I just finished Frankenstein and it hit me like a blow to the head how the monster’s creation and Victor Frankenstein’s death play against each other in a really striking way.
Looking at the original “birth” or creation of the beast, Victor is consumed with this obsession that drives him beyond the brink of madness to ‘boldly go’ and endow life on inanimate flesh. The scene is utterly silent and all of Frankenstein’s previous ardor is immediately sapped from his body and his is filled with contempt and disgust at what he has done.
Now let’s look at Victor’s death. The creature is consumed with his wild obsession fueled by rage and his own misery to pursue Victor and destroy everything that he holds dear. In his “confession” the creature says that he regretted every life he took, but still he continued (sounds like obsession pushing him beyond the brink of madness to me) against his better judgment. And at the very end of the book, when he has removed life from the already living all of his previous ardor is immediately sapped from him and he is filled with contempt for himself and remorse for what he has done (or so he claims, can we trust him? Victor did warn against his eloquence).
I was wondering if anyone else thought that this parallel was designed by Shelley, mere coincidence, or if I’m reading too much into it?