One paternal kind precaution
Bearing in mind the previous paragraph's emphasis on Alphonse's fears for
his son's mental stability, we may see this careful planning between
father and fiancée as reflecting a shared concern that Victor not
be
left alone to indulge what they see as a tendency toward melancholy, or,
in his own characterization, "lonely, maddening reflection." Even his
seemingly
innocent adjective here ("maddening") takes on added weight in the
depiction of Clerval as a kind of chaperon to ensure the
preservation of Victor's mental balance.
