Notes

Victor's desire to create/sustain life: His quest for divine powers may also possibly be a desire to gain that which he had lost with the death of his mother.

Three poems directly related
Aeschylus's"Prometheus Bound"- 'these slimy things live on and so do I' - the character sees the beauty and is saved but must retell his story. The bird, here, becomes a Christlike figure, so why would he want to kill a bird he loves? It seems unconditional, deep, divine love is a scary thing. You would simply not want to belong to any club that would have you as a member.
"Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner"



"Alastor"- Alastor sent the dream to the poet; the poet, in turn, spurned her because he was afraid of love. Does Victor spurn nature's gifts in the process of creation? He used to get joy out of nature but during the creation he gives up all that joy. Is Victor building the monster to resurrect his mother or to prevent elizabeth from ever dying? Victor, it seems, is afraid of a world without Elizabeth. He cuts off connection with her during the entire process of creation.

Victor's show of jumping all over the chair portrayed a wildness in his eyes, that Clerval picked up on.



"Before I was attacked by the fatal passions..." AKA "Before I indulged in my egotistical dream to create a new species."
One side of this lays blame to something else. Another allows Victor to take fault for those things in his life. Shelley here critiques her character Victor of too often being an innocent bystander.

"I bore a hell within me.." Victor thinks that he suffers most because he is guilty. Elizabeth supposedly suffers less because she is innocent.
Yet, Elizabeth says "I wish I could die with you" - clearly she is suffering too.