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Frankenstein - The Modern Prometheus
by:
Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin Shelley
Percy Bysshe Shelley
William Godwin
Richard Brinsley Peake
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Complete & Unabridged (1816-31)
CAPTAIN ROBERT WALTON
Letters from Robert Walton in St.
Petersburg, Russia to his sister Mrs. Saville in England:
Walton is on an expedition to
look for a passage through the Arctic Ocean to the North
Pacific Ocean via the
seas of the North Pole. Knowing the harsh climate and the
dangers involved with
making such a passage, he feels confident that a crew and
ship will be found to
make the trip, even after six long years of his own
preparations. Walton
recounts how he will not sail until June of the next year
on his expedition,
when the polar ices have thawed somewhat. Soon, he will
travel to Archangel
(now Ankhangelsk), Russia to finalise his plans and hire
a ship. He tells his
sister that if he succeeds he will not return in months
or years. If he fails,
he will be home sooner or never. It was Walton's father
who had told his uncle
that Robert should not become a career seaman. Robert
does so anyway after
failing as a poet and inheriting a substantial sum of
money from a deceased cousin.
He relays to his sister that he has felt a sense of
sadness at his own
ignorance, and he wants to improve himself and expand his
knowledge. Now that
he has reached Archangel in March, Robert Walton finds
himself lonesome. He
works steadily to ready a ship and crew but yearns for
someone like himself to
pass the time. Writing letters to his sister eases the
loneliness somewhat, but
he desires friendship. He tries to dismiss thoughts of
failure and will perhaps
return home via a different route, a changed man. The
captain and lieutenant
are possible choices for Robert's companions, but neither
seems to fulfill that
role for him. Now well into his voyage, on July 7 Robert
Walton writes to his
sister. A ship, namely a merchantman, returning to
Archangel and then England
will deliver the letter. Walton's ship now passes through
ice fields and warmer
than expected weather. He tells of normal ship operations
in the Arctic Sea but
of no incidents that are of significance. He tells his
sister goodbye and tells
of how he will succeed. The ship stalls between huge
sheets of ice, and Walton
and his men spot a sledge guided by a gigantic creature
about half a mile away.
The next morning, they encounter another sledge stranded
on an ice floe. All
but one of the dogs drawing the sledge is dead, and the
man on the sledge not
the man seen the night before is emaciated, weak, and
starving. Despite his
condition, the man refuses to board the ship until Walton
tells him that it is
heading north. The stranger spends two days recovering,
nursed by the crew,
before he can speak. The crew is burning with curiosity,
but Walton, aware of
the man s still-fragile state, prevents his men from
burdening the stranger
with questions. As time passes, Walton and the stranger
become friends, and the
stranger eventually consents to tell Walton his story. At
the end, Walton
states that the visitor will commence his narrative the
next day; Walton s
framing narrative ends and the stranger s begins.
VICTOR FRANKENSTEIN
01-10
Victor Frankenstein begins his
story just slightly before his birth. His father,
although as of yet unnamed,
is Alphonse Frankenstein, who was involved heavily in the
affairs of his
country and thus delayed marriage until late in life.
Alphonse quits public
life to become a father and husband. Victor's father and
Mr. Beaufort, his
mother Caroline's father, had a congenial relationship.
Mr. Beaufort and his
daughter move from Geneva to Lucerne, Switzerland to seek
refuge from poverty
and a damaged reputation. Alphonse sets out to aid his
lost friend to begin the world again through his credit
and
assistance. While in Lucerne, Beaufort had saved a small
amount of money
and had recovered his reputation somewhat, but he became
ill and within a few
months had died. When Alphonse finds the Beaufort home,
he discovers an
impoverished Caroline grieving at her father's coffin.
Alphonse gives his
friend a decent burial and sends Caroline to his family
in Geneva to recover.
