Frankenstein Allusions

    One literary technique that Mary Shelley seems to use alot in Frankenstein is the use of allusions. There seems to be one every single chapter if not multiple per chapter. Shelley compares these allusions to Victor Frankenstein himself. The first, "I was like the Arabian who had been buried with the dead and found a passage to life, aided only by one glimmering and seemingly ineffectual light" (Shelley, 31). By this quote, Victor was saying that he had felt almost buried with the dead, totally hopeless and depleated of any inspiration. Then when he discovered the secret to bringing the dead back to life, he found the light at the end of the tunnel. 

    A second allusion was more of a historical reference. "If no man allowed any pursuit whatsoever to interfere with the tranquility of his domestic affections, Greece had not been enslaved, Caeser would have spared his country; America would have been discovered more gradually; and the empires of Mexico and Peru had not been destroyed" (Shelley, 34). Here, Victor was suggesting that if we don't go for our dreams for fear of being disappointed or uncomfortable on the way, we will never accomplish anything. 

    Then, Shelley brought another allusion that ties back to literature. She references Dante, who we know from World Literatre, was a man who was sent to see the levels of Hell and all the people and events that went on down there. " he was ugly then, but when those muscles and joints were rendered capable of motion, it became a thing such even Dante could not have conceived" (Shelley, 36). This quote suggests that the monster's movements and appearance were so horrifying that even Dante, who saw the worst of the worst in Hell, would be terrified. This might be a bit of an exaggeration; however, this reference does seem to call to attention how fearful Victor was of his creation.