Losing Love

"Why is the measure of love loss?"

Since discovering this query in Jeanette Winterson's novel Written on the Body, I have noticed more and more how intensely love is guided by the possibility of loss. It seems that every single person in this world is searching desperately for some sort of pure, unadulterated love while simultaneously building enough armor to protect herself from the pain that may shadow this love. Of course, this suit of armor is hardly complete without perhaps the most direct form of protection--repelling affection and love. Just as the beloved followers of Jesus crucified their Savior and the mariner shot the adoring Albatross, there is a recurrent theme of eradicating the one thing/person that offers the most love. But why? We all want to be loved, right? Why does the prospect of being loved unconditionally drive us to not only avoid that source of that love, but additionally, kill that very source? This seems strange.

In the same light, what drives Victor to spurn nature and create the monster? Does he find naturally occurring love so tragic and unreliable that he must take control of the emotion? Are the rejection of Elizabeth and the creation of the monster nearly identical acts? Essentially. As long as Victor can control love, he can insure that he will not be hurt by the effects of love. In short, he desires to control the fate of his once-damaged heart.

Controlling fate. Does Victor usurp the reigns of destiny? He does, after all, assume an arguable God complex by working tirelessly to create life. Yet, he still insists that he was "attacked" by fate. Seems like a bit of denial to me!

Question: why did Victor create a man rather than a woman? Of course, the image of a towering, barbarous man is far more frightening than a pieced together woman, but is there anything to say about his monster's gender aside from the fright factor? Logically, it seems that Victor would prefer to create a woman whose love he could never lose. But, obviously, that's not the case.