During a two-year period, Alphonse visits Caroline and
they eventually became
husband and wife. Seeking a better climate, the couple
moves to Italy for a
short period. During this time, Victor was born and
lavished with attention. He
was their only child for five years until Caroline comes
across an impoverished
family in need of help. She falls for a beautiful little
girl who is Victor's
age and asks the family if she could adopt her. The
little girl, Elizabeth,
becomes Victor's adopted cousin and playmate. Around the
age of seven, Victor's
younger brother is born. Up to this point, he and
Elizabeth have been the
primary receivers of their parents' love. Their parents
decide to settle down
in Geneva to concentrate on raising their family. Victor
introduces his
life-long friend Henry Clerval, a creative child who
studies literature and
folklore. At the age of 13, Victor discovers the works of
Cornelius Agrippa,
Paracelsus, and Albertus Magnus, all alchemists from an
earlier age. His
voracious appetite for knowledge thus begins, and
eventually leads him to study
science and alchemy. At age 15, Victor witnesses an
electrical storm that peaks
his interest in electricity and possible applications for
its use. When Victor
is now 17 years old and ready to become a student at the
University of
Ingolstadt in Ingolstadt, Germany (near Munich), but an
outbreak of scarlet
fever at home delays his departure. His mother and
"cousin" both
fight the disease; Caroline Beaufort Frankenstein dies,
and Elizabeth recovers.
Before Caroline dies, she reveals her unrealised plans
for the marriage of
Victor and Elizabeth by saying, "my firmest hopes of the
future happiness
were placed on the prospect of your union." Elizabeth
becomes the family
caretaker upon Caroline's death. Victor finds it hard to
say goodbye to his
family and dear friend, but he sets out for Ingolstadt to
begin his studies in
science. Victor meets his mentors, Professor M. Krempe
and Professor M.
Waldman, at the university. He does not like Krempe but
he does find Waldman a
much more conducive and congenial teacher. Victor throws
himself into his
schoolwork, reading all he can about the sciences,
particularly chemistry.
Gaining a reputation as a scientist and innovator among
the professors and
fellow students alike. Believing his tenure at Ingolstadt
was nearing an end,
Victor thinks of returning home to Geneva. However, he
launches into a new
venue of scientific experimentation creating life from
death and reanimating
a dead body. Visiting morgues and cemeteries for the
necessary body parts,
Victor fails several times before successfully bringing
his creation to life.
His work does take its toll on him, affecting his health
and powers of
judgment. This gruesome work carries on through the
spring, summer, and fall of
that year. Victor lives for his work and throws himself
into his pursuit so
much that he shuts off all contact with the outside
world. In the second summer
Victor loses touch with his family. Letters from home go
unanswered for long
periods of time, and he delays sending a message home as
to his health or well-being.
One stormy night, after months of labour, Victor
completes his creation. But
when he brings it to life, its awful appearance horrifies
him. He rushes to the
next room and tries to sleep, but he is troubled by
nightmares about Elizabeth
and his mother s corpse. He wakes to discover the monster
looming over his bed
with a grotesque smile and rushes out of the house. He
spends the night pacing
in his courtyard. The next morning, he goes walking in
the town of Ingolstadt,
frantically avoiding a return to his now-haunted
apartment. As he walks by the
town inn, Victor comes across his friend Henry Clerval,
who has just arrived to
begin studying at the university. Delighted to see Henry
a breath of fresh air
and a reminder of his family after so many months of
isolation and ill
health he brings him back to his apartment. Victor enters
first and is relieved
to find no sign of the monster. But, weakened by months
of work and shock at
the horrific being he has created, he immediately falls
ill with a nervous
fever that lasts several months. Henry nurses him back to
health and, when
Victor has recovered, gives him a letter from Elizabeth
that had arrived during
his illness. Elizabeth's letter is the kind one would
expect from a concerned
family member. It is full of news from home that delights
Victor and restores
him to better health. Elizabeth tells of Justine Moritz,
the Frankenstein's
housekeeper and confidant. Even though Justine was
treated poorly by her own
family, she is a martyr for being a good, loyal friend to
the Frankenstein
family. Victor introduces Henry to his professors, who
praise Victor highly.
Victor and Henry begin their studies together, studying
ancient and foreign
languages in order to engage their minds. Both men are
happy to be hard-working
college students. Plans are made for Victor to return to
Geneva in the fall,
after his spring recovery, but weather and other delays
make the trip
impossible, and winter sets in. He revises his plans to
depart in May. Victor
receives a letter from his father telling him to return
home immediately.
William, the youngest in the family, has been murdered by
strangulation. The
family were out on an evening stroll near their home when
the young boy ran
ahead of the group. He was later found "stretched on the
grass livid and
motionless; the print of the murder's finger was on his
neck." Missing was
a locket that Elizabeth had given William of their
mother. When Victor arrives
at the city gates, they are closed, so he must remain
outside the city in
Secheron until the gates are reopened at dawn. It is at
this time that he
realises that he had been gone six years from home and
that two years have
passed since the creation of his monster. While near
Secheron, on Mont Blanc,
Victor catches a glimpse of the monster between flashes
of lightning. Having a
nagging feeling that the murder of his little brother
could be the handiwork of
his monster, Victor questions of he could be the murderer
of his brother and shudders.
