cannot begin life anew
Although the extent of Victor's losses must await his own narration, his
despairing language here calls attention to itself and introduces several
themes that will be developed in the course of the novel. One is psychic
death: a person who cannot renew life is, in some profound sense, not
truly alive, a condition made famous by Coleridge in the idea of
"Life-in-Death" advanced in "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner," line 193. Philosophically speaking,
Victor's language reflects a deterministic viewpoint. Readers will
observe how often he invokes destiny or a like sense of fatality driving
the course of his existence.
