I should make use of the same instructions to the same end
The crucial place of language in the Creature's education and in his
growing sense of identity is a significant sign of the importance Mary Shelley attaches to it as a
professional writer and, however herself inexperienced at the age she
began the novel, as the child, wife, and associate of other major authors
of the age. And yet it is always shadowed by the dark irony of another
"monster" accorded the use of language, Shakespeare's Caliban, who tells
Miranda: "You taught me language, and my profit on't/ Is, I know how to
curse" (The Tempest,
I.ii.363-64).
- Contexts:
- Critical Approaches:
- Themes:
