This was then the reward of my benevolence! I had saved a human being from destruction, and as a recompense I now writhed under the miserable pain of a wound which shattered the flesh and bone.
Chapter 16 · The Creature
Context
After rescuing a drowning girl, the Creature is shot by a man who assumes he was attacking her, leaving him wounded and enraged.
Analysis
The bitter exclamation 'This was then the reward of my benevolence!' uses formal, almost archaic syntax ('was then') that clashes with the raw physical pain he describes. This mismatch between elevated language and brutal reality underscores the gap between the Creature's moral self-understanding (he sees himself as virtuous) and how the world treats him (as a threat to be shot on sight).
Essay Tip
Support a thesis that the novel shows prejudice as a self-fulfilling prophecy—the Creature's genuine act of kindness is met with violence, and his increasingly formal, bitter language here captures the exact moment when he stops trying to prove his humanity and accepts the role of monster.