Project Gutenberg s Frankenstein  by Mary Wollstonecraft  Godwin  Shelley

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Title  Frankenstein
       or The Modern Prometheus

Author  Mary Wollstonecraft  Godwin  Shelley

Release Date  June 17  2008  EBook  84 

Language  English

Character set encoding  ASCII

    START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FRANKENSTEIN    




Produced by Judith Boss  Christy Phillips  Lynn Hanninen 
and David Meltzer  HTML version by Al Haines 










Frankenstein 

or the Modern Prometheus


by

Mary Wollstonecraft  Godwin  Shelley




Letter 1


St  Petersburgh  Dec  11th  17  

TO Mrs  Saville  England

You will rejoice to hear that no disaster has accompanied the
commencement of an enterprise which you have regarded with such evil
forebodings   I arrived here yesterday  and my first task is to assure
my dear sister of my welfare and increasing confidence in the success
of my undertaking 

I am already far north of London  and as I walk in the streets of
Petersburgh  I feel a cold northern breeze play upon my cheeks  which
braces my nerves and fills me with delight   Do you understand this
feeling   This breeze  which has travelled from the regions towards
which I am advancing  gives me a foretaste of those icy climes 
Inspirited by this wind of promise  my daydreams become more fervent
and vivid   I try in vain to be persuaded that the pole is the seat of
frost and desolation  it ever presents itself to my imagination as the
region of beauty and delight   There  Margaret  the sun is forever
visible  its broad disk just skirting the horizon and diffusing a
perpetual splendour   There  for with your leave  my sister  I will put
some trust in preceding navigators  there snow and frost are banished 
and  sailing over a calm sea  we may be wafted to a land surpassing in
wonders and in beauty every region hitherto discovered on the habitable
globe   Its productions and features may be without example  as the
phenomena of the heavenly bodies undoubtedly are in those undiscovered
solitudes   What may not be expected in a country of eternal light   I
may there discover the wondrous power which attracts the needle and may
regulate a thousand celestial observations that require only this
voyage to render their seeming eccentricities consistent forever   I
shall satiate my ardent curiosity with the sight of a part of the world
never before visited  and may tread a land never before imprinted by
the foot of man  These are my enticements  and they are sufficient to
conquer all fear of danger or death and to induce me to commence this
laborious voyage with the joy a child feels when he embarks in a little
boat  with his holiday mates  on an expedition of discovery up his
native river  But supposing all these conjectures to be false  you
cannot contest the inestimable benefit which I shall confer on all
mankind  to the last generation  by discovering a passage near the pole
to those countries  to reach which at present so many months are
requisite  or by ascertaining the secret of the magnet  which  if at
all possible  can only be effected by an undertaking such as mine 

These reflections have dispelled the agitation with which I began my
letter  and I feel my heart glow with an enthusiasm which elevates me
to heaven  for nothing contributes so much to tranquillize the mind as
a steady purpose  a point on which the soul may fix its intellectual
eye   This expedition has been the favourite dream of my early years  I
have read with ardour the accounts of the various voyages which have
been made in the prospect of arriving at the North Pacific Ocean
through the seas which surround the pole   You may remember that a
history of all the voyages made for purposes of discovery composed the
whole of our good Uncle Thomas  library   My education was neglected 
yet I was passionately fond of reading   These volumes were my study
day and night  and my familiarity with them increased that regret which
I had felt  as a child  on learning that my father s dying injunction
had forbidden my uncle to allow me to embark in a seafaring life 

These visions faded when I perused  for the first time  those poets
whose effusions entranced my soul and lifted it to heaven   I also
became a poet and for one year lived in a paradise of my own creation 
I imagined that I also might obtain a niche in the temple where the
names of Homer and Shakespeare are consecrated   You are well
acquainted with my failure and how heavily I bore the disappointment 
But just at that time I inherited the fortune of my cousin  and my
thoughts were turned into the channel of their earlier bent 

Six years have passed since I resolved on my present undertaking   I
can  even now  remember the hour from which I dedicated myself to this
great enterprise   I commenced by inuring my body to hardship   I
accompanied the whale fishers on several expeditions to the North Sea 
I voluntarily endured cold  famine  thirst  and want of sleep  I often
worked harder than the common sailors during the day and devoted my
nights to the study of mathematics  the theory of medicine  and those
branches of physical science from which a naval adventurer might derive
the greatest practical advantage   Twice I actually hired myself as an
under mate in a Greenland whaler  and acquitted myself to admiration  I
must own I felt a little proud when my captain offered me the second
dignity in the vessel and entreated me to remain with the greatest
earnestness  so valuable did he consider my services   And now  dear
Margaret  do I not deserve to accomplish some great purpose   My life
might have been passed in ease and luxury  but I preferred glory to
every enticement that wealth placed in my path   Oh  that some
encouraging voice would answer in the affirmative   My courage and my
resolution is firm  but my hopes fluctuate  and my spirits are often
depressed   I am about to proceed on a long and difficult voyage  the
emergencies of which will demand all my fortitude   I am required not
only to raise the spirits of others  but sometimes to sustain my own 
when theirs are failing 

This is the most favourable period for travelling in Russia   They fly
quickly over the snow in their sledges  the motion is pleasant  and  in
my opinion  far more agreeable than that of an English stagecoach   The
cold is not excessive  if you are wrapped in furs  a dress which I have
already adopted  for there is a great difference between walking the
deck and remaining seated motionless for hours  when no exercise
prevents the blood from actually freezing in your veins   I have no
ambition to lose my life on the post road between St  Petersburgh and
Archangel  I shall depart for the latter town in a fortnight or three
weeks  and my intention is to hire a ship there  which can easily be
done by paying the insurance for the owner  and to engage as many
sailors as I think necessary among those who are accustomed to the
whale fishing   I do not intend to sail until the month of June  and
when shall I return   Ah  dear sister  how can I answer this question 
If I succeed  many  many months  perhaps years  will pass before you
and I may meet   If I fail  you will see me again soon  or never 
Farewell  my dear  excellent Margaret  Heaven shower down blessings on
you  and save me  that I may again and again testify my gratitude for
all your love and kindness 

Your affectionate brother 
  R  Walton



Letter 2


Archangel  28th March  17  

To Mrs  Saville  England

How slowly the time passes here  encompassed as I am by frost and snow 
Yet a second step is taken towards my enterprise   I have hired a
vessel and am occupied in collecting my sailors  those whom I have
already engaged appear to be men on whom I can depend and are certainly
possessed of dauntless courage 

