By the time of this fateful moment in Frankenstein, the monster has longed for companionship for quite some time. Ignored and rejected by Victor, his creator, he begs for Victor to gift him some company by creating a female companion for him; in exchange, the monster promises to retreat completely from human society. Victor reluctantly agrees, and the reader can empathize with the monster's joy in finally having another being to share life with: he has only found hate and scorn in humanity, so this compromise provides him with a basic need for friendship.

However, as Victor nears the completion of this task, he begins to doubt himself. He wonders whether "she [the second creature] might become ten thousand times more malignant … in murder and wretchedness" than his first creation. And as the monster watches, Victor rips the almost-finished female to shreds in front of him.

The monster is filled with rage and seeks retribution. If he must endure a lonely and painful life because of Victor's choices, then Victor must suffer the same fate. He first turns to a close and loyal friend of Victor's, Henry Clerval. Victor rushes to London to meet up with his longtime friend, but when he gets there, he finds that his friend is dead, with the black marks of the monster's hands around his neck.

Henry dies because the monster seeks to dismantle everything which Victor holds dear. It is an act of vengeance for Victor's destruction of the companion which the monster had so desperately longed for.