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Unless I had been animated by an almost supernatural enthusiasm, my application to this study would have been irksome and almost intolerable.
This quote from Victor in Chapter 4 picks up from quotes in Chapter 3 in which he offers various explanations and excuses for his questionable actions in creating the monster. Whereas he cited the influences of science, ambition, and fate in Chapter 3, here he blames “supernatural” influences. Read more about this quote in Quotes by Character: Victor Frankenstein.
A new species would bless me as its creator and source; many happy and excellent natures would owe their being to me. No father could claim the gratitude of his child so completely as I should deserve theirs.
This Chapter 4 quote perfectly illustrates Victor's immense arrogance and lack of foresight in his attempt to create new life. Despite the seemingly impossible nature of his task, he "doubted not that [he] should ultimately succeed," but clearly failed to imagine anything other than an ideal outcome. He sees himself as a paternal figure to his eventual creation, capable of gifting them with life and therefore commanding their "gratitude" and obedience. However, he seems interested only in the privileges of parenthood, not the responsibilities. He feels he deserves respect and adoration from his "child," but he doesn't consider that instead of giving them a gift, he is cursing them with a terrible father.
Read more about this quote in Quotes by Theme: Parental Responsibility and in Quotes by Character: Victor Frankenstein (the second quote from Chapter 4).
In a solitary chamber, or rather cell, at the top of the house, and separated from all the other apartments by a gallery and staircase, I kept my workshop of filthy creation; my eyeballs were starting from their sockets in attending to the details of my employment. The dissecting room and the slaughter-house furnished many of my materials; and often did my human nature turn with loathing from my occupation, whilst, still urged on by an eagerness which perpetually increased, I brought my work near to a conclusion.
The summer months passed while I was thus engaged, heart and soul, in one pursuit. It was a most beautiful season; never did the fields bestow a more plentiful harvest or the vines yield a more luxuriant vintage, but my eyes were insensible to the charms of nature.
The book’s theme of The Harmful Effects of Isolation and Alienation are evident in this quote by Victor describing his miserable room in gloomy Ingolstadt. This Chapter 4 quote is further explained in Quotes by Setting: Europe.
‘I know that while you are pleased with yourself, you will think of us with affection, and we shall hear regularly from you. You must pardon me if I regard any interruption in your correspondence as a proof that your other duties are equally neglected.’
With these words from Chapter 4 in which Victor quotes an admonishment from his father, the theme of The Harmful Effects of Isolation and Alienation is again evoked, but this time with the suggestion that these feelings are rooted in self-hatred. Read more about this idea in Quotes by Character: Victor Frankenstein (the third quote from Chapter 4).
