More on the curse on Victor

More on the curse on Victor:

• A sympathetic reading of these words might suggest that the curse to which Victor refers is the devil of enquiry that is part of his personality, given to him at birth, which has driven him to pursue his scientific studies beyond a safe or acceptable limit.
• However, Victor's use of these words suggests that at some level he refuses to acknowledge his responsibility for his situation. He seems to feel that he can blame what has happened on some external malevolent force that has picked him out and chosen to punish him.
• He expresses the same idea later in the chapter, in the passage from ‘At such moments vengeance' to ‘the ardent desire of my soul'.
• Furthermore, the messages that the monster leaves on trees and stones, taunting Victor to continue his pursuit, make it clear that far from being controlled by any kind of external power, he is the victim of his own past actions and his present thirst for revenge.
• Towards the end of his narrative, Victor speaks of ‘my guiding spirit', which could be said to further complicate the degree of free will that he is exercising in his pursuit of the monster, who is by now as much his guiding spirit as any higher being or belief in an abstract principle.

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