miserable wretch
There is no sharper indication of the way in which doubling patterns
operate in this novel than the way in which this term shifts its
application as the narrations unfold. The two words are first juxtaposed
by Victor as he contemplates his newly vivified Creature (1.4.2). This exact phrase is then employed
by the Creature (though, of course, we must recall that in terms of strict
chronology, his usage predates that of
Victor's narrative), as he tells of
his sensations upon awakening on the first night of his existence (2.3.1). Now it is he who applies it to
Victor. In its final use Victor, having internalized its truth, will
invoke the term, in conversation with Walton, to describe the total
failure of his existence (Walton 4).
