Theme: Death

"I saw, with surprise and grief, the leaves decay and fall, and nature again assume the barren and bleak appearance it had worn when I first beheld the woods and the lovely moon (page 94)." Death is a recurring theme in Frankenstein. Between William, Justine, and Elizabeth (along with others), nearly everyone Victor cares about dies. This is not slighted in the least by the fact that the last pages behold his own death. Tied in with this theme is the theme of revenge. Because of all of the misfortunes of the creation, including his near death when a man shoots him for saving his lady companion, he adamantly seeks revenge. He fulfills his vengeful plots by killing those most near and dear to Victor. The creation's knowledge up until that point of killing William was that Victor would not be hurt if he were to kill him. If anything, Victor would have likely seen this as a welcome escape. Victor was most upset by the deaths of those he loved. And, again, because of the sufferings of the creation, he was enraptured by the thought of revenge on Victor. This proved deadly to those Victor cared about.