But I have one want which I have never yet been able to satisfy  and
the absence of the object of which I now feel as a most severe evil  I
have no friend  Margaret   when I am glowing with the enthusiasm of
success  there will be none to participate my joy  if I am assailed by
disappointment  no one will endeavour to sustain me in dejection  I
shall commit my thoughts to paper  it is true  but that is a poor
medium for the communication of feeling   I desire the company of a man
who could sympathize with me  whose eyes would reply to mine  You may
deem me romantic  my dear sister  but I bitterly feel the want of a
friend   I have no one near me  gentle yet courageous  possessed of a
cultivated as well as of a capacious mind  whose tastes are like my
own  to approve or amend my plans   How would such a friend repair the
faults of your poor brother   I am too ardent in execution and too
impatient of difficulties   But it is a still greater evil to me that I
am self educated   for the first fourteen years of my life I ran wild
on a common and read nothing but our Uncle Thomas  books of voyages  At
that age I became acquainted with the celebrated poets of our own
country  but it was only when it had ceased to be in my power to derive
its most important benefits from such a conviction that I perceived the
necessity of becoming acquainted with more languages than that of my
native country   Now I am twenty eight and am in reality more
illiterate than many schoolboys of fifteen   It is true that I have
thought more and that my daydreams are more extended and magnificent 
but they want  as the painters call it  KEEPING  and I greatly need a
friend who would have sense enough not to despise me as romantic  and
affection enough for me to endeavour to regulate my mind   Well  these
are useless complaints  I shall certainly find no friend on the wide
ocean  nor even here in Archangel  among merchants and seamen   Yet
some feelings  unallied to the dross of human nature  beat even in
these rugged bosoms   My lieutenant  for instance  is a man of
wonderful courage and enterprise  he is madly desirous of glory  or
rather  to word my phrase more characteristically  of advancement in
his profession   He is an Englishman  and in the midst of national and
professional prejudices  unsoftened by cultivation  retains some of the
noblest endowments of humanity   I first became acquainted with him on
board a whale vessel  finding that he was unemployed in this city  I
easily engaged him to assist in my enterprise   The master is a person
of an excellent disposition and is remarkable in the ship for his
gentleness and the mildness of his discipline   This circumstance 
added to his well known integrity and dauntless courage  made me very
desirous to engage him   A youth passed in solitude  my best years
spent under your gentle and feminine fosterage  has so refined the
groundwork of my character that I cannot overcome an intense distaste
to the usual brutality exercised on board ship   I have never believed
it to be necessary  and when I heard of a mariner equally noted for his
kindliness of heart and the respect and obedience paid to him by his
crew  I felt myself peculiarly fortunate in being able to secure his
services   I heard of him first in rather a romantic manner  from a
lady who owes to him the happiness of her life   This  briefly  is his
story   Some years ago he loved a young Russian lady of moderate
fortune  and having amassed a considerable sum in prize money  the
father of the girl consented to the match   He saw his mistress once
before the destined ceremony  but she was bathed in tears  and throwing
herself at his feet  entreated him to spare her  confessing at the same
time that she loved another  but that he was poor  and that her father
would never consent to the union   My generous friend reassured the
suppliant  and on being informed of the name of her lover  instantly
abandoned his pursuit   He had already bought a farm with his money  on
which he had designed to pass the remainder of his life  but he
bestowed the whole on his rival  together with the remains of his
prize money to purchase stock  and then himself solicited the young
woman s father to consent to her marriage with her lover   But the old
man decidedly refused  thinking himself bound in honour to my friend 
who  when he found the father inexorable  quitted his country  nor
returned until he heard that his former mistress was married according
to her inclinations    What a noble fellow   you will exclaim   He is
so  but then he is wholly uneducated   he is as silent as a Turk  and a
kind of ignorant carelessness attends him  which  while it renders his
conduct the more astonishing  detracts from the interest and sympathy
which otherwise he would command 

Yet do not suppose  because I complain a little or because I can
conceive a consolation for my toils which I may never know  that I am
wavering in my resolutions   Those are as fixed as fate  and my voyage
is only now delayed until the weather shall permit my embarkation   The
winter has been dreadfully severe  but the spring promises well  and it
is considered as a remarkably early season  so that perhaps I may sail
sooner than I expected   I shall do nothing rashly   you know me
sufficiently to confide in my prudence and considerateness whenever the
safety of others is committed to my care 

I cannot describe to you my sensations on the near prospect of my
undertaking   It is impossible to communicate to you a conception of
the trembling sensation  half pleasurable and half fearful  with which
I am preparing to depart   I am going to unexplored regions  to  the
land of mist and snow   but I shall kill no albatross  therefore do not
be alarmed for my safety or if I should come back to you as worn and
woeful as the  Ancient Mariner    You will smile at my allusion  but I
will disclose a secret   I have often attributed my attachment to  my
passionate enthusiasm for  the dangerous mysteries of ocean to that
production of the most imaginative of modern poets   There is something
at work in my soul which I do not understand   I am practically
industrious  painstaking  a workman to execute with perseverance and
labour  but besides this there is a love for the marvellous  a belief
in the marvellous  intertwined in all my projects  which hurries me out
of the common pathways of men  even to the wild sea and unvisited
regions I am about to explore  But to return to dearer considerations 
Shall I meet you again  after having traversed immense seas  and
returned by the most southern cape of Africa or America   I dare not
expect such success  yet I cannot bear to look on the reverse of the
picture   Continue for the present to write to me by every opportunity 
I may receive your letters on some occasions when I need them most to
support my spirits   I love you very tenderly   Remember me with
affection  should you never hear from me again 

Your affectionate brother 
  Robert Walton



Letter 3



July 7th  17  

To Mrs  Saville  England

My dear Sister 

I write a few lines in haste to say that I am safe  and well advanced
on my voyage   This letter will reach England by a merchantman now on
its homeward voyage from Archangel  more fortunate than I  who may not
see my native land  perhaps  for many years   I am  however  in good
spirits   my men are bold and apparently firm of purpose  nor do the
floating sheets of ice that continually pass us  indicating the dangers
of the region towards which we are advancing  appear to dismay them  We
have already reached a very high latitude  but it is the height of
summer  and although not so warm as in England  the southern gales 
which blow us speedily towards those shores which I so ardently desire
to attain  breathe a degree of renovating warmth which I had not
expected 

No incidents have hitherto befallen us that would make a figure in a
letter   One or two stiff gales and the springing of a leak are
accidents which experienced navigators scarcely remember to record  and
I shall be well content if nothing worse happen to us during our voyage 

Adieu  my dear Margaret   Be assured that for my own sake  as well as
yours  I will not rashly encounter danger   I will be cool 
persevering  and prudent 

But success SHALL crown my endeavours   Wherefore not   Thus far I have
gone  tracing a secure way over the pathless seas  the very stars
themselves being witnesses and testimonies of my triumph   Why not
still proceed over the untamed yet obedient element   What can stop the
determined heart and resolved will of man 

My swelling heart involuntarily pours itself out thus   But I must
finish   Heaven bless my beloved sister 

R W 



Letter 4



August 5th  17  

To Mrs  Saville  England

So strange an accident has happened to us that I cannot forbear
recording it  although it is very probable that you will see me before
these papers can come into your possession 

Last Monday  July 31st  we were nearly surrounded by ice  which closed
in the ship on all sides  scarcely leaving her the sea room in which
she floated   Our situation was somewhat dangerous  especially as we
were compassed round by a very thick fog   We accordingly lay to 
hoping that some change would take place in the atmosphere and weather 

About two o clock the mist cleared away  and we beheld  stretched out
in every direction  vast and irregular plains of ice  which seemed to
have no end   Some of my comrades groaned  and my own mind began to
grow watchful with anxious thoughts  when a strange sight suddenly
attracted our attention and diverted our solicitude from our own
situation   We perceived a low carriage  fixed on a sledge and drawn by
dogs  pass on towards the north  at the distance of half a mile  a
being which had the shape of a man  but apparently of gigantic stature 
sat in the sledge and guided the dogs   We watched the rapid progress
of the traveller with our telescopes until he was lost among the
distant inequalities of the ice   This appearance excited our
unqualified wonder   We were  as we believed  many hundred miles from
any land  but this apparition seemed to denote that it was not  in
reality  so distant as we had supposed   Shut in  however  by ice  it
was impossible to follow his track  which we had observed with the
greatest attention   About two hours after this occurrence we heard the
ground sea  and before night the ice broke and freed our ship   We 
however  lay to until the morning  fearing to encounter in the dark
those large loose masses which float about after the breaking up of the
ice   I profited of this time to rest for a few hours 

