Chapter 24

Summary

Victor continues his narration, “As night approached I found myself at the entrance of the cemetery where William, Elizabeth and my father reposed. '''''''  The spirits of the departed seemed to flit around and to cast a shadow which was felt but not seen, around the head of the mourner.”

Victor asks the spirits of the dead to help him in his quest for vengeance, and he feels that he has their approval, and then there is a loud and fiendish laugh from the monster, inviting Victor to pursue him. 

There then begins the chase from Geneva, through the Mediterranean and Black Seas, across Russia, north and further north to the Arctic Circle.

The monster seems to be able to travel tirelessly, while Victor grows weaker and all that keeps him going is the lust for vengeance.

The monster steals a dog sled team, and Victor can never quite catch up to him.  However, on the cracking ice, they come close to one another and it is at this time when Robert Walton finds Victor on his ice flow in the Arctic Ocean. 

Victor asks Robert to continue his quest in destroying the monster if he fails.

Interpretation

Yet another element essential to the Gothic novel is introduced by Shelley - spirits of the dead, or ghosts.

Victor seeks their help in obtaining vengeance for he feels that he cannot join with them until this is accomplished. The monster mocks Victor at the cemetery with his fiendish laugh.

Shelley again emphasizes the psychic connection between Victor and the monster. The two always seem to know each other’s whereabouts.

The monster is quite well aware of this connection between the two, but he goads Victor by leaving him messages during their trek across Russia. The monster: “Follow me; I seek the everlasting ices of the north, where you will feel the misery of the cold and frost, to which I am impassive. You will find near this place, if you follow not too tardily, a dead hare; eat and be refreshed.  Come on, my enemy; we have yet to wrestle for our lives, but many hard and miserable hours must you endure until that period shall arrive.”

We have reached the end of Victor’s narration, and the picture he has painted. This is framed by the letters at the beginning of the book, and the end of the tale is now told by Walton, completing the framing of Victor’s narration. 

The barren Arctic will again be the closing Gothic scene of this story.