Chapter 10/2 Vol. 2

Summary.

Victor takes a trip to a nearby mountain and glacier on Mount Montanvert to refresh his tortured soul. While on the glacier, the monster confronts his maker. Victor seems ready to engage in a combat to the death, but the monster convinces Victor to listen to his story. The two go to the monster’s hut on the mountain, and the monster begins to tell his tale.

Analysis.

At Chamonix, Victor continues to feel despair. He again tries to escape it through nature: he climbs to the peak of a mountain called Montanvert. But just as the view begins to lift his spirits, Victor sees the monster. He curses it and wishes for its destruction. He prejudges the monster as all the monster wants to do is talk, but as Victor is convinced he is a murder he doesn’t want to.

Another theme is isolation. The monster admits it took revenge, but claims that Victor destroyed its innocence by isolating it. This theme is prevalent as it behind the murder or Justine.

Key quotes.

‘All men hate the wretched; how then, must I be hated, who am miserable beyond all living things! Yet you, my creator, detest and spurn me, thy creature, to whom thou art bound by ties only dissoluble by the annihilation of one of us.’