After Victor receives a letter from Elizabeth, he feels conflicting emotions. On one hand, Elizabeth is his best friend whom he loves. He wishes to marry her and live a long and prosperous life with her; however, Victor knows deep in his heart that this can never be so. In the excerpt, Shelly uses an allusion referring to the Bible to describe Victor's fate. Victor says that "the apple was already eaten," meaning that his dream of living with Elizabeth was ruined by the creature's threat of destroying his life. This image refers to the creation of Adam and Eve, and Eve eating from the forbidden tree. This action sealed the fate of humanity, just as Victor's creation sealed his own fate of misery and despair. Victor believes that the creature is going to kill him on his wedding night; however, the creature has other plans of murdering his wife. Instead of focusing on protecting his wife, Victor prepares to defend himself. Ultimately, this egotistic attitude leads to Victor's downfall. Victor isn't necessarily totally self-centered; he does feel despair when thinking about Elizabeth's reaction to her newly-made husband's death. But in reality, if Victor hadn't gone into solitude after creating the creature, he probably could have prevented the death of his entire body of loved ones.
No comments:
Post a Comment