If we can take this tribute at face value, as an honest assessment of the rehabilitation
presided over by Henry Clerval, we must then read a tragic irony into Victor's expression
here. He has opened himself up once more to the generous humanity he had experienced
in his domestic circle, a humanity that might have enveloped his Creature in far different
circumstances from those attending his instant rejection at Victor's hands. As with
other sentiments in these last paragraphs of the chapter, sentiments predicated on
stable norms and humane values, we are given a last opportunity to pretend, or to
hope, that these are universal truths before the ensuing catastrophe brings us to
our senses.