Thursday, April 16, 2009

Last words of Victor vs. last words of the "Monster"

The last words of Victor were:
"That he should live to be an instrument of mischief disturbs me; in other respects , this hour when I momentarily expect my release, is the only happy one which I have enjoyed for several years. The forms of the beloved dead flit before me, and I hasten to their arms. Farewell, Walton! Seek happiness in tranquillity, and avoid ambition, even if it be only the apparantly innocent one of distinguishing yourself in science and discoveries. Yet why do I say this? I have myself blasted in these hopes, yet another may succeed." (pg. 162)
Victor is dying, and is finally happy, but he is not fully happy, because the "Monster" is still living. He should be feeling remorse for what creating the "Monster", and yet he doesn't, he wants someone else to try and succeed with the creation of a successful "Monster", one that doesn't act or look the way that victor's "Monster" does.
The last words of the "Monster" were:
"I shall die, and what I now feel be no longer felt. Soon these burning miseries will be extinct. I shall ascend my funeral pile triumphantly, and exult in the agony of the torturing flames. The light of that conflagration will fade away; my ashes will be swept into the sea by the winds. My spirit will sleep in peace; or if it thinks, it will not surely think thus. Farewell." (pg.166)
The "Monster" isn't worried about leaving anything behind, and when he leaves the ship, he isn't looking for pity, like Victor. He is waiting for death, almost embracing it.

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