Quote Analysis

The creature tells Victor that while Victor can destroy his other hopes, the desire for revenge will remain and sustain him.

The dash before 'revenge' creates a pause that isolates the word, making it feel like the creature's final, unavoidable truth. Then he immediately repeats it—'revenge, henceforth dearer than light or food'—the repetition and the comparatives ('dearer than') transforming revenge from an emotion into a life source. The hyperbole is precise: light and food are what keep a body alive, so the creature is announcing he will live on vengeance alone, a grim redefinition of survival.

Support a thesis that the creature's repetition and hyperbole ('dearer than light or food') show how total exclusion warps basic human needs—when all other 'passions' are destroyed, revenge becomes his only form of sustenance, a tragic parody of nourishment.