Tintern Abbey in Frankenstein

Mary Shelley alludes to "Tintern Abbey" after praising Victor's better half to show the true purpose of Henry Clerval. An innocent character from Victor's childhood, Clerval's purpose, other than to symbolize one of Victor's last connections to his past - that of which he abandons and is left unidentifiable from his natural form - isn't clear. In context, the allusion occurs when Wordsworth's speaker is looking back on his past. In Frankenstein's narrative context, Victor is recalling Henry Clerval: his past. Shelley choses to stop right before the line "That time is past" (Wordsworth 84). That time IS past. Time is frequently referenced to as water. The waterfall, and the water or time that falls from it, is lost forever. Mary uses this passage to enhance the hopelessness of how permanent Victor's change is. This chemical reaction that has transpired in Victor is immutable. At first, I thought the allusion to "Tintern Abbey" was paralleling Victor's past. As a child, his quest for knowledge lead him down the calm river of time in his childhood, where he met with the point of dropping off. I read this symbolism as birthing imagery, as Victor anticipated his expected birth by the sound of the rushing water and dropped off into the gloomy woods. It could also be read as Victor falling from Mount Olympus, and like Prometheus, Victor is banished to the material world where he suffers. However, Shelley does not use this passage to describe just Victor. Clerval is a foil for Victor. He represents the beauty Victor could have bestowed if he had learned to appreciate nature for what it is. The allusion develops Clerval's character even more. As others would view this awful waterfall with a superficial appreciation, Clerval loves this sight with his being. This innocence, an almost prepubescent child that contrasts with the parental Victor, cannot escape the terror of development. He too is dropped off from this cliff and into the gloomy woods. The odd aspect is the " haunting passions" he faces. It is natural to crave independence from the creator. After all, Wordsworth argues "there is no need of a remoter charm" (82). Someone as clean as Clerval is lured to this dropping off point. To descend from this heavenly, safe place, into a physical and depressing world does not seem to affect Clerval. This point of dropping off, where development takes place, is where Victor and Clerval branch. Victor's arrogance leads him to believe he is greater than nature. After his mother's death, Victor turns to nature for support. Eventually, he leaves nature and defies the gods by creating life. Clerval drops off too. Almost in a sense, puberty; however, Clerval keeps his appreciation of nature. It is his mother. In "Tintern Abbey", this memory of a thunderous cataract, a possible danger that nature inflicts on Wordsworth, is for a specific purpose. A certain "tough love". Wordsworth writes that the "sad music of humanity, Nor has nor grating though of ample power to chasten and subdue" (94) describes the power of nature. To chasten is to sometimes inflict suffering or strain to teach. Instead of rebelling against his parental guidance like Victor, Clerval uses these memories and sticks with nature so he can grow from it. Clerval is the man after accepting humiliation from nature while Victor is the man who decided not to return to his Abbey. Victor is the man who is "flying from something that he dreads" (72). Victor never contemplated or learned from nature because he chose not to participate in it, while Henry, a far more well off character accepted his position and acknowledged how important nature was in the development of his childhood.