NOTES

I ardently wished to extinguish that life

Heavy irony attends this choice of diction. Not only are we reminded of the "ardent" desire with which, when young, Victor (I:2:7) (and Walton—I:L1:2) eagerly pursued scientific knowledge, but we can associate with that innocent desire the more complicated ardency driving Victor obsessively toward the scientific breakthrough that was the birth of this Creature: see I:3:1 and note. This is the point in the novel when the language of intense love first is used to embody the designs of a passionate hatred.