Chains

While reading Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, I was especially fascinated with a certain passage in Chapter XIX.  "For an instant I dared to shake off my chains, and look around me with a free and lofty spirit;  but the iron had eaten into my flesh, and I sank again, trembling and hopeless, into my miserable self (p117)."  I really liked this sentence, because it contains insightful symbolism which portrays a theme of the novel.  The sentence is both literal and symbolic, as Victor physically and emotionally fell with hopelessness.  However, what is important is the symbolic meaning.  The symbol of the chains is just one of the references in the novel to slavery.  These references point to the idea that Victor is a prisoner of his past mistake, the creation of the creature.  In this particular portion of the novel, Victor's spirits begin to be raised by the sights he sees in England.  This happens in his travels throughout the story.  Every time, however, Victor quickly returns to sadness and depression when he remembers the threat of the creature.  His life has indeed become enslaved by the creature.  The "iron eating into his flesh" symbolizes the inability to move on caused by prolonged fear of his creation.  He cannot be happy, entertain his friends and family, or conduct experiments in his current state.  All he can do is worry about the monster.  The only way he can escape is to kill his master, the creature.  Then, he could relax and finally be free of anxiety.