The Creature’s Library in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein
In Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel Frankenstein, the Creature’s education and inner life are shaped substantially by the books he finds and reads. Although Shelley does not provide an exhaustive bibliography, she explicitly names several works that influence the Creature’s moral imagination, self-understanding, and sense of alienation. These include Plutarch’s Lives, John Milton’s Paradise Lost, Goethe’s The Sorrows of Young Werther, and William Cowper’s poem The Task. This article examines the evidence, context, and significance of these readings for the Creature and for the novel’s broader themes.
How We Know What the Creature Reads
All information about the Creature’s reading comes from his own account to Victor Frankenstein in the Alps. He describes finding books—some salvaged from the wrecked vessel of the De Lacey family—and narrates which ones move him. These self-reports are the primary source; there are no separate scholarly treatises cited within the novel that list additional works. As such, the following list is limited to what the Creature himself names or clearly references.
Explicitly Named Works
Four works receive direct mention in the Creature’s narrative:
| Work | How It Appears in the Novel | Function for the Creature |
|---|---|---|
| Plutarch’s Lives | Found in a portable bundle; described in the creature’s first narration of self-education. | Introduces heroic biography and moral exemplars, shaping early ideals of greatness and agency. |
| Paradise Lost (John Milton) | Read while living near the De Laceys; prompts the creature’s identification with Satan as a fallen, conscious outcast. | Offers a cosmic drama of rebellion, exile, and the quest for meaning; deepens his sense of alienation. |
| The Sorrows of Young Werther (Goethe) | Found and read after the encounter with Safie; the creature identifies strongly with Werther’s melancholy. | Fosters romantic sensibility, empathy for suffering, and ultimately despair when love is unattainable. |
| The Task (William Cowper) | Encountered toward the novel’s close; its meditations on nature and domestic comfort move the creature. | Prompts reflection on ordinary happiness and moral responsibility, and fuels his final appeal to Victor. |
Plutarch’s Lives
Plutarch’s biographical sketches appear early in the Creature’s education. He values these accounts of historical greatness, and they help him conceptualize the human capacity for agency and legacy. By presenting models of virtue, ambition, and leadership, Plutarch also sharpens his awareness of what he is denied: recognition, power, and ethical belonging.
John Milton’s Paradise Lost
Paradise Lost profoundly shapes the Creature’s understanding of himself as a rebellious outcast. He draws a direct parallel between his own expulsion from human society and Satan’s fall, which troubles Victor when he notes that his creation has modeled himself after a malign figure. Shelley uses this identification to explore how narratives of sin and expulsion can entrench alienation rather than guide moral growth.
Goethe’s The Sorrows of Young Werther
Werther’s intense subjectivity and romantic despair resonate with the Creature’s isolation. His emotional education is steeped in sentimental literature, which amplifies both his capacity for empathy and his susceptibility to despair. The novel’s tragic trajectory foreshadows the Creature’s own crises of love and belonging, culminating in his vengeful turn after realizing that personal happiness is closed to him.
William Cowper’s The Task
In the last narrative turn, the Creature quotes Cowper’s meditation on nature and domestic peace to argue for compassion and responsibility. These lines underscore his evolving moral reasoning and the tension between society’s treatment of him and the person he might have become under kinder circumstances. The reference signals a shift from rage to a more nuanced plea for understanding.
Implied and Likely Influences
While Shelley does not name them, scholars commonly infer that the Creature would have absorbed broader literary and philosophical currents of the Romantic period. Works such as Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Gothic or sensational fiction of the era could have shaped his taste and worldview, but any such attribution remains speculative. The text limits us to the four works above as verifiable inputs.
Themes Shaped by These Readings
- Alienation and Outcast Identity: Milton’s Satan and Werwerther’s melancholy frame the Creature’s sense of exclusion.
- The Search for Moral Guidance: Plutarch’s biographies and Cowper’s reflections provide ethical models amid suffering.
- The Ambiguity of Compassion: The Creature both desires mercy and acknowledges his capacity for vengeance, echoing tensions in the works he admires.
- The Power and Danger of Sentiment: Romantic literature intensifies his emotions, for good and ill, raising questions about education and responsibility.
Conclusion
The books the Creature explicitly reads—Plutarch’s Lives, Paradise Lost, The Sorrows of Young Werther, and The Task—form the core of his self-made education. These works supply narratives of rebellion, suffering, and moral reflection that shape his understanding of himself and his relation to humanity. Shelley uses this literary curriculum to probe how stories mold identity, for better or worse, and to question who bears responsibility for the consequences.