Frankenstein - ch. 18-21

Now the readers finally get to hear what they have been wanting to hear the entire novel; Victor and Elizabeth are getting married. However, there is no joyous tone when reading this portion of the novel. Let's remember that Victor is telling the story and he has a melancholy tone because he knows of the tragedies ahead. Victor also knows that he has a terrible act to perform before he can rest. The construction of the creature's partner seems to be going well until the creature appears during the creation process. A whole number of thoughts run through Victor's head such as the creature's procreating. Just as any sane person would react upon thinking of the hideous creature reproducing, Victor destroys the creature's partner. This may be one of the last sane acts that Victor performs. The creature scares the pants off of Victor when he says, "'I will be with you on your wedding night (123).'"

Upon Victor's arrival to Ireland, he is met with rudeness. Initially, I thought that Shelley was just trying to the say that the Irish are a rude people, and I was slightly offended until I kept reading. This time, Victor is the one on trial following the second creation process. Even though he is exonerated, Victor is  still sickly and he is paranoid. I think there are parallels between Victor's mental and physical health. Whenever Victor goes through an immensely stressful situation, he becomes deathly ill.