• the fiend with an air of exultation

    Nothing in the Creature's statements in the previous paragraph—particularly given
    the stark alternatives he lays before Victor at its end—suggests that he is exulting
    at this point. Rather, the remark along with the epithet convey Victor's intrinsic
    sense of superiority and of his right to wield a power capable of affording satisfaction
    to an underling. Whatever Victor may regard as "the duties of a creator," they do
    not yet forestall him from calling his creature a "fiend" and regarding him as "odious."