How Do you Solve a Problem Like the Creature?

Frankenstein
Mary Shelley

The use of foreshadowing is present in Shelley's Frankenstein. When the creature becomes despondent after his failed attempt with the cottagers, he wants to fill the lonely void in his life. It came as no surprise to me that the creature would want a woman companion to keep him company. However, he wanted Victor to create a creature just as ugly as the creature himself. Initially, Victor agreed to the creature's request. However, the following quote shows a bit of foreshadowing if Victor were to complete the creature's request. "I looked towards its completion with a tremulous and eager hope, which I dared not trust myself to question, but which was intermixed with obscure forebodings of evil, that made my heart sicken in my bosom"(Shelley, 120). This shows that Victor had uneasy premonitions of the creation of the second monster. These thoughts foreshadowed that if this creature had been created, then she would have been worse than the creature himself. This potential creature could have solved the problem of the creature's loneliness. I think that if she had been created, then she would have only caused more trouble. It seems as though the creature's only hope for a peaceful life is at the expense of Victor's life.