My protectors had departed and had broken the only link that held me to the world. For the first time the feelings of revenge and hatred filled my bosom, and I did not strive to control them, but allowing myself to be borne away by the stream, I bent my mind towards injury and death.
Chapter 16 · The Creature
Context
The Creature reflects on his emotional transformation after realizing the De Lacey family has permanently abandoned the cottage and will never return.
Analysis
The metaphor of being 'borne away by the stream' takes away the Creature's agency—he's not choosing revenge but being passively carried toward it. This phrasing suggests a psychological turning point: he's stopped resisting his darker impulses and is letting them sweep him along, which makes his violence feel both inevitable and tragic.
Essay Tip
Support a thesis that Shelley uses passive constructions to show how the Creature's revenge is environmentally determined—he 'did not strive to control' his rage, framing his violence as the natural result of society's rejection rather than an independent moral failing.