• They were for ever ardent and craving In the connotations of Mary Shelley's time, this phrase, in combination with the
    "impotent passions" described two sentences earlier, would seem to suggest that the
    Creature has suffered deeply during his existence from unconsummated sexual desire.
    Ironically, his desire for intercourse has been pure and unsublimated, whereas that
    of Walton and Frankenstein has been strongly channeled away from human interaction
    and into their respective projects (see II:9:9 and note).