The monster disappears when he realises that he has been
seen by his creator.
Now fully believing that his creation murdered William,
Victor knows that he
cannot reveal the source of the crime without some
serious inquiry about his
creation. Thus, Victor is torn between revealing the
monster and risking
inquisition on his past or letting the criminal justice
system free the
accused. Finally at home, Victor engages in a
conversation with his family. He
learns that Justine is accused of the murder with
circumstantial evidence. He
relays his assertion of Justine's innocence and states
that she will be found
not guilty. His words reassure Elizabeth in a time of
great need. The trial for
Justine Moritz begins at 11:00 the next morning. Victor
suffers silent torture
while the entire scene plays out in front of him. Yet, he
can do nothing to
stop it. Justine carries herself calmly at the trial,
answering the charges and
getting a sterling defence from Elizabeth. Although
Justine proclaims her
innocence, she is convicted of the crime. Her sentence is
to die by hanging the
following day. Elizabeth and Victor go to see Justine in
prison where both
learn that Justine had given a false confession under
stiff questioning.
Justine goes to her death with no fear, leaving Victor to
ponder the deaths of
two innocent victims. After Justine s execution, Victor
becomes increasingly
melancholy. He considers suicide but restrains himself by
thinking of Elizabeth
and his father. Alphonse, hoping to cheer up his son,
takes his children on an
excursion to the family home at Belrive. From there,
Victor wanders alone
toward the valley of Chamounix. The beautiful scenery
cheers him somewhat, but
his respite from grief is short-lived. One rainy day,
Victor wakes to find his
old feelings of despair resurfacing. He decides to travel
to the summit of
Montanvert, hoping that the view of a pure, eternal,
beautiful natural scene
will revive his spirits. When he reaches the glacier at
the top, he is
momentarily consoled by the sublime spectacle. As he
crosses to the opposite
side of the glacier, however, he spots a creature loping
toward him at
incredible speed. At closer range, he recognises clearly
the grotesque shape of
the monster. He issues futile threats of attack to the
monster, whose enormous
strength and speed allow him to elude Victor easily.
Victor curses him and
tells him to go away but the monster speaking eloquently,
persuades him to
accompany him to a fire in a cave of ice.
THE CREATURE
11-17
Inside the cave, the monster
begins to narrate the events of his life. Sitting by the
fire in his hut, the
monster tells Victor of the confusion that he experienced
upon being created.
He describes his flight from Victor s apartment into the
wilderness and his
gradual acclimation to the world through his discovery of
the sensations of
light, dark, hunger, thirst, and cold. According to his
story, one day he finds
a fire and is pleased at the warmth it creates, but he
becomes dismayed when he
burns himself on the hot embers. He realises that he can
keep the fire alive by
adding wood, and that the fire is good not only for heat
and warmth but also
for making food more palatable. In search of food, the
monster finds a hut and
enters it. His presence causes an old man inside to
shriek and run away in
fear. The monster proceeds to a village, where more
people flee at the sight of
him. As a result of these incidents, he resolves to stay
away from humans. One
night he takes refuge in a small hovel adjacent to a
cottage. In the morning,
he discovers that he can see into the cottage through a
crack in the wall and
observes that the occupants are a young man, a young
woman, and an old man. Observing
his neighbours for an extended period of time, the
monster notices that they
often seem unhappy, though he is unsure why. He
eventually realises, however,
that their despair results from their poverty, to which
he has been
contributing by surreptitiously stealing their food. Torn
by his guilty
conscience, he stops stealing their food and does what he
can to reduce their
hardship, gathering wood at night to leave at the door
for their use. The
monster becomes aware that his neighbours are able to
communicate with each
other using strange sounds. Vowing to learn their
language, he tries to match
the sounds they make with the actions they perform. He
acquires a basic
knowledge of the language, including the names of the
young man and woman,
Felix and Agatha. He admires their graceful forms and is
shocked by his
ugliness when he catches sight of his reflection in a
pool of water. He spends
the whole winter in the hovel, unobserved and well
protected from the elements,
and grows increasingly affectionate toward his unwitting
hosts. As winter thaws
into spring, the monster notices that the cottagers,
particularly Felix, seem
unhappy. A beautiful woman in a dark dress and veil
arrives at the cottage on
horseback and asks to see Felix. Felix becomes ecstatic
the moment he sees her.
