When Victor turned seventeen he was to attend university but was detained by, "the first misfortune of my life occurred-an omen, as it were, of my future misery". His mother died of scarlet fever. This had a hugely profound effect on Victor. At first he could not bring himself to admit that she had truly passed on, " It is so long before the mind can persuade itself that she, whom we saw every day, and whose very existence appeared a part of our own, can have departed for ever--that the brightness of a beloved eye can have been extinguished, and the sound of a voice so familiar, and dear to the ear, can be hushed, never more to be heard. These are the reflections of the first days; but when the lapse of time proves the reality of the evil, then the actual bitterness of grief commences".

Victor was in the midst of the grieving process, therefore w

It is at the university that Victor finds a channel for his grief. In his attempt to eradicate his suffering, he chose to direct his efforts to the very source of what distressed him, which was to obliterate the finality of death itself. In this passage, Victor Frankenstein describes the birth of his obsession to find the cure for death, "I felt as if my soul were grappling with a palpable enemy; one by one the various keys were touched which formed the mechanism of my being: chord after chord was sounded, and soon my mind was filled with one thought, one conception, one purpose. So much has been done, exclaimed the soul of Frankenstein--more, far more, will I achieve: treading in the steps already marked, I will pioneer a new way, explore unknown powers, and unfold to the world the deepest mysteries of creation."

At the beginning of his research Victor had been suffering from melancholy, a natural part of grieving. However, melancholy can be the starting point of madness. The melancholic individual is inherently more sensitive than others, and if the situation allows, becomes increasingly susceptible to everything. This severity of sensitivity can spiral downwards until the sufferer can no longer break himself out of this spiral, giving way to painful anxiety and insanity. By alienating himself from society, Victor essentially insured his own madness.

as in no shape to embark on another traumatic event

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 957
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)