Dr. Shohet's essay suggests that Frankenstein engages Paradise Lost with more consistency and nuance than critics have previously acknowledged. Rather than a straightforwardly agonistic response, the novel instead classifies different kinds of Miltonic readers through its characters: the Milton-literate Creature, the Milton-oblivious Robert Walton, and the aware but studiously avoidant Victor Frankenstein. Redistributing labor from Milton’s Adam, Eve, Satan, and Father to Frankenstein’s various characters, Dr. Shohet argues, the novel raises questions about the world of its characters and of Milton’s epic. Practicing both adaptation and critique, Frankenstein dissents from some other Romantic responses to prove surprisingly sympathetic to aspects of Milton’s Reformist ethos.