The woman, who does not speak the language of the
cottagers, is named Safie.
She moves into the cottage, and the mood of the household
immediately
brightens. As Safie learns the language of the cottagers,
so does the monster.
He also learns to read, and, since Felix uses Constantin-
Fran ois de Volney s
Ruins of Empires to instruct Safie, he learns a bit of
world history in the
process. Now able to speak and understand the language
perfectly, the monster
learns about human society by listening to the cottagers
conversations.
Reflecting on his own situation, he realises that he is
deformed and alone. He
asks if he was a monster, a blot upon the earth from
which all humans fled and
whom all humans disowned. He also learns about the
pleasures and obligations of
the family and of human relations in general, which
deepens the agony of his
own isolation. After some time, the monster s constant
eavesdropping allows him
to reconstruct the history of the cottagers. The old man,
De Lacey, was once an
affluent and successful citizen in Paris; his children,
Agatha and Felix, were
well-respected members of the community. Safie s father,
a Turk, was falsely
accused of a crime and sentenced to death. Felix visited
the Turk in prison and
met his daughter, with whom he immediately fell in love.
Safie sent Felix
letters thanking him for his intention to help her father
and recounting the
circumstances of her plight (the monster tells Victor
that he copied some of
these letters and offers them as proof that his tale is
true). The letters
relate that Safie s mother was a Christian Arab who had
been enslaved by the
Turks before marrying her father. She inculcated in Safie
an independence and
intelligence that Islam prevented Turkish women from
cultivating. Safie was
eager to marry a European man and thereby escape the near-
slavery that awaited
her in Turkey. Felix successfully coordinated her father
s escape from prison,
but when the plot was discovered, Felix, Agatha, and De
Lacey were exiled from
France and stripped of their wealth. They then moved into
the cottage in
Germany upon which the monster has stumbled. Meanwhile,
the Turk tried to force
Safie to return to Constantinople with him, but she
managed to escape with some
money and the knowledge of Felix s whereabouts. While
foraging for food in the
woods around the cottage one night, the monster finds an
abandoned leather
satchel containing some clothes and books. Eager to learn
more about the world
than he can discover through the chink in the cottage
wall, he brings the books
back to his hovel and begins to read. The books include
Johann Wolfgang von
Goethe s Sorrows of Werter, a volume of Plutarch s Lives,
and John Milton s
Paradise Lost, the last of which has the most profound
effect on the monster.
Unaware that Paradise Lost is a work of imagination, he
reads it as a factual
history and finds much similarity between the story and
his own situation.
Rifling through the pockets of his own clothes, stolen
long ago from Victor s
apartment, he finds some papers from Victor s journal.
With his newfound
ability to read, he soon understands the horrific manner
of his own creation
and the disgust with which his creator regarded him.
Dismayed by these
discoveries, the monster wishes to reveal himself to the
cottagers in the hope
that they will see past his hideous exterior and befriend
him. He decides to
approach the blind De Lacey first, hoping to win him over
while Felix, Agatha,
and Safie are away. He believes that De Lacey,
unprejudiced against his hideous
exterior, may be able to convince the others of his
gentle nature. The perfect
opportunity soon presents itself, as Felix, Agatha, and
Safie depart one day
for a long walk. The monster nervously enters the cottage
and begins to speak
to the old man. Just as he begins to explain his
situation, however, the other
three return unexpectedly. Felix drives the monster away,
horrified by his
appearance. In the wake of this rejection, the monster
swears to revenge
himself against all human beings, his creator in
particular. Journeying for
months out of sight of others, he makes his way toward
Geneva. On the way, he
spots a young girl, seemingly alone; the girl slips into
a stream and appears
to be on the verge of drowning. When the monster rescues
the girl from the
water, the man accompanying her, suspecting him of having
attacked her, shoots
him. As he nears Geneva, the monster runs across Victor s
younger brother,
William, in the woods. When William mentions that his
father is Alphonse
Frankenstein, the monster erupts in a rage of vengeance
and strangles the boy
to death with his bare hands. He takes a picture of
Caroline Frankenstein that
the boy has been holding and places it in the folds of
the dress of a girl
sleeping in a barn Justine Moritz, who is later executed
for William s murder.