In the morning  however  as soon as it was light  I went upon deck and
found all the sailors busy on one side of the vessel  apparently
talking to someone in the sea   It was  in fact  a sledge  like that we
had seen before  which had drifted towards us in the night on a large
fragment of ice   Only one dog remained alive  but there was a human
being within it whom the sailors were persuading to enter the vessel 
He was not  as the other traveller seemed to be  a savage inhabitant of
some undiscovered island  but a European   When I appeared on deck the
master said   Here is our captain  and he will not allow you to perish
on the open sea  

On perceiving me  the stranger addressed me in English  although with a
foreign accent    Before I come on board your vessel   said he   will
you have the kindness to inform me whither you are bound  

You may conceive my astonishment on hearing such a question addressed
to me from a man on the brink of destruction and to whom I should have
supposed that my vessel would have been a resource which he would not
have exchanged for the most precious wealth the earth can afford   I
replied  however  that we were on a voyage of discovery towards the
northern pole 

Upon hearing this he appeared satisfied and consented to come on board 
Good God   Margaret  if you had seen the man who thus capitulated for
his safety  your surprise would have been boundless   His limbs were
nearly frozen  and his body dreadfully emaciated by fatigue and
suffering   I never saw a man in so wretched a condition   We attempted
to carry him into the cabin  but as soon as he had quitted the fresh
air he fainted   We accordingly brought him back to the deck and
restored him to animation by rubbing him with brandy and forcing him to
swallow a small quantity   As soon as he showed signs of life we
wrapped him up in blankets and placed him near the chimney of the
kitchen stove   By slow degrees he recovered and ate a little soup 
which restored him wonderfully 

Two days passed in this manner before he was able to speak  and I often
feared that his sufferings had deprived him of understanding   When he
had in some measure recovered  I removed him to my own cabin and
attended on him as much as my duty would permit   I never saw a more
interesting creature   his eyes have generally an expression of
wildness  and even madness  but there are moments when  if anyone
performs an act of kindness towards him or does him any the most
trifling service  his whole countenance is lighted up  as it were  with
a beam of benevolence and sweetness that I never saw equalled   But he
is generally melancholy and despairing  and sometimes he gnashes his
teeth  as if impatient of the weight of woes that oppresses him 

When my guest was a little recovered I had great trouble to keep off
the men  who wished to ask him a thousand questions  but I would not
allow him to be tormented by their idle curiosity  in a state of body
and mind whose restoration evidently depended upon entire repose 
Once  however  the lieutenant asked why he had come so far upon the ice
in so strange a vehicle 

His countenance instantly assumed an aspect of the deepest gloom  and
he replied   To seek one who fled from me  

 And did the man whom you pursued travel in the same fashion  

 Yes  

 Then I fancy we have seen him  for the day before we picked you up we
saw some dogs drawing a sledge  with a man in it  across the ice  

This aroused the stranger s attention  and he asked a multitude of
questions concerning the route which the demon  as he called him  had
pursued   Soon after  when he was alone with me  he said   I have 
doubtless  excited your curiosity  as well as that of these good
people  but you are too considerate to make inquiries  

 Certainly  it would indeed be very impertinent and inhuman in me to
trouble you with any inquisitiveness of mine  

 And yet you rescued me from a strange and perilous situation  you have
benevolently restored me to life  

Soon after this he inquired if I thought that the breaking up of the
ice had destroyed the other sledge   I replied that I could not answer
with any degree of certainty  for the ice had not broken until near
midnight  and the traveller might have arrived at a place of safety
before that time  but of this I could not judge   From this time a new
spirit of life animated the decaying frame of the stranger   He
manifested the greatest eagerness to be upon deck to watch for the
sledge which had before appeared  but I have persuaded him to remain in
the cabin  for he is far too weak to sustain the rawness of the
atmosphere   I have promised that someone should watch for him and give
him instant notice if any new object should appear in sight 

Such is my journal of what relates to this strange occurrence up to the
present day   The stranger has gradually improved in health but is very
silent and appears uneasy when anyone except myself enters his cabin 
Yet his manners are so conciliating and gentle that the sailors are all
interested in him  although they have had very little communication
with him   For my own part  I begin to love him as a brother  and his
constant and deep grief fills me with sympathy and compassion   He must
have been a noble creature in his better days  being even now in wreck
so attractive and amiable   I said in one of my letters  my dear
Margaret  that I should find no friend on the wide ocean  yet I have
found a man who  before his spirit had been broken by misery  I should
have been happy to have possessed as the brother of my heart 

I shall continue my journal concerning the stranger at intervals 
should I have any fresh incidents to record 


August 13th  17  

My affection for my guest increases every day   He excites at once my
admiration and my pity to an astonishing degree   How can I see so
noble a creature destroyed by misery without feeling the most poignant
grief   He is so gentle  yet so wise  his mind is so cultivated  and
when he speaks  although his words are culled with the choicest art 
yet they flow with rapidity and unparalleled eloquence   He is now much
recovered from his illness and is continually on the deck  apparently
watching for the sledge that preceded his own   Yet  although unhappy 
he is not so utterly occupied by his own misery but that he interests
himself deeply in the projects of others   He has frequently conversed
with me on mine  which I have communicated to him without disguise   He
entered attentively into all my arguments in favour of my eventual
success and into every minute detail of the measures I had taken to
secure it   I was easily led by the sympathy which he evinced to use
the language of my heart  to give utterance to the burning ardour of my
soul and to say  with all the fervour that warmed me  how gladly I
would sacrifice my fortune  my existence  my every hope  to the
furtherance of my enterprise   One man s life or death were but a small
price to pay for the acquirement of the knowledge which I sought  for
the dominion I should acquire and transmit over the elemental foes of
our race   As I spoke  a dark gloom spread over my listener s
countenance   At first I perceived that he tried to suppress his
emotion  he placed his hands before his eyes  and my voice quivered and
failed me as I beheld tears trickle fast from between his fingers  a
groan burst from his heaving breast   I paused  at length he spoke  in
broken accents    Unhappy man   Do you share my madness   Have you
drunk also of the intoxicating draught   Hear me  let me reveal my
tale  and you will dash the cup from your lips  

Such words  you may imagine  strongly excited my curiosity  but the
paroxysm of grief that had seized the stranger overcame his weakened
powers  and many hours of repose and tranquil conversation were
necessary to restore his composure   Having conquered the violence of
his feelings  he appeared to despise himself for being the slave of
passion  and quelling the dark tyranny of despair  he led me again to
converse concerning myself personally   He asked me the history of my
earlier years   The tale was quickly told  but it awakened various
trains of reflection   I spoke of my desire of finding a friend  of my
thirst for a more intimate sympathy with a fellow mind than had ever
fallen to my lot  and expressed my conviction that a man could boast of
little happiness who did not enjoy this blessing    I agree with you  
replied the stranger   we are unfashioned creatures  but half made up 
if one wiser  better  dearer than ourselves  such a friend ought to
be  do not lend his aid to perfectionate our weak and faulty natures  I
once had a friend  the most noble of human creatures  and am entitled 
therefore  to judge respecting friendship   You have hope  and the
world before you  and have no cause for despair   But I  I have lost
everything and cannot begin life anew  

As he said this his countenance became expressive of a calm  settled
grief that touched me to the heart   But he was silent and presently
retired to his cabin 

