without being able as yet to understand or apply them
That the Creature has as yet no notion of how words that define feelings
can be applied suggests that the next stage of his education must be
metaphysical, involving an understanding of the self and an exploration of
self-consciousness. For him this will necessarily entail what Byron called "Consciousness awaking to her
woes" (Childe Harold's Pilgrimage 1.941: st. 92).
