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Frankenstein Quote Analysis

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Satan had his companions, fellow devils, to admire and encourage him, but I am solitary and abhorred.

Chapter 15 · The Creature

Quote Type: DialogueDifficulty: ★★★Quotability: ★★★★★

Context

Still responding to Victor's journal, the Creature contrasts his total isolation with even Satan's situation in Paradise Lost. Satan had fallen angels as companions; the Creature has no one.

Analysis

The statement's power lies in its starkness: even the archetype of absolute evil had companionship, making the Creature's condition worse than damnation itself. The doubled adjectives 'solitary and abhorred' separate his two punishments—he is alone (a circumstance) and hated (a judgment)—showing that his suffering is both structural and social. By claiming to be lonelier than the devil, the Creature exposes the limits of moral categories; isolation becomes a worse fate than wickedness.

Essay Tip

Use this to argue that Shelley redefines monstrosity as a social relation, not an inherent quality—the Creature's self-comparison to Satan reveals that what makes him 'monstrous' is not evil intent but absolute exclusion, which even hell's inhabitants do not experience.

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