He was soon borne away by the waves, and lost in darkness and distance.
The ending image dissolves the Creature into sea and night. The imagery gives him a tragic grandeur without absolution. Grief here is quiet; the fury has burned out. Shelley refuses neat closure—only distance and darkness. The line suggests that some wrongs end not with justice, but with exhaustion. We feel the ache of a story that can’t be set right, only ended.
He was soon borne away by the waves, and lost in darkness and distance.
The ending image dissolves the Creature into sea and night. The imagery gives him a tragic grandeur without absolution. Grief here is quiet; the fury has burned out. Shelley refuses neat closure—only distance and darkness. The line suggests that some wrongs end not with justice, but with exhaustion. We feel the ache of a story that can’t be set right, only ended.