Even broken in spirit as he is  no one can feel more deeply than he
does the beauties of nature   The starry sky  the sea  and every sight
afforded by these wonderful regions seem still to have the power of
elevating his soul from earth   Such a man has a double existence   he
may suffer misery and be overwhelmed by disappointments  yet when he
has retired into himself  he will be like a celestial spirit that has a
halo around him  within whose circle no grief or folly ventures 

Will you smile at the enthusiasm I express concerning this divine
wanderer   You would not if you saw him   You have been tutored and
refined by books and retirement from the world  and you are therefore
somewhat fastidious  but this only renders you the more fit to
appreciate the extraordinary merits of this wonderful man   Sometimes I
have endeavoured to discover what quality it is which he possesses that
elevates him so immeasurably above any other person I ever knew   I
believe it to be an intuitive discernment  a quick but never failing
power of judgment  a penetration into the causes of things  unequalled
for clearness and precision  add to this a facility of expression and a
voice whose varied intonations are soul subduing music 


August 19  17  

Yesterday the stranger said to me   You may easily perceive  Captain
Walton  that I have suffered great and unparalleled misfortunes   I had
determined at one time that the memory of these evils should die with
me  but you have won me to alter my determination   You seek for
knowledge and wisdom  as I once did  and I ardently hope that the
gratification of your wishes may not be a serpent to sting you  as mine
has been   I do not know that the relation of my disasters will be
useful to you  yet  when I reflect that you are pursuing the same
course  exposing yourself to the same dangers which have rendered me
what I am  I imagine that you may deduce an apt moral from my tale  one
that may direct you if you succeed in your undertaking and console you
in case of failure   Prepare to hear of occurrences which are usually
deemed marvellous   Were we among the tamer scenes of nature I might
fear to encounter your unbelief  perhaps your ridicule  but many things
will appear possible in these wild and mysterious regions which would
provoke the laughter of those unacquainted with the ever varied powers
of nature  nor can I doubt but that my tale conveys in its series
internal evidence of the truth of the events of which it is composed  

You may easily imagine that I was much gratified by the offered
communication  yet I could not endure that he should renew his grief by
a recital of his misfortunes   I felt the greatest eagerness to hear
the promised narrative  partly from curiosity and partly from a strong
desire to ameliorate his fate if it were in my power   I expressed
these feelings in my answer 

 I thank you   he replied   for your sympathy  but it is useless  my
fate is nearly fulfilled   I wait but for one event  and then I shall
repose in peace   I understand your feeling   continued he  perceiving
that I wished to interrupt him   but you are mistaken  my friend  if
thus you will allow me to name you  nothing can alter my destiny 
listen to my history  and you will perceive how irrevocably it is
determined  

He then told me that he would commence his narrative the next day when
I should be at leisure   This promise drew from me the warmest thanks 
I have resolved every night  when I am not imperatively occupied by my
duties  to record  as nearly as possible in his own words  what he has
related during the day   If I should be engaged  I will at least make
notes   This manuscript will doubtless afford you the greatest
pleasure  but to me  who know him  and who hear it from his own
lips  with what interest and sympathy shall I read it in some future
day   Even now  as I commence my task  his full toned voice swells in
my ears  his lustrous eyes dwell on me with all their melancholy
sweetness  I see his thin hand raised in animation  while the
lineaments of his face are irradiated by the soul within 

Strange and harrowing must be his story  frightful the storm which
embraced the gallant vessel on its course and wrecked it  thus 



Chapter 1

I am by birth a Genevese  and my family is one of the most
distinguished of that republic   My ancestors had been for many years
counsellors and syndics  and my father had filled several public
situations with honour and reputation   He was respected by all who
knew him for his integrity and indefatigable attention to public
business   He passed his younger days perpetually occupied by the
affairs of his country  a variety of circumstances had prevented his
marrying early  nor was it until the decline of life that he became a
husband and the father of a family 

As the circumstances of his marriage illustrate his character  I cannot
refrain from relating them   One of his most intimate friends was a
merchant who  from a flourishing state  fell  through numerous
mischances  into poverty   This man  whose name was Beaufort  was of a
proud and unbending disposition and could not bear to live in poverty
and oblivion in the same country where he had formerly been
distinguished for his rank and magnificence   Having paid his debts 
therefore  in the most honourable manner  he retreated with his
daughter to the town of Lucerne  where he lived unknown and in
wretchedness   My father loved Beaufort with the truest friendship and
was deeply grieved by his retreat in these unfortunate circumstances 
He bitterly deplored the false pride which led his friend to a conduct
so little worthy of the affection that united them   He lost no time in
endeavouring to seek him out  with the hope of persuading him to begin
the world again through his credit and assistance  Beaufort had taken
effectual measures to conceal himself  and it was ten months before my
father discovered his abode   Overjoyed at this discovery  he hastened
to the house  which was situated in a mean street near the Reuss   But
when he entered  misery and despair alone welcomed him   Beaufort had
saved but a very small sum of money from the wreck of his fortunes  but
it was sufficient to provide him with sustenance for some months  and
in the meantime he hoped to procure some respectable employment in a
merchant s house   The interval was  consequently  spent in inaction 
his grief only became more deep and rankling when he had leisure for
reflection  and at length it took so fast hold of his mind that at the
end of three months he lay on a bed of sickness  incapable of any
exertion 

His daughter attended him with the greatest tenderness  but she saw
with despair that their little fund was rapidly decreasing and that
there was no other prospect of support   But Caroline Beaufort
possessed a mind of an uncommon mould  and her courage rose to support
her in her adversity   She procured plain work  she plaited straw and
by various means contrived to earn a pittance scarcely sufficient to
support life 

Several months passed in this manner   Her father grew worse  her time
was more entirely occupied in attending him  her means of subsistence
decreased  and in the tenth month her father died in her arms  leaving
her an orphan and a beggar   This last blow overcame her  and she knelt
by Beaufort s coffin weeping bitterly  when my father entered the
chamber   He came like a protecting spirit to the poor girl  who
committed herself to his care  and after the interment of his friend he
conducted her to Geneva and placed her under the protection of a
relation   Two years after this event Caroline became his wife 

There was a considerable difference between the ages of my parents  but
this circumstance seemed to unite them only closer in bonds of devoted
affection   There was a sense of justice in my father s upright mind
which rendered it necessary that he should approve highly to love
strongly   Perhaps during former years he had suffered from the
late discovered unworthiness of one beloved and so was disposed to set
a greater value on tried worth   There was a show of gratitude and
worship in his attachment to my mother  differing wholly from the
doting fondness of age  for it was inspired by reverence for her
virtues and a desire to be the means of  in some degree  recompensing
her for the sorrows she had endured  but which gave inexpressible grace
to his behaviour to her   Everything was made to yield to her wishes
and her convenience   He strove to shelter her  as a fair exotic is
sheltered by the gardener  from every rougher wind and to surround her
with all that could tend to excite pleasurable emotion in her soft and
benevolent mind   Her health  and even the tranquillity of her hitherto
constant spirit  had been shaken by what she had gone through   During
the two years that had elapsed previous to their marriage my father had
gradually relinquished all his public functions  and immediately after
their union they sought the pleasant climate of Italy  and the change
of scene and interest attendant on a tour through that land of wonders 
as a restorative for her weakened frame 

