Chapter 9

After the violent succession of events, Victor is left with the dead calm of inaction—guilt and remorse pressing on him though his heart had once overflowed with benevolent intentions.

Victor avoids all human contact, wanders the lake at night contemplating suicide but restrained by love for Elizabeth and family, brooding on his hatred of the creature.

The Frankenstein household is plunged in sorrow; Elizabeth, once joyful, now speaks of the world as full of monsters and murderers who go unpunished while innocents die.

Unable to cope with the whirlwind of his passions, Victor abandons home and heads toward Chamounix, finding the immense mountains and waterfalls a temporary release from his consuming grief.

Victor rides and then hires a mule into the ravine of Arve; the magnificent Alpine scenery lightens his spirits before plunging him again into reflective misery as he alternates between spurs of motion and prostration.

Victor arrives in Chamounix exhausted; he watches the pallid lightnings over Mont Blanc and listens to the Arve until sleep finally steals over him, briefly granting oblivion.