In Chapter 5 of Frankenstein horrified by what he has created, Victor Frankenstein rushes from the room and stays all night in the courtyard until he is certain that the hideous creature he has created is gone. Victor, who relates his history to Robert Walton, his rescuer, tells him,
How can I describe my emotions at this catastrophe, or how delineate the wretch whom with such infinite pains and care I had endeavoured to form?....breathless horror and disgust filled my heart. Unable to endure the aspect of the being I had created, I rushed out of the room.
Having been frightened himself at his creation, how could Victor Frankenstein tell others without their considering him a madman or being so terrorized themselves:
I dreaded to behold this monster; but I feared still more that Henry should see him.
After Victor joins Henry, he becomes wild and nervous; in fact, he falls ill. Ashamed of his work, abased by the outcome, Victor's pride tries to cover his fears as he is with Henry. For, always he has been known as a most intelligent youth and young man. To suffer the explanation of his hideous creature is more than the pride of Victor Frankenstein will allow.
Later on, in Chapter 22 Victor confesses that he avoided explaining his claims of responsibility for the death of family members and friends:
I avoided explanation, and maintained a continual silence concerning the wretch I had created. I had a persuasion that I should be supposed mad; and this in itself would for ever have chained my tongue. But, besides, I could not bring myself to disclose a secret which would fill my hearer with consternation, and make fear and unnatural horror the inmates of his breast. I checked, therefore, my impatient thirst for sympathy and was silent when I would have given the world to have confided the fatal secret.
No comments:
Post a Comment