“Solitude vivifies; isolation kills” -Joseph Roux
This quote unveils that the idea of choosing to be alone for philosophical pursuit and the stimulation of the mind doesn’t deviate from an ultimate outsider who longs for companionship as well as affection. Isolation can lead to destruction and insanity. In Chapter 14 of Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, the creature gets an insight on the cottagers’ lives in the past. Through his observation of how they live, he discovers Felix’s efforts to save a Turkish merchant from prison. As Felix attempts to free the prisoner, he immediately falls in love with the merchant’s daughter, Safie; however their plan comes to a halt when the government finds out Felix’s role in liberating the merchant. This results in the
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As he draws the similarities between himself and Safie’s father, he points out the “barbarous sentence” the merchant has to face. Similarly, the monster faces a sentence after being created: the rejection from his creator and human society without evaluation of his personality. The creature experiences a sense of compassion as he draws his attention towards the cottagers and becomes aware of their transition to becoming outcasts. In this chapter, it exposes the physical conditions that came with the misfortune of the DeLaceys family.
“Such were the events that preyed on the heart of Felix and rendered him, when I first saw him, the most miserable of his family. He could have endured poverty, and while this distress had been the meed of his virtue, gloried in it..” (Shelley 194)
The creature is able to relate to the cottagers as they had been isolated from society with the intentions of showing gratitude and helping those around them. With the cottagers being deprived of their fortune and condemned “to a perpetual exile from their native