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[H]e believes that when in dreams he holds converse with his friends and derives from that communion consolation for his miseries or excitements to his vengeance, that they are not the creations of his fancy, but the beings themselves

After Victor finishes telling the main part of his story to Walton in Chapter 24, the narrative of the novel shifts back to Walton in its final chapter, which is called “Walton, in Continuation” (in essence, Walton’s fifth letter to is sister Margaret). In this final chapter, the exhausted and dying Victor makes a few statements that Walton represents in his letter, including this one in which he mentions that he talks to his dead friends and relatives in his dreams. The explanation of this quote in Quotes by Character: Victor Frankenstein discusses how this ties into the novel’s theme of The Effects of Isolation.

All my speculations and hopes are as nothing, and like the archangel who aspired to omnipotence, I am chained in an eternal hell.

Here, the delirious Victor compares himself to Satan in John Milton’s Paradise Lost. This irony and significance of this quote is discussed in Quotes by Character: Victor Frankenstein (the second “Walton, in Continuation” quote).

Behold on these desert seas I have found such a one; but I fear I have gained him only to know his value and lose him.

In “Walton, in Continuation” (which is Walton’s first direct address to his sister since Victor took control of the narrative in Chapter 1), he despairs at the thought of Victor dying. Having finally found companionship, Walton realizes he must now lose it, forcing him once more into solitude. The affinity Walton feels for Victor underscores the significance of human connection and the tragedy of its absence, casting the monster (who has never known love, and rarely kinship) in a sympathetic light.

September 9th, the ice began to move, and roarings like thunder were heard at a distance as the islands split and cracked in every direction. We were in the most imminent peril, but as we could only remain passive, my chief attention was occupied by my unfortunate guest whose illness increased in such a degree that he was entirely confined to his bed. The ice cracked behind us and was driven with force towards the north; a breeze sprang from the west, and on the 11th the passage towards the south became perfectly free. When the sailors saw this and that their return to their native country was apparently assured, a shout of tumultuous joy broke from them, loud and long-continued.

In this quote from Walton’s letter to his sister in “Walton, in Continuation,” Walton describes the perils of his expedition’s ship being surrounded by the Arctic ice. As the explanation of this quote in Quotes by Setting: The Arctic Ice discusses, his tone here is a far cry from the excited and optimistic one he displayed in his earlier letters to his sister, before the dangers of his ambitious expedition had been made clear to him.

I cannot lead them unwillingly to danger, and I must return.

Here, in “Walton, in Continuation,” the explorer shows that even though he and Victor share many similarities, they are fundamentally different in terms of accepting responsibility for their actions. Read more about this quote in Quotes by Character: Robert Walton.

Farewell, Walton! Seek happiness in tranquillity and avoid ambition, even if it be only the apparently innocent one of distinguishing yourself in science and discoveries. Yet why do I say this? I have myself been blasted in these hopes, yet another may succeed.

With Victor’s final words in the novel (in “Walton, in Continuation”), he starts out sounding as if he has come to accept responsibility for allowing his ambitions to create a disaster that has led to widespread pain, suffering, and death, before suddenly reverting to his true unrestrainable self with his last words. The explanation of Victor’s final words in Quotes by Theme: The Consequences of Ambition goes into more depth about this. You can also read about this quote in Quotes by Character: Victor Frankenstein (the third “Walton, in Continuation” quote).

Am I to be thought the only criminal, when all humankind sinned against me?

This quote from the monster in “Walton, in Continuation” are spoken to Robert Walton after he has discovered the monster weeping over Victor’s body. These words sum up the monster’s defense in the existential debate over whether or how much responsibility he has for the brutal murders of his many innocent victims. You can read more about this quote in Quotes by Theme: The Nature of Goodness.

I, the miserable and the abandoned, am an abortion, to be spurned at, and kicked, and trampled on.

The depths of the what the monster feels is his undeserved degradation are conveyed in this powerful quote as he speaks to Robert Walton in “Walton, in Continuation.” You can read more about this quote in Famous Quotes Explained.

I shall collect my funeral pile and consume to ashes this miserable frame, that its remains may afford no light to any curious and unhallowed wretch who would create such another as I have been.

This statement by the monster to Walton in “Walton, in Continuation” provides support for the argument that he isn’t innately evil, as is discussed in the explanation for this quote in Quotes by Character: The Monster.

He is dead who called me into being; and when I shall be no more, the very remembrance of us both will speedily vanish.

This quote comes from the monster’s final speech spoken to Walton in “Walton, in Continuation,” in which he describes the prejudice he has faced throughout his life, and of his own self-hatred for the acts he committed in response. He assures Walton he will cause no more trouble; with Victor dead, the monster too can now die, and both will ultimately fade into obscurity.

‘But soon,’ he cried with sad and solemn enthusiasm, ‘I shall die, and what I now feel be no longer felt. Soon these burning miseries will be extinct. I shall ascend my funeral pile triumphantly and exult in the agony of the torturing flames. The light of that conflagration will fade away; my ashes will be swept into the sea by the winds. My spirit will sleep in peace, or if it thinks, it will not surely think thus. Farewell.’

This quote from “Walton, in Continuation” are the final words spoken by the monster in Frankenstein. The explanation of this quote in Quotes by Characters: The Monster (the second quote in “Walton, in Continuation”) discusses how the monster’s death and his attitude at the time of his death contrast sharply with those of his creator, Victor. It also talks about the meaning behind is enigmatic final comment about the afterlife.

He sprang from the cabin-window as he said this, upon the ice raft which lay close to the vessel. He was soon borne away by the waves and lost in darkness and distance.

These evocative words are the final passage in Frankenstein. The quote leaves the reader with the haunting image of the monster’s presence growing ever fainter and then disappearing into literal nothingness as he has accepted the harsh reality that he has no place in this world.

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