Chapter 7 Quote Analysis
“[Elizabeth] She was very earnest to see the corpse. At first I attempted to prevent her”
-This shows that Victors father was trying to protect Elizabeth because he did not think that she would be capable of seeing the corpse of William who she had mothered as she had already “suffered extreme anguish”
-This supports the notions of a feminist reading as it portrays women as too naïve and innocent to see this kind of horror
“I have murdered my darling child!”
-Elizabeth exclaims this after she has viewed the corpse of William as she believes it is her fault and she takes responsibility and feels as though she has failed as his ‘mother’ to protect him and keep him safe.
-This adds to the character of Elizabeth and shows how much she cares for people and how she takes the blame for things even though they are out of her control. Which shows that she has taken on the mother role after Williams mother passed away.
“When he perceived me weep with bitterness” “I wept like a child”
-This shows that Victor was very upset about the fact that his brother had passed. As readers we see a different, more personal side to Victor as he usually doesn’t show much emotion but here he is obviously affected.
"Dear mountains! my own beautiful lake! how do you welcome your wanderer? Your summits are clear; the sky and lake are blue and placid. Is this to prognosticate peace, or to mock at my unhappiness?”
-Victor really connects with nature and speaks to it to let go of the grief towards his brothers death
-He speaks of how beautiful the nature is and speaks possessively about it as he says “my own beautiful lake” suggesting that he believes it belongs to him. It shows that nature has the power to evoke strong emotions due to its beauty
“The wretch, the filthy demon to which I had given life”
-When Victor sees the monster again he speaks of him with horrible words and is reminded of what he had done.
-He thinks of him so terribly because he is an example to Victor of what a human can be and shows the undesirable notions of the human condition
“Nothing in human shape could have destroyed that child. He was the murderer”
-As Victor realises that the monster that he created was the murderer of his innocent brother he is overwhelmed at his realisation and starts to believe it is his own fault because he made the monster and he is filled with grief.
-Victor refers to the monster as a ‘he’ which shows that in this instant he thinks of him as a physical body of a human but not that he has the heart or brain of a human as it wouldn’t be possible for a human to do this kind of deed