 Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar argue in their seminal book The Madwoman in the Attic ( 1979 ) that in Frankenstein in particular , Shelley responded to the masculine literary tradition represented by John Milton 's Paradise Lost . In their interpretation , Shelley reaffirms this masculine tradition , including the misogyny inherent in it , but at the same time " conceal [ s ] fantasies of equality that occasionally erupt in monstrous images of rage " . Mary Poovey reads the first edition of Frankenstein as part of a larger pattern in Shelley 's writing , which begins with literary self @-@ assertion and ends with conventional femininity . Poovey suggests that Frankenstein 's multiple narratives enable Shelley to split her artistic persona : she can " express and efface herself at the same time " . Shelley 's fear of self @-@ assertion is reflected in the fate of Frankenstein , who is punished for his egotism by losing all his domestic ties . 