From Italy they visited Germany and France   I  their eldest child  was
born at Naples  and as an infant accompanied them in their rambles   I
remained for several years their only child   Much as they were
attached to each other  they seemed to draw inexhaustible stores of
affection from a very mine of love to bestow them upon me   My mother s
tender caresses and my father s smile of benevolent pleasure while
regarding me are my first recollections   I was their plaything and
their idol  and something better  their child  the innocent and
helpless creature bestowed on them by heaven  whom to bring up to good 
and whose future lot it was in their hands to direct to happiness or
misery  according as they fulfilled their duties towards me   With this
deep consciousness of what they owed towards the being to which they
had given life  added to the active spirit of tenderness that animated
both  it may be imagined that while during every hour of my infant life
I received a lesson of patience  of charity  and of self control  I was
so guided by a silken cord that all seemed but one train of enjoyment
to me  For a long time I was their only care   My mother had much
desired to have a daughter  but I continued their single offspring 
When I was about five years old  while making an excursion beyond the
frontiers of Italy  they passed a week on the shores of the Lake of
Como   Their benevolent disposition often made them enter the cottages
of the poor   This  to my mother  was more than a duty  it was a
necessity  a passion  remembering what she had suffered  and how she
had been relieved  for her to act in her turn the guardian angel to the
afflicted   During one of their walks a poor cot in the foldings of a
vale attracted their notice as being singularly disconsolate  while the
number of half clothed children gathered about it spoke of penury in
its worst shape   One day  when my father had gone by himself to Milan 
my mother  accompanied by me  visited this abode   She found a peasant
and his wife  hard working  bent down by care and labour  distributing
a scanty meal to five hungry babes   Among these there was one which
attracted my mother far above all the rest   She appeared of a
different stock   The four others were dark eyed  hardy little
vagrants  this child was thin and very fair   Her hair was the
brightest living gold  and despite the poverty of her clothing  seemed
to set a crown of distinction on her head   Her brow was clear and
ample  her blue eyes cloudless  and her lips and the moulding of her
face so expressive of sensibility and sweetness that none could behold
her without looking on her as of a distinct species  a being
heaven sent  and bearing a celestial stamp in all her features  The
peasant woman  perceiving that my mother fixed eyes of wonder and
admiration on this lovely girl  eagerly communicated her history   She
was not her child  but the daughter of a Milanese nobleman   Her mother
was a German and had died on giving her birth   The infant had been
placed with these good people to nurse   they were better off then 
They had not been long married  and their eldest child was but just
born   The father of their charge was one of those Italians nursed in
the memory of the antique glory of Italy  one among the schiavi ognor
frementi  who exerted himself to obtain the liberty of his country   He
became the victim of its weakness   Whether he had died or still
lingered in the dungeons of Austria was not known   His property was
confiscated  his child became an orphan and a beggar   She continued
with her foster parents and bloomed in their rude abode  fairer than a
garden rose among dark leaved brambles   When my father returned from
Milan  he found playing with me in the hall of our villa a child fairer
than pictured cherub  a creature who seemed to shed radiance from her
looks and whose form and motions were lighter than the chamois of the
hills   The apparition was soon explained   With his permission my
mother prevailed on her rustic guardians to yield their charge to her 
They were fond of the sweet orphan   Her presence had seemed a blessing
to them  but it would be unfair to her to keep her in poverty and want
when Providence afforded her such powerful protection   They consulted
their village priest  and the result was that Elizabeth Lavenza became
the inmate of my parents  house  my more than sister  the beautiful and
adored companion of all my occupations and my pleasures 

Everyone loved Elizabeth   The passionate and almost reverential
attachment with which all regarded her became  while I shared it  my
pride and my delight   On the evening previous to her being brought to
my home  my mother had said playfully   I have a pretty present for my
Victor  tomorrow he shall have it    And when  on the morrow  she
presented Elizabeth to me as her promised gift  I  with childish
seriousness  interpreted her words literally and looked upon Elizabeth
as mine  mine to protect  love  and cherish   All praises bestowed on
her I received as made to a possession of my own   We called each other
familiarly by the name of cousin   No word  no expression could body
forth the kind of relation in which she stood to me  my more than
sister  since till death she was to be mine only 



Chapter 2

We were brought up together  there was not quite a year difference in
our ages   I need not say that we were strangers to any species of
disunion or dispute   Harmony was the soul of our companionship  and
the diversity and contrast that subsisted in our characters drew us
nearer together   Elizabeth was of a calmer and more concentrated
disposition  but  with all my ardour  I was capable of a more intense
application and was more deeply smitten with the thirst for knowledge 
She busied herself with following the aerial creations of the poets 
and in the majestic and wondrous scenes which surrounded our Swiss home
  the sublime shapes of the mountains  the changes of the seasons 
tempest and calm  the silence of winter  and the life and turbulence of
our Alpine summers  she found ample scope for admiration and delight 
While my companion contemplated with a serious and satisfied spirit the
magnificent appearances of things  I delighted in investigating their
causes   The world was to me a secret which I desired to divine 
Curiosity  earnest research to learn the hidden laws of nature 
gladness akin to rapture  as they were unfolded to me  are among the
earliest sensations I can remember 

On the birth of a second son  my junior by seven years  my parents gave
up entirely their wandering life and fixed themselves in their native
country   We possessed a house in Geneva  and a campagne on Belrive 
the eastern shore of the lake  at the distance of rather more than a
league from the city   We resided principally in the latter  and the
lives of my parents were passed in considerable seclusion   It was my
temper to avoid a crowd and to attach myself fervently to a few   I was
indifferent  therefore  to my school fellows in general  but I united
myself in the bonds of the closest friendship to one among them   Henry
Clerval was the son of a merchant of Geneva   He was a boy of singular
talent and fancy   He loved enterprise  hardship  and even danger for
its own sake   He was deeply read in books of chivalry and romance   He
composed heroic songs and began to write many a tale of enchantment and
knightly adventure   He tried to make us act plays and to enter into
masquerades  in which the characters were drawn from the heroes of
Roncesvalles  of the Round Table of King Arthur  and the chivalrous
train who shed their blood to redeem the holy sepulchre from the hands
of the infidels 

No human being could have passed a happier childhood than myself   My
parents were possessed by the very spirit of kindness and indulgence 
We felt that they were not the tyrants to rule our lot according to
their caprice  but the agents and creators of all the many delights
which we enjoyed   When I mingled with other families I distinctly
discerned how peculiarly fortunate my lot was  and gratitude assisted
the development of filial love 

My temper was sometimes violent  and my passions vehement  but by some
law in my temperature they were turned not towards childish pursuits
but to an eager desire to learn  and not to learn all things
indiscriminately   I confess that neither the structure of languages 
nor the code of governments  nor the politics of various states
possessed attractions for me   It was the secrets of heaven and earth
that I desired to learn  and whether it was the outward substance of
things or the inner spirit of nature and the mysterious soul of man
that occupied me  still my inquiries were directed to the metaphysical 
or in its highest sense  the physical secrets of the world 

Meanwhile Clerval occupied himself  so to speak  with the moral
relations of things   The busy stage of life  the virtues of heroes 
and the actions of men were his theme  and his hope and his dream was
to become one among those whose names are recorded in story as the
gallant and adventurous benefactors of our species   The saintly soul
of Elizabeth shone like a shrine dedicated lamp in our peaceful home 
Her sympathy was ours  her smile  her soft voice  the sweet glance of
her celestial eyes  were ever there to bless and animate us   She was
the living spirit of love to soften and attract  I might have become
sullen in my study  rought through the ardour of my nature  but that
she was there to subdue me to a semblance of her own gentleness   And
Clerval  could aught ill entrench on the noble spirit of Clerval   Yet
he might not have been so perfectly humane  so thoughtful in his
generosity  so full of kindness and tenderness amidst his passion for
adventurous exploit  had she not unfolded to him the real loveliness of
beneficence and made the doing good the end and aim of his soaring
ambition 

