the imagination
As has already been evident in earlier chapters, in Mary Shelley's
perspective the imagination is a power at once of great dynamic force and
ethically neutral in its operations, leading to good or evil ends
depending on the psychological framework in which it exists. The darker
side of this mental attribute has been especially invoked as events in
the novel have taken a tragic turn: see, for instance, 1.3.5 and note, 1.4.7 and note, 1.6.8 and note.