Chapter 22
Victor recovers and returns to Geneva to marry Elizabeth, unaware of the creature's final threat.
5 argumentative units
- 01Paris—Victor's self-accusations and father's bewilderment
In Paris Victor recovers slowly while accusing himself aloud of murdering William, Justine, and Henry; his father thinks him delirious, and Victor is silenced by the impossibility of confessing the creature's existence.
- 02Elizabeth's letter—Victor recalls the creature's threat
Elizabeth writes asking whether Victor loves another and releasing him from their engagement; her letter revives in Victor the creature's terrible threat—'I will be with you on your wedding-night'—and he resolves to marry her regardless.
- 03Return to Geneva—Elizabeth's welcome and Victor's torment
Victor returns to Geneva, where Elizabeth receives him with warm affection but is visibly thinned; tranquillity soon gives way to fits of rage and torpor, from which only Elizabeth's gentle voice can rouse him.
- 04The marriage is set—Victor arms himself against the creature
Victor's father presses the marriage; Victor, viewing the creature's threat as unavoidable fate, agrees—even carrying pistols and a dagger constantly to defend himself—as the ceremony is fixed for ten days hence.
- 05The wedding journey—beauty and dread on the lake
After the ceremony, Victor and Elizabeth sail toward Evian across a magnificent lake; Elizabeth endeavours to raise their spirits with the scenery, but her mood is melancholy and Victor's heart sinks as sunset brings him to shore.