Frankenstein: Volume II - Chapter 8

Chapter 8

The creature curses his creator for giving him life, and it is only the thought of revenge that keeps him from taking his own life. The creature hopes that he can speak to the elderly man and gain the trust of his children, and so goes to the cottage. When he arrives he finds it empty, and waits until Felix finally arrives with a stranger. He learns that the family are leaving the cottage in fear that the creature will return. He cannot believe that his only companions have abandoned him. He cries and is angry for the rest of the day. When he wakes up the next day, he is determined to avenge mankind, particularly his creator, and so returns to Geneva. The creature travels only in the night, in the bitter cold, so that he is not seen but allows himself to travel in the day through one of the first days of Spring. His surroundings remind him of his gentle nature and he 'dares to be happy'. The creature sees a girls running through the forest and falling into rapidly moving water, and without thinking, jumps in a saves her. A peasant man comes along and snatches the girls away and shoots the creature. This makes the creature hate humanity even more. He soon arrives in Geneva and sees a child running through the forest. The creature speculates that the boy may be too young to hate his deformities and grabs the child's arm. The child screams and calls him a 'hideous monster' and says that his father, M. Frankenstein, will punish him. Upon hearing this name, the creature strangles the boy and feels a 'hellish triumph' at the boys death. The creature takes the necklace as he finds Caroline exquisitely beautiful, but is angry that no one will ever see him that way. The creature enters a nearby barn and finds Justine sleeping. Terrified she will wake up and denounce him a murderer, he hides the portrait in Justine;s dress. He thinks it is the beauty of people like Justine that have led him to this crime and so she should deal with the consequences. At the end of the tale, the creature demands that Frankenstein makes him a companion 'of the same species and of the same defects' so that he will no longer be alone. 

What makes it gothic?

•  Revenge - the creature his determined to repay his creator and humanity for the harm they have caused