Can any man be to me as Clerval was, or any woman another Elizabeth?
Letters, Walton, _in continuation._ · Victor Frankenstein
Context
Victor rejects Walton's suggestion that new relationships might console him, insisting that no one could ever replace his murdered friend Clerval or his murdered fiancée Elizabeth.
Analysis
The symmetrical phrasing—'any man... any woman'—sets up a structure of irreplaceability, but it also reduces Clerval and Elizabeth to gendered archetypes rather than individuals. Victor is mourning less the unique persons they were than the roles they filled in his life, which keeps the focus on his own loss rather than their deaths.
Essay Tip
Use this to argue that even Victor's grief is self-centered—he mourns Clerval and Elizabeth as irreplaceable to him, not as lives with independent value, revealing how his worldview remains ego-driven even in suffering.