Having explained to Victor the circumstances behind
William s murder and
Justine s conviction, the monster implores Victor to
create another monster to
accompany him and be his mate. The monster tells Victor
that it is his right to
have a female monster companion. Victor refuses at first,
but the monster
appeals to Victor s sense of responsibility as his
creator. He tells Victor
that all of his evil actions have been the result of a
desperate loneliness. He
promises to take his new mate to South America to hide in
the jungle far from
human contact. With the sympathy of a fellow monster, he
argues, he will no
longer be compelled to kill. Convinced by these
arguments, Victor finally
agrees to create a female monster. Overjoyed but still
sceptical, the monster
tells Victor that he will monitor Victor s progress and
that Victor need not
worry about contacting him when his work is done.
VICTOR FRANKENSTEIN
18-24
After his fateful meeting with
the monster on the glacier, Victor puts off the creation
of a new, female
creature. He begins to have doubts about the wisdom of
agreeing to the
monster s request. He realises that the project will
require him to travel to
England to gather information. His father notices that
his spirits are troubled
much of the time Victor, still racked by guilt over the
deaths of William and
Justine, is now newly horrified by the task in which he
is about to engage and
asks him if his impending marriage to Elizabeth is the
source of his
melancholy. Victor assures him that the prospect of
marriage to Elizabeth is
the only happiness in his life. Eager to raise Victor s
spirits, Alphonse
suggests that they celebrate the marriage immediately.
Victor refuses,
unwilling to marry Elizabeth until he has completed his
obligation to the
monster. He asks Alphonse if he can first travel to
England, and Alphonse
consents. Victor and Alphonse arrange a two-year tour, on
which Henry Clerval,
eager to begin his studies after several years of
unpleasant work for his
father in Geneva, will accompany Victor. After travelling
for a while, they
reach London. Victor and Henry spend the winter in
London, touring that city
and making plans to visit the rest of England. The visit
delights Henry, while
Victor broods and only visits the philosophers who have
the latest scientific
information. The two go to Oxford, and a friend invites
them to visit Scotland.
Here, Victor suggests they part ways; he carries on with
his plan, unknown to
Henry, and fixes upon a poor, relatively uninhabited
island in the Orkney
Island chain. Here, Victor can finish his work in
solitude and out of sight of
anyone who may suspect his intentions. He gathers the
latest information about
the advances in his field but remains a depressed soul
with the thought of what
he must do again. To Victor, this whole odyssey is like
torture, as he must
gather the raw materials for a second creature. Henry is
not aware of Victor's
determined efforts and carries out his part of the tour
with joy. Victor sets
about his work, creating a second female monster. After
following Victor and
Henry through mainland Europe and England, the monster
comes near Victor's
workshop in Scotland to see his mate. In a fit of anger
and guilt, Victor
destroys the half-finished creation in front of the
monster and tells the
monster he will not continue. The threat the monster
makes is an ominous one: "I
shall be with you on your wedding-night." The monster
then disappears into
the night. Victor now contemplates who will be the
creature's next victim. He
receives a letter from Henry Clerval urging him to come
back to London to begin
planning a journey to India. Victor rushes to leave his
island within two days,
once he dismantles the laboratory and hides the remains.
He sets out in a boat
around 2:00 or 3:00 a.m. to dispose of the remaining body
parts. Once the task
is complete, he lays down in the boat to rest when the
rising sun and wind
awaken him. A storm pushes the sailboat out to sea, and
Victor finds himself in
a dire situation. He fabricates a sail from his own
clothes to steer him toward
a town near shore. Surprised to find the local folk
hostile towards him, he
asks, "Surely it is not the custom of Englishmen to
receive strangers so
inhospitably." A man answers "it is the custom of the
Irish to hate
villains." Victor is immediately taken into custody,
accused of murder,
and sent to the local magistrate, Mr. Kirwin, to await
sentencing. Victor goes
along peacefully. A body has washed ashore; the method of
death is familiar,
the black marks of fingers on the neck. Since Victor
appears around this same
time, several people put him near the scene of a crime
even though he had not
been present. At least two witnesses saw a large creature
deposit the body of
Henry Clerval on the beach and leave. Mr. Kirwin, the
local magistrate,
suggests that the whole entourage go to see the body.
