This paper examines the final crisis of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (chapters 21–23), focusing on Victor Frankenstein's psychological and moral collapse following the monster's murders of Henry Clerval and Elizabeth. The analysis traces how Victor's earlier embrace of Enlightenment rationalism and pure reason left him spiritually unprepared to confront the moral dimensions of his creation. Through close reading and thematic interpretation, the paper argues that the monster functions as a mirror reflecting Victor's own fallen nature and that the parallel isolations—Victor's self-imposed scientific seclusion and his legal imprisonment—reveal the consequences of unchecked ambition. The paper also considers biographical resonances with Mary Shelley's observations of her husband Percy Shelley's idealism and its destructive effects.
Victor Frankenstein admits that he was mad to try to create a rational being by his own hands, as though he were God Himself. Victor, as a scientist, has celebrated the art of pure reason and basked in the glow of Enlightenment ideology and Rationalism. But now he realizes that in his fervor to create life anew, he has only plumbed the mysteries of life, which his Rationalism has no answer for.
His creation represents Original Sin—what should have been good and beautiful (creation) is infused with selfishness and malignity, as Victor himself states. His creation has shown him his own true state: that he himself is a man with a fallen nature. In this sense, the monster acts as a mirror, or as art acts—it shows us who we are.
Victor wants to blame the monster for killing his friends, but in a sense it was Victor himself who isolated those who loved him in his pursuit of pure Rationalism. In one way, Victor acknowledges this as well: Victor could not kill the driven passion within himself, and that passion is now manifest in the monster. The creature becomes an external embodiment of Victor's own internal chaos, a visual representation of the consequences of unchecked ambition and moral blindness.
In chapter 21, Victor is brought before Kirwin, the local magistrate. Several people testify against Victor, saying that they identified the boat in the water near where a body was found as Victor's. Kirwin reasons that if Victor did kill the man, he might give some sign of his guilt if he is brought before the body, so Kirwin takes Victor to the body. But Victor's reaction is not quite one of guilt—instead it is one of grief, for he sees the body is that of Henry Clerval. It is clear to Victor that the monster has killed Clerval. Victor convulses and becomes sick.
His sickness lasts for several weeks, and when Victor comes to his senses, he is still in prison. Kirwin announces to Victor that a visitor has come and Victor fears it is the monster—but it turns out to be only Victor's father, who stays for the court proceedings. The court finds that there is not enough evidence to convict Victor, so he is freed and he and his father head to Geneva.
In chapter 22, Victor receives a worried letter from Elizabeth. Victor writes her back and promises that she is the only one he loves. He also admits that the cause of his isolation shall be made known to her after the wedding. But the letter also brings to Victor's mind the ominous promise of the monster to "be with" him on the night of his wedding. Nonetheless, Victor and Elizabeth marry at last and the newlyweds go to a cottage for the start of their happy honeymoon.
In chapter 23, Victor is worried that the monster will arrive and that he and the monster will have to fight. He does not know how Elizabeth will take this. As he is fretting over these thoughts, Elizabeth goes to bed and Victor stays up looking for the monster. Suddenly Elizabeth screams and Victor rushes up, but he is too late: his new wife is dead. The monster has made good on his promise but in a way that Victor did not anticipate.
Victor shares the heartbreaking news of Elizabeth's death with his father, who is shocked literally to death by the news. Victor loses his father days later. In the midst of this grief, Victor vows to hunt down the monster and kill it.
From chapter 23: "Liberty, however, had been an useless gift to me had I not, as I awakened to reason, at the same time awakened to revenge." Victor is still under the sway of the Revolutionary ideals—liberty and reason—except now they are bent not towards a utopian vision or a perfection of creation but rather towards "revenge." Victor is bent towards killing that part of himself (the monster) that has eluded him thus far. It will ultimately cost him his life as he is really seeking revenge against his own self for having believed so adamantly in his own liberty and reason.
Also from chapter 23: "Man," I cried, "how ignorant art thou in thy pride of wisdom! Cease; you know not what it is you say." This is what Victor says to the Genevan magistrate, who tries to soothe Victor by insisting that it has all been part of Victor's imagination. The words are meaningful because they could easily be applied to Victor himself. They also echo the words of Christ on the cross, when he says "They know not what they do," of his murderers. This allusion suggests that Victor, like Christ, has become a victim of forces beyond his control—though unlike the biblical figure, Victor's suffering is of his own making.
One confusing point about the reading is why Victor goes to the Genevan magistrate to accuse the monster of the murders. If Victor is so bent on revenge, why does he go about it in such a "lawful" way rather than immediately take matters into his own hands? This apparent contradiction may reflect Victor's lingering attachment to the Enlightenment values of order and justice, even as those values are failing him.
Another confusing point is found in chapter 21 and has to do with Victor's falling ill for weeks after seeing that the body belongs to Henry. Why does he become sick for so long? Is this psychological or spiritual trauma? The extended illness suggests that Victor's mind and body are breaking down under the weight of guilt and grief—a physical manifestation of his moral collapse.
The monster itself appears to have a deeper meaning, as though it were the representation of Original Sin—that great mystery which the Enlightenment thinkers and Rationalists tried hard to get around. Victor thinks he can recreate life without it possessing this stain of Original Sin, but the monster seems to possess it almost doubly. The death of Elizabeth also appears to have a deeper meaning. Since Victor refused to give the monster a mate, he himself shall have no mate—which is what the monster makes sure of. In this sense, it is apparent that Victor and the monster are identical in that they are both lost souls, torturing one another in a Romantic-Enlightenment world that has lost touch with older spiritual values and meanings.
Several provocative questions emerge from these chapters. If Victor represents Mary Shelley's real-life husband Percy, what does she appear to be suggesting about her husband Percy Shelley in this story? Does this story transcend the genre of gothic horror? If so, how? If not, why not? And does Victor appear to learn any moral or philosophical lesson by the end of the novel, or does he simply stew in his own grief and revenge? These questions invite deeper consideration of the novel's philosophical dimensions and its relationship to literary genre.
"Parallel structures of legal and psychological captivity"
"Authorial critique of her husband's untempered idealism"
You’re 81% through this paper. Sign up to read the remaining 2 sections.
Sign Up Now — Instant Access Already a member? Log inAlways verify citation format against your institution’s current style guide requirements.