This is the third time this phrasing has been heard in the volume. The first is at
its very beginning where Victor confesses that he "ardently wished to extinguish that
life which [he] had so thoughtlessly bestowed" (II:1:6). The second occurence takes
place during the encounter on the Mer de Glace, where under the intensity of the experience
Victor adds to his weight of guilt, vowing to "extinguish the spark that I so negligently
bestowed" (II:2:8). The Creature thus taunts Victor with his own words and desires,
but stresses the character of the negligence involved: his life, he asserts, has been
"wantonly bestowed," which returns him to his earlier line of attack: "How dare you
sport thus with life?" (II:2:7).