the shadow of a human being
Although this phrase is meant to underscore the precarious state of
Victor's physical health, it resonates within a psychological and moral
construction as well, once again reminding us of how like the state of his
Creature Victor's has become. The Creature functions as a shadow, not
just
in the modern sense of trailing Victor wherever he goes, but also in his
incapacity ever to assume a full human dimension. Victor, in his
isolation and his chronic sense of undiscriminating guilt, has also
forsaken that dimension. In the late chapters of the novel Victor's
physical condition is, as here, a measure of his psychic state.