I feel exquisite pleasure in dwelling on the recollections of
childhood  before misfortune had tainted my mind and changed its bright
visions of extensive usefulness into gloomy and narrow reflections upon
self   Besides  in drawing the picture of my early days  I also record
those events which led  by insensible steps  to my after tale of
misery  for when I would account to myself for the birth of that
passion which afterwards ruled my destiny I find it arise  like a
mountain river  from ignoble and almost forgotten sources  but 
swelling as it proceeded  it became the torrent which  in its course 
has swept away all my hopes and joys   Natural philosophy is the genius
that has regulated my fate  I desire  therefore  in this narration  to
state those facts which led to my predilection for that science   When
I was thirteen years of age we all went on a party of pleasure to the
baths near Thonon  the inclemency of the weather obliged us to remain a
day confined to the inn   In this house I chanced to find a volume of
the works of Cornelius Agrippa   I opened it with apathy  the theory
which he attempts to demonstrate and the wonderful facts which he
relates soon changed this feeling into enthusiasm   A new light seemed
to dawn upon my mind  and bounding with joy  I communicated my
discovery to my father   My father looked carelessly at the title page
of my book and said   Ah   Cornelius Agrippa   My dear Victor  do not
waste your time upon this  it is sad trash  

If  instead of this remark  my father had taken the pains to explain to
me that the principles of Agrippa had been entirely exploded and that a
modern system of science had been introduced which possessed much
greater powers than the ancient  because the powers of the latter were
chimerical  while those of the former were real and practical  under
such circumstances I should certainly have thrown Agrippa aside and
have contented my imagination  warmed as it was  by returning with
greater ardour to my former studies   It is even possible that the
train of my ideas would never have received the fatal impulse that led
to my ruin   But the cursory glance my father had taken of my volume by
no means assured me that he was acquainted with its contents  and I
continued to read with the greatest avidity   When I returned home my
first care was to procure the whole works of this author  and
afterwards of Paracelsus and Albertus Magnus   I read and studied the
wild fancies of these writers with delight  they appeared to me
treasures known to few besides myself   I have described myself as
always having been imbued with a fervent longing to penetrate the
secrets of nature   In spite of the intense labour and wonderful
discoveries of modern philosophers  I always came from my studies
discontented and unsatisfied   Sir Isaac Newton is said to have avowed
that he felt like a child picking up shells beside the great and
unexplored ocean of truth   Those of his successors in each branch of
natural philosophy with whom I was acquainted appeared even to my boy s
apprehensions as tyros engaged in the same pursuit 

The untaught peasant beheld the elements around him and was acquainted
with their practical uses   The most learned philosopher knew little
more   He had partially unveiled the face of Nature  but her immortal
lineaments were still a wonder and a mystery   He might dissect 
anatomize  and give names  but  not to speak of a final cause  causes
in their secondary and tertiary grades were utterly unknown to him   I
had gazed upon the fortifications and impediments that seemed to keep
human beings from entering the citadel of nature  and rashly and
ignorantly I had repined 

But here were books  and here were men who had penetrated deeper and
knew more   I took their word for all that they averred  and I became
their disciple   It may appear strange that such should arise in the
eighteenth century  but while I followed the routine of education in
the schools of Geneva  I was  to a great degree  self taught with
regard to my favourite studies   My father was not scientific  and I
was left to struggle with a child s blindness  added to a student s
thirst for knowledge   Under the guidance of my new preceptors I
entered with the greatest diligence into the search of the
philosopher s stone and the elixir of life  but the latter soon
obtained my undivided attention   Wealth was an inferior object  but
what glory would attend the discovery if I could banish disease from
the human frame and render man invulnerable to any but a violent death 
Nor were these my only visions   The raising of ghosts or devils was a
promise liberally accorded by my favourite authors  the fulfilment of
which I most eagerly sought  and if my incantations were always
unsuccessful  I attributed the failure rather to my own inexperience
and mistake than to a want of skill or fidelity in my instructors   And
thus for a time I was occupied by exploded systems  mingling  like an
unadept  a thousand contradictory theories and floundering desperately
in a very slough of multifarious knowledge  guided by an ardent
imagination and childish reasoning  till an accident again changed the
current of my ideas   When I was about fifteen years old we had retired
to our house near Belrive  when we witnessed a most violent and
terrible thunderstorm   It advanced from behind the mountains of Jura 
and the thunder burst at once with frightful loudness from various
quarters of the heavens   I remained  while the storm lasted  watching
its progress with curiosity and delight   As I stood at the door  on a
sudden I beheld a stream of fire issue from an old and beautiful oak
which stood about twenty yards from our house  and so soon as the
dazzling light vanished  the oak had disappeared  and nothing remained
but a blasted stump   When we visited it the next morning  we found the
tree shattered in a singular manner   It was not splintered by the
shock  but entirely reduced to thin ribbons of wood   I never beheld
anything so utterly destroyed 

Before this I was not unacquainted with the more obvious laws of
electricity   On this occasion a man of great research in natural
philosophy was with us  and excited by this catastrophe  he entered on
the explanation of a theory which he had formed on the subject of
electricity and galvanism  which was at once new and astonishing to me 
All that he said threw greatly into the shade Cornelius Agrippa 
Albertus Magnus  and Paracelsus  the lords of my imagination  but by
some fatality the overthrow of these men disinclined me to pursue my
accustomed studies   It seemed to me as if nothing would or could ever
be known   All that had so long engaged my attention suddenly grew
despicable   By one of those caprices of the mind which we are perhaps
most subject to in early youth  I at once gave up my former
occupations  set down natural history and all its progeny as a deformed
and abortive creation  and entertained the greatest disdain for a
would be science which could never even step within the threshold of
real knowledge   In this mood of mind I betook myself to the
mathematics and the branches of study appertaining to that science as
being built upon secure foundations  and so worthy of my consideration 

Thus strangely are our souls constructed  and by such slight ligaments
are we bound to prosperity or ruin   When I look back  it seems to me
as if this almost miraculous change of inclination and will was the
immediate suggestion of the guardian angel of my life  the last effort
made by the spirit of preservation to avert the storm that was even
then hanging in the stars and ready to envelop me   Her victory was
announced by an unusual tranquillity and gladness of soul which
followed the relinquishing of my ancient and latterly tormenting
studies   It was thus that I was to be taught to associate evil with
their prosecution  happiness with their disregard 

It was a strong effort of the spirit of good  but it was ineffectual 
Destiny was too potent  and her immutable laws had decreed my utter and
terrible destruction 



Chapter 3

When I had attained the age of seventeen my parents resolved that I
should become a student at the university of Ingolstadt   I had
hitherto attended the schools of Geneva  but my father thought it
necessary for the completion of my education that I should be made
acquainted with other customs than those of my native country   My
departure was therefore fixed at an early date  but before the day
resolved upon could arrive  the first misfortune of my life
occurred  an omen  as it were  of my future misery   Elizabeth had
caught the scarlet fever  her illness was severe  and she was in the
greatest danger   During her illness many arguments had been urged to
persuade my mother to refrain from attending upon her   She had at
first yielded to our entreaties  but when she heard that the life of
her favourite was menaced  she could no longer control her anxiety  She
attended her sickbed  her watchful attentions triumphed over the
malignity of the distemper  Elizabeth was saved  but the consequences
of this imprudence were fatal to her preserver   On the third day my
mother sickened  her fever was accompanied by the most alarming
symptoms  and the looks of her medical attendants prognosticated the
worst event   On her deathbed the fortitude and benignity of this best
of women did not desert her   She joined the hands of Elizabeth and
myself    My children   she said   my firmest hopes of future happiness
were placed on the prospect of your union   This expectation will now
be the consolation of your father   Elizabeth  my love  you must supply
my place to my younger children   Alas   I regret that I am taken from
you  and  happy and beloved as I have been  is it not hard to quit you
all   But these are not thoughts befitting me  I will endeavour to
resign myself cheerfully to death and will indulge a hope of meeting
you in another world  

