The Role Of Secrecy In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein '

Secrecy is shown often through Chapters 7-9 when Victor Frankenstein does not tell his biggest secret, which has huge repercussions on the people he loves and himself in Frankenstein. Victor received a letter from his father stating that William, Victor’s little brother, was murdered (Shelley 46-47). Justine, who lives with the Frankenstein’s and cares for William, is convicted of the murder of William and is sentenced to death (57-60). Before Justine was convicted, Victor had the chance to state that he was guilty by creating and abandoning the creature: “I well knew that if any other had communicated such a relation to me, I should have looked upon it as the ravings of insanity... And then of what use would be pursuit? … These reflections …show more content…
Victor secret has caused this grieving. If he would have confessed, then Justine may still have been alive. The loss of Justine and William has brought unhappiness to their once smiling home. Victor is saying that all the grief and suffering is because of him creating the creature and keeping this creature a secret. He goes on to say that he, who would do anything for his family, has brought sorrows and unhappiness. Victor is watching his family suffer and go into a depression because he told nobody about the creature that murdered his brother, which caused Justine’s death. This makes Victor’s guilt of his secrecy worse. While watching his family suffer due to his secrecy, he thinks about drowning himself in a lake to see the suffering end, but he realizes that his family would suffer worse and does not commit suicide (62). Victor also feels that his family has no idea how he feels because they do not know about the guilt from keeping a secret (61). He tries to use Nature to heal him, but it only helps a little (65). Keeping secrets can have major repercussions as they did with Victor. Secrecy can cause