. Victor's unhealthy obsession with making the Creature may represent a sense of bitterness toward his own creator. This resentment may indicate that his creation of life is an attempt to convey the message, consciously or unconsciously, that his own creator was inadequate in his work.

Overall, the literary choices that serve as a backdrop to the Creature's persona fit well within the novel. They each provide the reader with a clearer understanding of the Creature's anguish.