“Close Reading of a Passage”

“Yet, as I drew nearer home, grief and fear again overcame me. Night also closed around; and when I could hardly see the dark mountains, I felt still more gloomily. The picture appeared a vast and dim scene of evil, and I foresaw obscurely  that I was destined to become the most wretched of human beings. Alas! I prophesied truly, and failed only in one single circumstance, that in all the misery I imagined and dreaded, I did not conceive the hundredth part of the anguish I was destined to endure.”  (Shelley 47)

“Close Reading of a Passage”

    I find this to be a very important paragraph in the story because it is at this very moment that V. Frankenstein comes to the realization that he will only continue to suffer during the remainder of his life. It is, in a way ,foreshadowing the events which are to come. When V. Frankenstein states, “Yet, as I drew nearer home, grief and fear again overcame me.” (Shelley 47), he is not yet aware of the full repercussions of his creation, however, it appears that he somehow knows that he is to blame for the terrible misfortune his family has endured. This is further shown when he professes, “ I prophesied truly, and failed only in one single circumstance…” (Shelley 47). He is feeling an overwhelming amount of guilt over the circumstances surrounding the last six years. He is remembering the day which his life turned from utter excitement experienced in the final days of bringing life to his finest creation to the instantaneous change to complete fear and disgust and what he had done. How does he know at this moment that these events, the creation of the monster and the death of his brother, are intertwined? When he says, “ … and I foresaw obscurely that I was destined to become the most wretched of human being” (Shelley 47),  it is as thought he knows that this is only the beginning of his suffering and he will never again feel happiness.
    This is the point in the story when a vast transition takes place; a point in which the reality of his actions abruptly overcomes him. He knows, without any factual evidence, that he has cause an enormous amount of pain in the lives of the ones he loves. In concluding this paragraph V. Frankenstein confesses, “ … I did not conceive the hundredth part of the anguish I was destined to endure” (Shelley 47). He is overwhelmed with guilt. He seems to be reassuring himself that he did not intend for the misery, which has bestowed his family, to occur. The feelings presented in these sentences hold a great deal of importance to the entire story.


Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. J. Paul Hunter. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1996. Print.

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