Frankenstein
Prompt #9 · Frankenstein
Prompt Type: Scene Analysis
In the scene where Victor destroys the female creature while being watched, sitting in his laboratory at twilight and contemplating the potential consequences of his work, Shelley depicts Victor's second crucial decision regarding creation. Analyze how this moment develops the theme of responsibility and consequences, particularly the impossible moral calculus Victor faces. Explain how it contributes to the meaning of the work as a whole.
Quote 1
“During my first experiment, a kind of enthusiastic frenzy had blinded me to the horror of my employment; my mind was intently fixed on the consummation of my labour, and my eyes were shut to the horror of my proceedings. But now I went to it in cold blood, and my heart often sickened at the work of my hands.”
Chapter 19
Argument
This quote from the destruction scene itself uses juxtaposition to reveal Victor's moral evolution—contrasting his first creation's 'enthusiastic frenzy' with his current 'cold blood' awareness, exposing how consciousness of consequences transforms the act of creation from blind ambition into deliberate moral choice.
Quote 2
“I thought with a sensation of madness on my promise of creating another like to him, and trembling with passion, tore to pieces the thing on which I was engaged.”
Chapter 20
Argument
This quote captures the precise moment of destruction within the scene, where Victor's 'sensation of madness' and violent action ('tore to pieces') dramatize the impossible moral calculus—the physical destruction of his work represents his attempt to prevent future catastrophe while simultaneously breaking his promise and ensuring present vengeance.
Quote 3
“In a fit of enthusiastic madness I created a rational creature and was bound towards him to assure, as far as was in my power, his happiness and well-being. This was my duty, but there was another still paramount to that.”
Letters, Walton, _in continuation._
Argument
This quote from the novel's final pages provides retrospective clarity on the scene's central dilemma, as Victor explicitly articulates the 'paramount' duty that superseded his responsibility to the creature—connecting the destruction scene's moral calculus to Victor's ultimate understanding of competing obligations.
Quote 4
Chapter 20
Argument
This quote from Chapter 20, immediately following the destruction scene, reveals the consequence of Victor's moral calculus—by destroying the female creature, Victor has inverted the power dynamic ('You are my creator, but I am your master'), demonstrating how his attempt to prevent future catastrophe has instead guaranteed present vengeance and his own subjugation.
Quote 5
“Remember that I am thy creature; I ought to be thy Adam, but I am rather the fallen angel, whom thou drivest from joy for no misdeed.”
Chapter 10
Argument
This quote from the creature's earlier plea establishes the moral weight Victor must calculate against in the destruction scene—the creature's invocation of the Adam/fallen angel dichotomy frames the responsibility Victor contemplates abandoning when he destroys the female, showing what duty he violates in service of the 'paramount' one.