Chapter 15 of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is rich with literary and biblical allusions, as the Creature, having learned to read and understand human language, recounts his self-education and the profound impact of the books he encounters. These allusions are crucial for understanding the Creature's developing self-awareness, his perception of humanity, and his feelings of isolation and despair.
Key Allusions in Chapter 15 of Frankenstein
The Creature's readings in the DeLacey's cottage expose him to foundational texts that shape his identity and worldview. The primary allusions include:
| Allusion Source | Significance to the Creature |
|---|---|
| The Bible | The Creature directly compares his own existence to that of Adam and Eve, lamenting his lack of a partner and a benevolent creator, highlighting his profound loneliness and sense of injustice. |
| Milton's Paradise Lost | This epic poem becomes a central text for the Creature. He initially identifies with Adam, viewing himself as Victor's creation, but also later with Satan, feeling abandoned and betrayed by his creator and forced into an existence of solitude and vengeance. |
| Goethe's The Sorrows of Young Werther | The Creature empathizes deeply with Werther's emotional suffering, unrequited love, and despair, finding parallels to his own longing for acceptance and companionship. |
| Plutarch's Parallel Lives | Through these biographies of ancient heroes and statesmen, the Creature learns about human history, virtue, and vice. This knowledge sharpens his awareness of his own monstrosity and his exclusion from human society, contrasting sharply with the noble deeds he reads about. |
The Bible: Adam and Eve
The Creature directly alludes to the biblical figures of Adam and Eve, using their story to articulate his own profound sense of isolation and despair. As he describes his loneliness to Victor, he laments: "But it was all a dream; no Eve soothed my sorrows nor shared my thoughts; I was alone. I remembered Adam's supplication to his Creator. But where was mine?"
This direct comparison highlights:
- His yearning for companionship: Unlike Adam, who was given Eve, the Creature remains solitary, emphasizing his unique and painful isolation.
- His feeling of abandonment by his creator: He questions why he, like Adam, was not granted a companion, and why his "creator" (Victor) has forsaken him. This underscores his desperate need for connection and a purpose.
Milton's Paradise Lost
This epic poem is arguably the most significant literary allusion in Chapter 15. The Creature reads Paradise Lost as if it were a factual account, deeply internalizing its themes of creation, fall, and rebellion.
- Identification with Adam: Initially, the Creature sees himself as analogous to Adam—a new creation brought forth by a "God" (Victor). However, he quickly realizes that unlike Adam, who was beloved and placed in paradise, he is reviled and outcast.
- Identification with Satan: As he progresses through the epic, the Creature begins to identify more closely with Satan. He recognizes Satan's feelings of abandonment, injustice, and ultimate rebellion against his creator. This parallel reinforces the Creature's growing bitterness and desire for vengeance against Victor.
The poem, intended to "justify the ways of God to men," ironically serves to justify the Creature's emerging rage and sense of moral perversion due to his extreme suffering.
Goethe's The Sorrows of Young Werther
The Creature finds a profound emotional resonance with the protagonist of Goethe's epistolary novel. Werther's story of unrequited love, emotional turmoil, and eventual suicide deeply affects the Creature.
- Empathy for suffering: The Creature, himself a being of intense emotional pain and longing, understands Werther's despair.
- Echoes of unfulfilled desire: Werther's longing for Charlotte mirrors the Creature's desperate wish for acceptance and companionship from humanity, a wish that remains perpetually unfulfilled.
This novel amplifies the Creature's melancholic and sensitive nature, showing his capacity for deep feeling despite his monstrous appearance.
Plutarch's Parallel Lives
This collection of biographies of famous Greek and Roman figures provides the Creature with a comprehensive understanding of human history, society, and morality.
- Understanding human society: He learns about governance, war, ambition, virtue, and vice. This intellectual development enhances his capacity for critical thought.
- Contrast with his own existence: The tales of heroism and social interaction starkly contrast with his own solitary and outcast existence. He learns about the noble aspects of humanity but simultaneously realizes his fundamental exclusion from such a world, intensifying his despair.
These allusions collectively shape the Creature's complex identity, revealing him not merely as a monster, but as a being capable of deep thought, profound emotion, and tragic self-awareness, driven to his actions by overwhelming rejection and loneliness.