Victor becomes violently
ill and passes two months near death: "The human frame
could no longer
support the agonies that I endured, and I was carried out
of the room in strong
convulsions." Victor is held in prison, and Kirwin sends
a nurse and
doctor to return him to good health. At the trial, Kirwin
offers a spirited defence
of Victor and manages to secure Victor's release when the
court learns of
Victor's residence on the Orkney Islands. The time of the
murder and Victor's
presence in his lab in the Orkney's proves that he did
not commit the crime.
Alphonse takes Victor home. The pair travel from Ireland
to Le Harve, France
and overland to Paris for a brief stay. On their way
home, father and son stop
in Paris, where Victor rests to recover his strength.
Just before leaving again
for Geneva, Victor receives a letter from Elizabeth.
Worried by Victor s
recurrent illnesses, she asks him if he is in love with
another, to which
Victor replies that she is the source of his joy. The
letter reminds him of the
monster s threat that he will be with Victor on his
wedding night. He believes
that the monster intends to attack him and resolves that
he will fight back.
Whichever one of them is destroyed, his misery will at
last come to an end.
Eventually, Victor and his father arrive home and begin
planning the wedding.
Elizabeth is still worried about Victor, but he assures
her that all will be
well after the wedding. He has a terrible secret, he
tells her, that he can
only reveal to her after they are married. As the wedding
day approaches,
Victor grows more and more nervous about his impending
confrontation with the
monster. Finally, the wedding takes place, and Victor and
Elizabeth depart for
a family cottage to spend the night. In the evening,
Victor and Elizabeth walk
around the grounds, but Victor can think of nothing but
the monster s imminent
arrival. Inside, Victor worries that Elizabeth might be
upset by the monster s
appearance and the battle between them. He tells her to
retire for the night.
He begins to search for the monster in the house, when
suddenly he hears
Elizabeth scream and realises that it was never his death
that the monster had
been intending this night. Consumed with grief over
Elizabeth s death, Victor returns
home and tells his father the gruesome news. Shocked by
the tragic end of what
should have been a joyous day, his father dies a few days
later. Victor finally
breaks his secrecy and tries to convince a magistrate in
Geneva that an
unnatural monster is responsible for the death of
Elizabeth, but the magistrate
does not believe him. Victor resolves to devote the rest
of his life to finding
and destroying the monster. Victor leaves Geneva forever,
goaded on by the
monster's laughter. A chase ensues as Victor tries to
capture and kill the
creature who has tormented him for several years. Victor
chases the monster
from Geneva south to the Mediterranean Sea. Both board a
ship bound for the
Black Sea, journey through Russia, and make their way
north to the Arctic
Circle. The weather gets worse as the duo travels north.
There is little or no
food and fierce winter storms. The monster steals a dog
sled team and is seen
by local villagers to be armed and dangerous. Victor
closes to within one mile
of the monster when the ice on which both travel begins
to crack and separate
the two from each other. It is at this time when Robert
Walton finds Victor,
with his dying dog team dogs floating on an ice flow in
the Arctic Ocean.
Victor encourages Robert to continue the fight to destroy
the monster if he
does not.
CAPTAIN ROBERT WALTON
Letters
Walton is now the narrator for
the remainder of the story. Walton tells how Victor
proves his tale by
producing the letters of Felix and Safie. Victor tells
Walton to learn from his
mistakes, that knowledge for evil ends leads to disaster.
Walton comforts
Victor in his last days and the two pass the time
discussing other topics, such
as literature, when Walton notices that it has taken a
full week for Victor to
narrate this story. Victor tells Robert that he must
carry on the mission to
destroy the monster. Walton grieves at the fact that he
has found a friend who
seems on the verge of death and that his own mission to
discover a northwest
Arctic passage has failed. He writes to his sister to
remember him fondly and
to wish her family well. Walton writes that Victor is now
dying, and Walton has
a near mutiny aboard his ship. The crew wants the ship to
return to warmer
waters before the ship is crushed by the weight of the
ice. Walton chides the
crew for their lack of adventure, and they agree to
rescind their demand to
turn the ship southward to escape a certain death. Walton
is in deep despair,
now far short of his goal. He informs the crew that they
will return to England
if they are not destroyed. Victor wants to remain in this
inhospitable climate
even if Walton's ship returns home. However, Walton
cannot lead the men to
their deaths. Victor will not return to Europe or England
without confronting
his enemy. Walton knows that Victor will die soon from
exhaustion and exposure.
