I was hurried away by fury; revenge alone endowed me with strength and composure; it moulded my feelings and allowed me to be calculating and calm at periods when otherwise delirium or death would have been my portion.
Chapter 24 · Victor Frankenstein
Context
Victor opens the final chapter reflecting on his mental state after the deaths of Elizabeth, his father, and William. He describes how vengeance has become the only force sustaining his will to live.
Analysis
Victor personifies revenge as an active agent that 'endowed' and 'moulded' him, casting himself as its passive recipient rather than a man choosing his actions. This deflection of agency mirrors how he earlier blamed fate for the Creature's existence—he frames himself as shaped by external forces, not as someone responsible for his own obsessive pursuit. The clinical terms 'calculating and calm' clash with 'fury,' revealing that his supposed rationality is just revenge wearing a different mask.
Essay Tip
Support a thesis that Victor never accepts full responsibility for his choices—even in his final hunt, he describes revenge as something done to him, not something he actively chooses, revealing a pattern of self-exoneration that has defined him since the Creature's creation.