She died calmly  and her countenance expressed affection even in death 
I need not describe the feelings of those whose dearest ties are rent
by that most irreparable evil  the void that presents itself to the
soul  and the despair that is exhibited on the countenance   It is so
long before the mind can persuade itself that she whom we saw every day
and whose very existence appeared a part of our own can have departed
forever  that the brightness of a beloved eye can have been
extinguished and the sound of a voice so familiar and dear to the ear
can be hushed  never more to be heard   These are the reflections of
the first days  but when the lapse of time proves the reality of the
evil  then the actual bitterness of grief commences   Yet from whom has
not that rude hand rent away some dear connection   And why should I
describe a sorrow which all have felt  and must feel   The time at
length arrives when grief is rather an indulgence than a necessity  and
the smile that plays upon the lips  although it may be deemed a
sacrilege  is not banished   My mother was dead  but we had still
duties which we ought to perform  we must continue our course with the
rest and learn to think ourselves fortunate whilst one remains whom the
spoiler has not seized 

My departure for Ingolstadt  which had been deferred by these events 
was now again determined upon   I obtained from my father a respite of
some weeks   It appeared to me sacrilege so soon to leave the repose 
akin to death  of the house of mourning and to rush into the thick of
life   I was new to sorrow  but it did not the less alarm me   I was
unwilling to quit the sight of those that remained to me  and above
all  I desired to see my sweet Elizabeth in some degree consoled 

She indeed veiled her grief and strove to act the comforter to us all 
She looked steadily on life and assumed its duties with courage and
zeal   She devoted herself to those whom she had been taught to call
her uncle and cousins   Never was she so enchanting as at this time 
when she recalled the sunshine of her smiles and spent them upon us 
She forgot even her own regret in her endeavours to make us forget 

The day of my departure at length arrived   Clerval spent the last
evening with us   He had endeavoured to persuade his father to permit
him to accompany me and to become my fellow student  but in vain   His
father was a narrow minded trader and saw idleness and ruin in the
aspirations and ambition of his son   Henry deeply felt the misfortune
of being debarred from a liberal education   He said little  but when
he spoke I read in his kindling eye and in his animated glance a
restrained but firm resolve not to be chained to the miserable details
of commerce 

We sat late   We could not tear ourselves away from each other nor
persuade ourselves to say the word  Farewell    It was said  and we
retired under the pretence of seeking repose  each fancying that the
other was deceived  but when at morning s dawn I descended to the
carriage which was to convey me away  they were all there  my father
again to bless me  Clerval to press my hand once more  my Elizabeth to
renew her entreaties that I would write often and to bestow the last
feminine attentions on her playmate and friend 

I threw myself into the chaise that was to convey me away and indulged
in the most melancholy reflections   I  who had ever been surrounded by
amiable companions  continually engaged in endeavouring to bestow
mutual pleasure  I was now alone   In the university whither I was
going I must form my own friends and be my own protector   My life had
hitherto been remarkably secluded and domestic  and this had given me
invincible repugnance to new countenances   I loved my brothers 
Elizabeth  and Clerval  these were  old familiar faces   but I believed
myself totally unfitted for the company of strangers   Such were my
reflections as I commenced my journey  but as I proceeded  my spirits
and hopes rose   I ardently desired the acquisition of knowledge   I
had often  when at home  thought it hard to remain during my youth
cooped up in one place and had longed to enter the world and take my
station among other human beings   Now my desires were complied with 
and it would  indeed  have been folly to repent 

I had sufficient leisure for these and many other reflections during my
journey to Ingolstadt  which was long and fatiguing   At length the
high white steeple of the town met my eyes   I alighted and was
conducted to my solitary apartment to spend the evening as I pleased 

The next morning I delivered my letters of introduction and paid a
visit to some of the principal professors   Chance  or rather the evil
influence  the Angel of Destruction  which asserted omnipotent sway
over me from the moment I turned my reluctant steps from my father s
door  led me first to M  Krempe  professor of natural philosophy   He
was an uncouth man  but deeply imbued in the secrets of his science  He
asked me several questions concerning my progress in the different
branches of science appertaining to natural philosophy   I replied
carelessly  and partly in contempt  mentioned the names of my
alchemists as the principal authors I had studied   The professor
stared    Have you   he said   really spent your time in studying such
nonsense  

I replied in the affirmative    Every minute   continued M  Krempe with
warmth   every instant that you have wasted on those books is utterly
and entirely lost   You have burdened your memory with exploded systems
and useless names   Good God   In what desert land have you lived 
where no one was kind enough to inform you that these fancies which you
have so greedily imbibed are a thousand years old and as musty as they
are ancient   I little expected  in this enlightened and scientific
age  to find a disciple of Albertus Magnus and Paracelsus   My dear
sir  you must begin your studies entirely anew  

So saying  he stepped aside and wrote down a list of several books
treating of natural philosophy which he desired me to procure  and
dismissed me after mentioning that in the beginning of the following
week he intended to commence a course of lectures upon natural
philosophy in its general relations  and that M  Waldman  a fellow
professor  would lecture upon chemistry the alternate days that he
omitted 

I returned home not disappointed  for I have said that I had long
considered those authors useless whom the professor reprobated  but I
returned not at all the more inclined to recur to these studies in any
shape   M  Krempe was a little squat man with a gruff voice and a
repulsive countenance  the teacher  therefore  did not prepossess me in
favour of his pursuits   In rather a too philosophical and connected a
strain  perhaps  I have given an account of the conclusions I had come
to concerning them in my early years   As a child I had not been
content with the results promised by the modern professors of natural
science   With a confusion of ideas only to be accounted for by my
extreme youth and my want of a guide on such matters  I had retrod the
steps of knowledge along the paths of time and exchanged the
discoveries of recent inquirers for the dreams of forgotten alchemists 
Besides  I had a contempt for the uses of modern natural philosophy 
It was very different when the masters of the science sought
immortality and power  such views  although futile  were grand  but now
the scene was changed   The ambition of the inquirer seemed to limit
itself to the annihilation of those visions on which my interest in
science was chiefly founded   I was required to exchange chimeras of
boundless grandeur for realities of little worth 

Such were my reflections during the first two or three days of my
residence at Ingolstadt  which were chiefly spent in becoming
acquainted with the localities and the principal residents in my new
abode   But as the ensuing week commenced  I thought of the information
which M  Krempe had given me concerning the lectures   And although I
could not consent to go and hear that little conceited fellow deliver
sentences out of a pulpit  I recollected what he had said of M 
Waldman  whom I had never seen  as he had hitherto been out of town 

