“His words had a strange effect on me. I compassionated him, and sometimes felt a wish to console him; but when I looked upon him, when I saw the filthy mass that moved and talked, my heart sickened, and my feelings were altered to those of horror and hatred. I tried to stifle these sensations; I thought, that as I could not sympathize with him, I had no right to withhold from him the small portion of happiness which was yet in my power to bestow” (Shelley pg. 99 and 100).
I feel like this passage is important to the story because it shows how Victor at first is moved by the words of his creation and wants to console him like a father would; but then he sees what he really created, he sees the monster everyone else sees, and is disgusted and horrified. This passage shows me the feelings Victor has toward his creation. Instead of nurturing and protecting his creation; which could be considered as his son; he is disgusted by it. It seems like if he regrets creating him.
In the second half of the paragraph I get the sense that Victor is going to give in to his creation and grant him his wish. This says a lot. It says to me that he is aware of his wrongdoing in not providing for his creation like he should have. It also says to me that even if Victor hates and is disgusted by his creation, he will do the one thing he can do in his power to make him happy. This is probably the only “fatherly” thing Victor will ever do for his creation. I sense that Victor has a conflict of emotions going on at this point. One part wants to do the right thing the other just wants to distance himself from the “monster”.
http://www.credoreference.com.proxy.yc.edu/entry/camgwwie/frankenstein_or_the_modern_prometheus_1818 Apparently they made a movie about this story. Here is some fun information I found about that!!
Shelley,Mary. Frankenstein.Norton Critical Editions,1996.
