so as not to have to confront their actual nature. The howl represents, indeed, a
reaction of despair following an entire year's attentuated expectation, a year spent
in solitude and without any other hope. In turn, that understanding tends to ironize
Victor's own emotional dependency on Clerval during their trip. Both creator and creature
are here at last equally alone in their solitude, unconsciously prepared to transfer
their entire gamut of emotional needs into a single-minded pursuit of the other's
destruction.