Walton understandably credits Victor's condition to severe exposure; but Victor tends
to react with extreme stress to the Creature's presence and more than once falls into
a catatonic state: e.g., after the Creature's original escape (I:4:3), after the destruction
of the second creature (III:3:24), and after the death of Clerval (III:4:10). This
appears to be a psychosomatic corollary to his constitutional introversion.