Paul Cantor's "The Nightmare of Romantic Idealism"

What is the author's argument?

Paul Cantor's main argument is that Frankenstein's alternative title, the Modern Prometheus, is named as the book has various Promethean elements that are stereotypically ambiguous. For example, in the book, Victor Frankenstein plays the role of God, however he compares himself to Satan ("All my speculations and hopes are as nothing, and like the archangel who aspired to omnipotence, I am chained in an eternal hell" (200)). The monster also compares himself to two Miltonic roles, Adam and Satan, which can be seen through the following quotation: "Remember that I am thy creature; I ought to be thy Adam, but I am rather the fallen angel, whom thou drivest from joy for no misdeed." Cantor argues that by only having two main characters, Shelley made both characters in some sense Satanic.

2-sentence summary of article

This article is about the mythically ambiguous archetypes and stereotypes that the main characters in the novel possess in relation to Satan, God, and Eve. Throughout the novel, romantic idealism is portrayed through the good and evil of creativity (can lead to new creation but is also dangerous).

Why is ambiguity so important here?

Ambiguity is so important here as Frankenstein's characters have an "underlying moral ambiguity" and do not have morally pure motives. Shelley's myth contrasts sharply with that of her husband in Prometheus Unbound where he rejected the figure of Satan as a poetic paradigm due to the moral ambiguity of his nature. Shelley suggests that Satan has both good and bad sides and realized that it would take a struggle for Prometheus to overcome his desire for revenge and become purely good. Mary Shelley displays a deeper sense of the complexity of human nature as she was unwilling to divide up the character of Satan in the same way, parceling out all his good qualities to the rebellious monster and leaving the creator-god, Frankenstein, with all the bad. She maintains the same moral ambiguity in both characters, and in virtually the same proportions.