"She left me, and I continued some time walking up and down the passages of the house, and inspecting every corner that might afford a retreat to my adversary. But I discovered no trace of him, and was beginning to conjecture that some fortunate chance had intervened to prevent the dreadful execution of his menaces; when suddenly I heard a shrill and dreadful scream." page 144
This scene is the classic (and probably original) "don't open the closet door" scene. It is dramatically ironic because the reader can fully expect that the creature would go after Elizabeth instead of Victor, and it seems obvious that when she retires, he has the perfect opportunity to get to her. Instead of protecting her, as has been his concern all along, Victor tries to protect himself which results in Elizabeth's death. The poor guy can't catch a break, but he almost brings it upon himself. I agree with his decision to get rid of the female's body and stop that project, but it wasn't smart to go about it the way he did. He could easily have found another way and saved the lives of both Henry and Elizabeth. I loved the suspense, though. I could picture a character in a movie relaxing slightly, slumping his shoulders a bit because he thinks he has nothing to worry about, and then hearing the scream and knowing exactly what's going on. I hate horror movies, but I liked this part. It's funny how obvious this one was.
Perfect!
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