By the sacred earth on which I kneel, by the shades that wander near me, by the deep and eternal grief that I feel, I swear; and by thee, O Night, and the spirits that preside over thee, to pursue the dæmon who caused this misery, until he or I shall perish in mortal conflict.
Chapter 24 · Victor Frankenstein
Context
Standing at the graves of William, Elizabeth, and his father in the Geneva cemetery, Victor kneels and swears an oath to pursue the Creature until one of them dies.
Analysis
Victor's oath uses anaphora ('by the sacred earth... by the shades... by the deep and eternal grief') to mimic the structure of a legal or religious vow, borrowing the gravity of those genres to make his revenge sound sanctified. He invokes 'Night' and 'spirits' as if calling witnesses to a contract, but these forces cannot actually hold him accountable—he is performing solemnity for himself. The elevated diction collapses the gap between justice and vengeance; by making his private rage sound like a cosmic mandate, he erases any space for questioning whether this hunt is right.
Essay Tip
Support a thesis that Victor uses religious and legal language to sanctify his revenge—this oath mimics a sacred vow to make his personal obsession appear divinely ordained, showing how he manipulates genre conventions to avoid confronting the selfish nature of his pursuit.