It was Milton who wrote – in his seminal text Paradise Lost – “For solitude sometimes is best society” (Milton, Paradise Lost, Line 249, Book IX). In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Shelley’s depiction of The Creature as someone who is in a perpetual state of having fallen from grace illuminates how those in exile, either literally or figuratively, will always be searching to fulfill what they lack.
The Creature had fallen from grace as the process of his creation was sinful, he was then exiled from Creator, Victor, who despises the Creature. The Creature had no home, no family, no sense of belonging. He only had a Creator that did not want anything to do with him as the Creature states that “I ought to be thy Adam, but I am rather the fallen angel” (Shelley, Frankenstein, pg. 102). This is one of the first instances of the Creature being alluded to Adam from The Book of Genesis. They are similar in that they both have a creator, but the way they differ is that Adam committed sin and was removed from the Garden of Eden alongside Eve while the Creature did nothing but exist and was casted out of society. This is important as there was a justification given for the exilement of Adam and Eve while there is truly no justified answer for why the Creature was justified.
The Creature, therefore, had to come up with his own definition of home as he spied on the DeLacey family. Shelley writes that The Creature “learned, from the views of social life which it developed, to admire their virtues and to deprecate the vices of mankind.” (Shelley, Frankenstein, pg 130). The Creature had wanted to become a part of human society so badly that he learned about human’s social life and had come up with his own views on the vices of mankind, more specifically that he disliked the immoral behavior of mankind which is the same behavior that got him exiled in the first place. The Creature had learned how to talk and survive on his own and this shows his dedication to wanting to become a part of society. This is why the blind man truly believed that he was a human as he states, “but if you are really blameless, cannot you undecieve them?” (Shelley, Frankenstein, pg 136). The Creature had all it took to be a human except for the look and that is the main factor that casted him out. If not for the Creature being casted out, the rest of the novel would not have unfolded as if they were to accept him into human society the Creature would have no reason to kill William, which created a domino effect and caused the later events in the novel. This is the turn from the Creature being called Adam to taking the name and role of Lucifer. While again there was a justification to Lucifer being casted out of heaven as he was prideful and wanted the role of God. In the same way the Creature wanted a role other than the one he received and was met with harsh reactions from society despite him doing nothing wrong. The Creature was tired of being in this cycle of having hope and his hope being shattered so he gave up and, essentially, became Lucifer after his fall, Satan. This is the Creature’s fall from grace.
This viewpoint of exile makes the novel significant as the Creature did nothing wrong but exist, yet he was still exiled. The Creature had read John Milton’s Paradise Lost and he states that “[l]ike Adam, I was apparently united by no link to any other beings in existence; but his state was far different from mine in every other respect. … I was wretched, helpless, and alone.” (Shelley, Frankenstein, pg 132). In most cases, we are not the one being exiled which means we therefore have no experience of what it is actually like to be exiled, which is why this experience is so significant in the novel. This experience brings to light that “maybe the Creature is not the bad guy after all” or a “the villain was justified” kind of feeling, that only goes for the Creature and not Lucifer. As the Creature read Paradise Lost and states “I remember Adam’s supplication to his Creator. But where was mine? He had abandoned me,” (Shelley, Frankenstein, pg 134). The one person who was supposed to be there for him, his Creator, had abandoned him. Frankenstein was a deadbeat dad and had tried to distance himself from his creation at its “birth”. Picture this in real life, a father leaving a child at birth, which may be something that you resonate with, can you control that? No, you cannot control whether someone is to abandon you as you cannot force someone's hand. This situation is a bit hyperbolic but what it is trying to get at is that this situation of being exiled was imposed upon the Creature with no justification. This relates to contemporary society as we see many people get exiled, whether it be socially or physically, for no justifiable reason at all. In a ton of cases, there are people who are met with unwarranted repercussions for trying to help out just as the creature did when he was then met with gun fire.
The Creature rejects the principles of being a Christian as he did a good deed and expected to get something in return while it says “[b]ut love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return,” (Luke 6:35). This is what the Creature did not understand as he was expecting something in return for his good actions, this is a scene that is also seen often in contemporary society as well. The Creature is the perfect example of someone who is in a perpetual state of having fallen from grace illuminating how those in exile, either literally or figuratively, will always be searching to fulfill what they lack. The Creature being exiled without justification causes his further fall from grace and illuminates the significance of the work as a whole.
One thing that really pushes this novel is its references to other religious texts such as Dante’s The Divine Comedy and John Milton’s Paradise Lost as if you understand the references it emphasizes what is being said in the text, as someone who studies theology on my own I have a deeper appreciation for the novel. An example of this is earlier in the text when the Creature was being described, “a thing such as even Dante could not have conceived.” (Shelley, Frankenstein, pg 59). This sentence really sticks out to me as Dante traveled through both hell and purgatory which means that he has seen some truly horrifying things. So if Dante could not conceive the Creature that must mean that the Creature is truly horrifying.
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