I shuddered to think that future ages might curse me as their pest, whose selfishness had not hesitated to buy its own peace at the price, perhaps, of the existence of the whole human race.
Chapter 20 · Victor Frankenstein
Context
Still reflecting on whether to finish the female creature, Victor imagines future generations condemning him if his creations destroy humanity.
Analysis
Victor calls himself a potential 'pest'—a term for vermin or plague—whose 'selfishness' could cost the human race its existence. The hyperbole is theatrical (two beings will not extinguish humanity), but more tellingly, he jumps to imagining himself cursed by history, making his legacy the emotional center even of a hypothetical apocalypse. The self-dramatization ('their pest') almost reads as a narcissistic rehearsal of future fame, however dark.
Essay Tip
Support a thesis that even Victor's guilt is self-centered—he imagines himself as a historical villain cursed by 'future ages,' turning even his moral reckoning into a grandiose narrative about his own importance.