Through the use of imagery to display Victor Frankensteins bodily manifestations of emotions, Shelley illustrates how he ceaselessly shoulders anxiety and remorse for his overreaching and irresponsible venture in creating the creature, conveying that manipulating the natural order of things will inevitably have repercussions. Shelley utilizes rich descriptive language to illustrate Victor Frankensteins physical and mental derangement shortly after he brings the creature to life, demonstrating the consequences of crossing the limits of nature.
After instilling life in the creature, Victor is appalled by its outlandish appearance and attempts to seek forgetfulness, remarking,
I was disturbed by the wildest dreams. I thought I saw Elizabeth
as I imprinted the first kiss on her lips, they became livid with the hue of death
I saw the grave worms crawling in the folds of [my dead mothers] flannel. I started from my sleep in horror; a cold dew covered my forehead, my teeth chattered, and every limb became convulsed; when, by the dim and yellow light of th
e moon, as it forced its way through the window shutters, I beheld the wretch& (Shelley 56). Shelley evokes the absurd death of Elizabeth, an endearing person and source of joy to Victor, in his nightmare, implying his true loss of sanity after he is overwhelmed with horror. Victors morbid dream insinuates subconscious fears that by creating life, he is bringing death not only to the creature but to his loved ones as well. Impulsively, Victor flees his apartment, expressing, Sometimes my pulse beat so quickly and hardly, I felt the palpitation of every artery; at others, I nearly sank to the ground through languor I sought to avoid the wretch whom I feared every turning of the street would present to my view&[I] felt impelled to hurry on, although wetted by the rain, which poured from a black and comfortless sky My heart palpitated in the sickness of fear& (Shelley 57-58). Here, Victor is shown suffering fluctuating bodily responses to his intense heart palpitations, suggesting that he is in an incapacitated-like state as a byproduct of his terror.