This trait of kindness moved me sensibly. I had been accustomed, during the night, to steal a part of their store for my own consumption, but when I found that in doing this I inflicted pain on the cottagers, I abstained and satisfied myself with berries, nuts, and roots which I gathered from a neighbouring wood.
Chapter 12 · The Creature
Context
The Creature has been stealing food from the De Laceys at night, but after realizing the family is suffering from poverty, he stops taking their supplies and forages for himself instead.
Analysis
The phrase 'inflicted pain' shows the Creature interpreting his theft in moral terms—he does not merely take food, he harms others—a sign of conscience that contradicts the 'monster' label he will later receive. His immediate self-correction, choosing hunger over causing suffering, demonstrates an ethical instinct formed through empathy rather than instruction, yet this capacity for goodness will go unrecognized by every human he meets.
Essay Tip
Support a thesis that the Creature possesses innate moral sensitivity—his choice to endure hardship rather than harm the cottagers proves his benevolence exists before any education or acceptance, making his later violence a learned response to cruelty rather than an essential trait.