In the end, Victor dies. The monster breaks into the
ship's cabin where
Victor's body lies in state. Walton and the monster
startle each other and the
monster begins to tell his part of the story when he
began his reign of terror.
The monster finds that he can gain no sympathy from man,
so he pledges to
remain in the frozen north until he dies. The monster
tells that he has
suffered along with Victor and made evil his version of
good. The monster
promises no harm to Walton or his crew and leaves the
ship to live out his days
in the frozen land of ice. To the monster, dying is his
only consolation to
relieve the pain he has endured since he was given that
spark of life in
Ingolstadt. He swears "I shall ascend my funeral pile
triumphantly and
exult in the agony of the torturing flames." With this
statement, the
monster leaps overboard from the ship and disappears in
the mist.
Transformation
Guido il Cortese describes how he
is sometimes compelled to tell the story of a strange
encounter he had with a
mysterious creature many years before, when Guido was a
young man living in
Genoa, Italy. In those days, Guido says, he was reckless
and profligate,
determined to live a life of pleasure, especially after
his father's death left
him the master of his family fortune. He became engaged
to his childhood
playmate Juliet, the beautiful and virtuous daughter of
his father's lifelong
friend Torella. But before they married, Guido journeyed
to Paris, where he
squandered his family fortune. Paris was a place of
dissipation at this time,
during the reign of Charles VI, but the political turmoil
that followed the
murder of the Duke of Orleans changed this. Guido
returned to Genoa to
Torella's house and Juliet but Torella told him that by
squandering his family
fortune, Guido had voided the contract of marriage.
Torella who viewed Guido as
a son, offered to settle a fortune on him on the
condition that he adhere to
certain restrictions. Guido refused to be controlled in
this way and left Torella's
villa. He attempted to abduct Juliet twice, once with her
father, but was
unsuccessful. After the second attempt, Guido was
banished from Genoa and
refused Torella's offers of help. Guido was penniless and
alone, and wandered
along the seashore in despair. He imagined his revenge on
Torella and the
people of Genoa, but knew he was completely powerless
without fortune.
Suddenly, a storm appeared over the water, and Guido
watched in horror as a
ship was wrecked on the nearby rocks. He could hear the
sailors' agony but was
powerless to help them. But he saw a strange figure
floating to shore, and
discovered it to be a misshapen creature--possibly human--
riding on a chest.
The creature reached the shore and frightened Guido with
his blasphemy and
horrible appearance. Guido told him a little of his
story, and the creature
encouraged him to take revenge. When Guido lamented that
his lack of wealth
prevented this, the creature offered a deal: he would
have Guido's body for
three days in exchange for the chest he was riding, which
was full of treasure.
Guido would inhabit the creature's body in the meantime,
and would be supplied
with food and water while he waited for the creature to
return. Guido was
horrified, but tempted by the promise of wealth, and
agreed. The creature
performed the necessary ritual, which included the
exchange of blood, and Guido
lost consciousness. When he awoke, he was in the body of
the creature. He
immediately regretted his avarice, but decided to wait
the three days for the
creature to return. The three days passed, but the
creature did not return, and
after waiting three more days in despair, Guido in
desperation decided to
pursue him back to Genoa. He did this with great
difficulty in the strange
body, travelling at night to avoid being seen. He
eventually arrived at
Torella's villa, only to discover that the impostor had
assumed Guido's
rightful place in Torella's family and would shortly be
married to Juliet.
Enraged, and fearing for Juliet if the marriage were to
take place, Guido
attacked the creature. They were both severely wounded in
the fight, the
creature fatally. Guido awakened in his own body once
again, and once he
recovered, he and Juliet were married. They lived a long,
happy life together,
but Guido never fully recovers from his injuries, and is
haunted by his memory
of the encounter with the strange creature.
The short story is a sort of silent alternative ending to
Frankenstein.
Date Published: 2018-03-23 17:38:06
Identifier: FrankensteinTheModernPrometheus
Item Size: 942575960
Language: eng
Media Type: texts
# Topics
Frankenstein
Modern
Prometheus
Mary
Wollstonecraft
Godwin
Shelley
Percy
Bysshe
William
Monster
Victor
Igor
Robert
Walton
Elizabeth
Thomas
Richard
Brinsley
Peake
Presumption
Fate
Gothic
Transformation
# Collections
journals_contributions
journals
# Uploaded by
@muhammadd_apos_aliyy
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