a deep and deadly revenge
On an uncomplicated psychological plane Mary Shelley is representing the
simple dynamics of the Creature's alienation. With no other presence to
balance or feel for this injustice, in his solitude he works
himself into a confirmed opposition to the world that has rejected and
threatened him. The Enlightenment virtues of benevolence and sympathy,
were they ever to be encountered by the Creature, would by their very
nature undercut his introverted and exclusionary mental state and enforce
a social communion. Once again, as in Percy Bysshe Shelley's "Alastor; or,
the Spirit of Solitude," published in March 1816, we recognize that solitude
constitutes an evil spirit leading one to ill. The opening paragraph of
Volume 2, in which Victor Frankenstein reveals himself similarly introverted
and plotting revenge as a means of assuaging his self-hatred is, indeed, an
appropriate introduction to this dynamic that arches across the volume
(see 2.1.1 and note).
