The murderer discovered! Good God! how can that be? who could attempt to pursue him? It is impossible; one might as well try to overtake the winds, or confine a mountain-stream with a straw. I saw him too; he was free last night!
Chapter 7 · Victor Frankenstein
Context
When Victor's brother Ernest mentions that the murderer has been discovered, Victor reacts with shock, knowing the creature cannot be caught. He exclaims that pursuing it would be as impossible as capturing the wind.
Analysis
Victor's hyperbolic similes ("overtake the winds, or confine a mountain-stream with a straw") cast the creature as a force of nature—elemental, unstoppable, beyond human jurisdiction. This rhetorical move conveniently excuses his own silence: if the creature is more weather than being, then telling the truth becomes not cowardice but pragmatism, since no one could act on it anyway.
Essay Tip
Support a thesis that Victor's exaggerated language serves self-justification—by describing the creature as mythically uncatchable, he pre-emptively explains why he will stay silent, framing his inaction as inevitable rather than chosen.