A Very Good Friend

In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, the title character reveals that after his creation gets away, he falls into a mild state of depression.  He is disinterested in the science that he had devoted his life and health to for the last two years.  But immediately upon success, he became scared of his creation.  As he fled his home and waited for the monster to leave, he ran into Henry Clerval.  Henry was a childhood friend who was always a very nice person, and very outgoing.  Throughout Victor's sickness, Henry provided him with the best heath care possible.  Clerval sacrificed much of his free time and ability to experience his new college campus in order to take care of his friend.  Clerval provided a person that kept Victor company and allowed him to heal emotionally and physically from the stress of creating the creature.  Although Clerval seems to be his best friend, Victor claims he, "could never persuade [himself] to confide to [Clerval] that event which was so often present to [his] recollection," (Shelley, 43).  This lack of ability to open up about an extremely traumatic event will likely lead to ongoing mental problems.  This unhealthy state could be one of the many reasons he seems to be in such bad shape when he is found by Robert, and why he always looks back onto the events that have transpired with a sense of doom.