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Allegory
Definition of Allusion
In literature, an allusion is an unexplained reference to someone or something outside of the text. Writers commonly allude to other literary works, famous individuals, historical events, or philosophical ideas... read full definition
In literature, an allusion is an unexplained reference to someone or something outside of the text. Writers commonly allude to other literary works, famous individuals... read full definition
In literature, an allusion is an unexplained reference to someone or something outside of the text. Writers commonly allude to... read full definition
Letter 4
Explanation and Analysis—Paradise Lost:
The novel’s epigraph is from John Milton’s epic poem Paradise Lost, which tells the story of humankind’s loss of innocence in the Garden of Eden. This reference alludes to Genesis in the Bible: "Did I request thee, Maker, from my clay / To mould me man? / Did I solicit thee / From darkness to promote me?"
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Chapter 2
Explanation and Analysis—Sir Isaac Newton:
Victor uses a simile and a metaphor and alludes to physicist Sir Isaac Newton when he describes his thirst for knowledge to Robert Walton in Chapter 2:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Sir Isaac Newton is said to have avowed that he felt like a child picking up shells beside the great and unexplored ocean of truth.
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Chapter 4
Explanation and Analysis—The Light:
In Chapter 4, Victor uses a simile of light to describe his intense love of natural philosophy, an ambition that drives him to distraction but leads him to discover the secret of life:
Unlock with LitCharts A+The information I had obtained was of a nature rather to direct my endeavours so soon as I should point them towards the object of my search, than to exhibit that object already accomplished. 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.
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Chapter 8
Explanation and Analysis—Never-Dying Worm:
In Chapter 8, Victor uses the metaphor of the "never-dying worm" to express his guilt after Justine Moritz, his brother William’s nanny, is falsely accused of William's murder. The true murderer is in fact the Monster, whom Victor created and therefore feels responsible for:
Unlock with LitCharts A+But I, the true murderer, felt the never-dying worm alive in my bosom, which allowed of no hope or consolation.
Chapter 15
Explanation and Analysis—The Bible:
In Chapter 15, the Monster alludes to Eve from the Bible as it describes its feelings of isolation to Victor:
Unlock with LitCharts A+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? He had abandoned me, and in the bitterness of my heart I cursed him.
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Chapter 16
Explanation and Analysis—Shining in Mockery:
In Chapter 16, the Monster is rejected by the De Lacey family. The Monster, in a fit of rage and loneliness, personifies the wilderness around it:
Unlock with LitCharts A+The cold stars shone in mockery, and the bare trees waved their branches above me; now and then the sweet voice of a bird burst forth amidst the universal stillness. All, save I, were at rest or in enjoyment; I, like the arch-fiend, bore a hell within me, and finding myself unsympathized with, wished to tear up the trees, spread havoc and destruction around me, and then to have sat down and enjoyed the ruin.
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Chapter 22
Explanation and Analysis—The Bible:
In Chapter 15, the Monster alludes to Eve from the Bible as it describes its feelings of isolation to Victor:
Unlock with LitCharts A+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? He had abandoned me, and in the bitterness of my heart I cursed him.
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