Destiny was too potent, and her immutable laws had decreed my utter and terrible destruction.
Chapter 2 · Victor Frankenstein
Context
Victor concludes Chapter 2 by stating that despite moments when he might have turned away from dangerous knowledge, fate ultimately drove him toward his catastrophic outcome.
Analysis
Victor personifies Destiny as an all-powerful female force ('her immutable laws') who 'decreed' his destruction, using legal and divine language that makes his downfall sound pre-ordained and unchallengeable. Yet this fatalistic claim comes immediately after he has narrated a series of choices—reading Agrippa, ignoring his father, pursuing alchemy—casting doubt on whether 'Destiny' is real or simply the story he tells himself to escape guilt.
Essay Tip
Use this to argue that Victor's blaming of 'Destiny' is a rhetorical strategy to avoid owning his decisions—by ending the chapter with this grandiose claim, he tries to rewrite his reckless curiosity as tragic inevitability, but the reader has just seen him make choice after choice.