Chapters 16-18

Frankenstein - Mary Shelley

The trial for William's murder ends with Justine being wrongly accused and executed. Victor immediately assumes that the creature has committed the crime, but out of innate guilt and fear for himself, Victor says nothing even as the girl is led away to be killed and he assures Elizabeth of her innocence. The creature's predictions have come true of Victor: he will never accept his creation because he knows that everything the creature does he is responsible for. The blood of William and Justine are simultaneously on his hands and the creature's because, had Victor not created him, he would not have committed the crimes out of his frustration. The creature reminds Victor, "My vices are the children of a forced solitude that I abhor," (Shelley, 106). Victor displays an unattractive cowardliness as he refuses to speak up for the truth or own up to his actions because of how it will make him look. Victor is allowing this cycle of destruction to continue. In these chapters, the creature asks one thing of Victor to save him and his family: to create for him a companion like everyone around him has. Here Victor has a chance to make things temporarily right, to create a life in exchange for taking many.