"Destiny was too potent, and her immutable laws had decreed my utter and terrible destruction." (Shelley, pg. 27)
This quote describes Victor's acquisition of knowledge in science as what destroys him; knowing too much, like how to re-create life in his case, is damaging to human nature and to temper with it will cause only pain and eventually death.
Their Consequences:
As punishment for giving humans fire and stealing from his fellow gods, Prometheus was tied to a rock and was to serve the rest of his immortal life by having an eagle eat his liver every single day. Now Victor's "punishment" to say, wasn't exactly as obvious as Prometheus's, but it was just as severe. Because Victor abandoned his monster without appropriately acquainting him with human society, the monster is left to fend for himself to find food, shelter, clothing, and even to educate himself. The monster eventually discovers his creator's true feelings towards him, and seeks out revenge against him, starting Frankenstein's lifetime of punishment (Spark, DB).
"... he has also the good sense to detest his creator for imposing upon him such a horrible burden as conscious existence, and he therefore commences a series of bloody persecutions against the unhappy Frankenstein—he murders his infant brother, his young bride, his bosom friend; even the very nursery maids of the family are not safe from his vengeance, for he contrives that they shall be hanged for robbery and murder which he himself commits." (Crocker, DB)
To be completely enveloped by death, destruction, and decay, Victor goes through various states of mental instability including raging bouts of anger and depression, and nearing the end of the book, insanity. At the conclusion of the book, after Victor finishes telling his story to Captain Walton, he dies. The ultimate punishment is considered death in the novel, so it is only fitting that Victor dies. Both Prometheus and Victor paid the consequences for what they unleashed among humanity.
As punishment for giving humans fire and stealing from his fellow gods, Prometheus was tied to a rock and was to serve the rest of his immortal life by having an eagle eat his liver every single day. Now Victor's "punishment" to say, wasn't exactly as obvious as Prometheus's, but it was just as severe. Because Victor abandoned his monster without appropriately acquainting him with human society, the monster is left to fend for himself to find food, shelter, clothing, and even to educate himself. The monster eventually discovers his creator's true feelings towards him, and seeks out revenge against him, starting Frankenstein's lifetime of punishment (Spark, DB).
"... he has also the good sense to detest his creator for imposing upon him such a horrible burden as conscious existence, and he therefore commences a series of bloody persecutions against the unhappy Frankenstein—he murders his infant brother, his young bride, his bosom friend; even the very nursery maids of the family are not safe from his vengeance, for he contrives that they shall be hanged for robbery and murder which he himself commits." (Crocker, DB)
To be completely enveloped by death, destruction, and decay, Victor goes through various states of mental instability including raging bouts of anger and depression, and nearing the end of the book, insanity. At the conclusion of the book, after Victor finishes telling his story to Captain Walton, he dies. The ultimate punishment is considered death in the novel, so it is only fitting that Victor dies. Both Prometheus and Victor paid the consequences for what they unleashed among humanity.