fangs of remorse
With this phrase Mary Shelley insinuates a theme into her novel that will
develop exponentially over its course. We recall that Victor expressed
"the greatest remorse" for having kept Henry Clerval from his studies
during his long illness (1.4.8): that
diction, for all its hyperbole, was utterly conventional. Now, Victor is
bitten by remorse as by a poisonous viper, and it will poison his system for
the rest of his existence. For the later course of this poison where it
results in agony, for instance, see the last sentence of 3.5.6. This same poison infects the
Creature as well, he bitterly admits to Walton (Walton 13). The contemporary definition of remorse accentuated so
painful a condition.
