The creature describes the way he murdered William and how he found the valuable portrait of the beautiful woman, William's mother, in the boy's possession. He says that he knew such a woman would never look upon him and smile that way, and this thought makes him bitterly angry. The creature soon finds Justine, asleep in a barn nearby; he recognizes her beauty, as well, and that she is "'one of those who joy-imparting smiles...
The creature describes the way he murdered William and how he found the valuable portrait of the beautiful woman, William's mother, in the boy's possession. He says that he knew such a woman would never look upon him and smile that way, and this thought makes him bitterly angry. The creature soon finds Justine, asleep in a barn nearby; he recognizes her beauty, as well, and that she is "'one of those who joy-imparting smiles are bestowed on all but [him].'" He realizes that if he wakes her, she would scream in terror and curse him. The creature thinks,
not I, but she, shall suffer; the murder I have committed because I am forever robbed of all that she could give me, she shall atone. The crime had its source in her; be hers the punishment! Thanks to the lessons of Felix and the sanguinary laws of man, I had learned now to work mischief. I bent over her and placed the portrait securely in one of the folds of her dress. (Chapter 16)
Thus, he decides that Justine is, indirectly, the source of all his misery (as she becomes a sort of representative of all humanity, who has or will reject him), and his misery compelled him to murder, and so the murder of William can be traced back to her. Therefore, he thinks, she should bear the punishment, not he. He believes human laws to be bloodthirsty and cruel, and he has likewise learned some cruelty from hearing the histories taught by Felix, and so he knows how to wreak havoc. He purposely frames Justine for William's murder by placing the valuable bauble in her dress.
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