his countenance . . . treachery
A reader cannot miss how without basis is this "reading" of the Creature's
facial expression. Victor has neither seen nor spoken to him for an
entire year since their encounter on the Sea of Ice. Moreover, throughout
the progress of the second volume, in the humanization attendant upon the
Creature's autobiographical account, we had gradually lost sight of his
objective physical deformity. Here, we are thrust back into an
"objectification" that is so extreme that it allows Victor to relinguish
all sense of humane obligation or fellow feeling. The self-righteousness
that accompanies this distancing is perhaps to be expected.