Partly from curiosity and partly from idleness  I went into the
lecturing room  which M  Waldman entered shortly after   This professor
was very unlike his colleague   He appeared about fifty years of age 
but with an aspect expressive of the greatest benevolence  a few grey
hairs covered his temples  but those at the back of his head were
nearly black   His person was short but remarkably erect and his voice
the sweetest I had ever heard   He began his lecture by a
recapitulation of the history of chemistry and the various improvements
made by different men of learning  pronouncing with fervour the names
of the most distinguished discoverers   He then took a cursory view of
the present state of the science and explained many of its elementary
terms   After having made a few preparatory experiments  he concluded
with a panegyric upon modern chemistry  the terms of which I shall
never forget    The ancient teachers of this science   said he 
 promised impossibilities and performed nothing   The modern masters
promise very little  they know that metals cannot be transmuted and
that the elixir of life is a chimera but these philosophers  whose
hands seem only made to dabble in dirt  and their eyes to pore over the
microscope or crucible  have indeed performed miracles   They penetrate
into the recesses of nature and show how she works in her
hiding places   They ascend into the heavens  they have discovered how
the blood circulates  and the nature of the air we breathe   They have
acquired new and almost unlimited powers  they can command the thunders
of heaven  mimic the earthquake  and even mock the invisible world with
its own shadows  

Such were the professor s words  rather let me say such the words of
the fate  enounced to destroy me   As he went on I felt as if my soul
were grappling with a palpable enemy  one by one the various keys were
touched which formed the mechanism of my being  chord after chord was
sounded  and soon my mind was filled with one thought  one conception 
one purpose   So much has been done  exclaimed the soul of
Frankenstein  more  far more  will I achieve  treading in the steps
already marked  I will pioneer a new way  explore unknown powers  and
unfold to the world the deepest mysteries of creation 

I closed not my eyes that night   My internal being was in a state of
insurrection and turmoil  I felt that order would thence arise  but I
had no power to produce it   By degrees  after the morning s dawn 
sleep came   I awoke  and my yesternight s thoughts were as a dream 
There only remained a resolution to return to my ancient studies and to
devote myself to a science for which I believed myself to possess a
natural talent   On the same day I paid M  Waldman a visit   His
manners in private were even more mild and attractive than in public 
for there was a certain dignity in his mien during his lecture which in
his own house was replaced by the greatest affability and kindness   I
gave him pretty nearly the same account of my former pursuits as I had
given to his fellow professor   He heard with attention the little
narration concerning my studies and smiled at the names of Cornelius
Agrippa and Paracelsus  but without the contempt that M  Krempe had
exhibited  He said that  These were men to whose indefatigable zeal
modern philosophers were indebted for most of the foundations of their
knowledge   They had left to us  as an easier task  to give new names
and arrange in connected classifications the facts which they in a
great degree had been the instruments of bringing to light   The
labours of men of genius  however erroneously directed  scarcely ever
fail in ultimately turning to the solid advantage of mankind    I
listened to his statement  which was delivered without any presumption
or affectation  and then added that his lecture had removed my
prejudices against modern chemists  I expressed myself in measured
terms  with the modesty and deference due from a youth to his
instructor  without letting escape  inexperience in life would have
made me ashamed  any of the enthusiasm which stimulated my intended
labours   I requested his advice concerning the books I ought to
procure 

 I am happy   said M  Waldman   to have gained a disciple  and if your
application equals your ability  I have no doubt of your success 
Chemistry is that branch of natural philosophy in which the greatest
improvements have been and may be made  it is on that account that I
have made it my peculiar study  but at the same time  I have not
neglected the other branches of science   A man would make but a very
sorry chemist if he attended to that department of human knowledge
alone   If your wish is to become really a man of science and not
merely a petty experimentalist  I should advise you to apply to every
branch of natural philosophy  including mathematics    He then took me
into his laboratory and explained to me the uses of his various
machines  instructing me as to what I ought to procure and promising me
the use of his own when I should have advanced far enough in the
science not to derange their mechanism   He also gave me the list of
books which I had requested  and I took my leave 

Thus ended a day memorable to me  it decided my future destiny 



Chapter 4

From this day natural philosophy  and particularly chemistry  in the
most comprehensive sense of the term  became nearly my sole occupation 
I read with ardour those works  so full of genius and discrimination 
which modern inquirers have written on these subjects   I attended the
lectures and cultivated the acquaintance of the men of science of the
university  and I found even in M  Krempe a great deal of sound sense
and real information  combined  it is true  with a repulsive
physiognomy and manners  but not on that account the less valuable   In
M  Waldman I found a true friend   His gentleness was never tinged by
dogmatism  and his instructions were given with an air of frankness and
good nature that banished every idea of pedantry   In a thousand ways
he smoothed for me the path of knowledge and made the most abstruse
inquiries clear and facile to my apprehension   My application was at
first fluctuating and uncertain  it gained strength as I proceeded and
soon became so ardent and eager that the stars often disappeared in the
light of morning whilst I was yet engaged in my laboratory 

As I applied so closely  it may be easily conceived that my progress
was rapid   My ardour was indeed the astonishment of the students  and
my proficiency that of the masters   Professor Krempe often asked me 
with a sly smile  how Cornelius Agrippa went on  whilst M  Waldman
expressed the most heartfelt exultation in my progress   Two years
passed in this manner  during which I paid no visit to Geneva  but was
engaged  heart and soul  in the pursuit of some discoveries which I
hoped to make   None but those who have experienced them can conceive
of the enticements of science   In other studies you go as far as
others have gone before you  and there is nothing more to know  but in
a scientific pursuit there is continual food for discovery and wonder 
A mind of moderate capacity which closely pursues one study must
infallibly arrive at great proficiency in that study  and I  who
continually sought the attainment of one object of pursuit and was
solely wrapped up in this  improved so rapidly that at the end of two
years I made some discoveries in the improvement of some chemical
instruments  which procured me great esteem and admiration at the
university   When I had arrived at this point and had become as well
acquainted with the theory and practice of natural philosophy as
depended on the lessons of any of the professors at Ingolstadt  my
residence there being no longer conducive to my improvements  I thought
of returning to my friends and my native town  when an incident
happened that protracted my stay 

One of the phenomena which had peculiarly attracted my attention was
the structure of the human frame  and  indeed  any animal endued with
life   Whence  I often asked myself  did the principle of life proceed 
It was a bold question  and one which has ever been considered as a
mystery  yet with how many things are we upon the brink of becoming
acquainted  if cowardice or carelessness did not restrain our
inquiries   I revolved these circumstances in my mind and determined
thenceforth to apply myself more particularly to those branches of
natural philosophy which relate to physiology   Unless I had been
animated by an almost supernatural enthusiasm  my application to this
study would have been irksome and almost intolerable   To examine the
causes of life  we must first have recourse to death   I became
acquainted with the science of anatomy  but this was not sufficient  I
must also observe the natural decay and corruption of the human body 
In my education my father had taken the greatest precautions that my
mind should be impressed with no supernatural horrors   I do not ever
remember to have trembled at a tale of superstition or to have feared
the apparition of a spirit   Darkness had no effect upon my fancy  and
a churchyard was to me merely the receptacle of bodies deprived of
life  which  from being the seat of beauty and strength  had become
food for the worm   Now I was led to examine the cause and progress of
this decay and forced to spend days and nights in vaults and
charnel houses   My attention was fixed upon every object the most
insupportable to the delicacy of the human feelings   I saw how the
fine form of man was degraded and wasted  I beheld the corruption of
death succeed to the blooming cheek of life  I saw how the worm
inherited the wonders of the eye and brain   I paused  examining and
analysing all the minutiae of causation  as exemplified in the change
from life to death  and death to life  until from the midst of this
darkness a sudden light broke in upon me  a light so brilliant and
wondrous  yet so simple  that while I became dizzy with the immensity
of the prospect which it illustrated  I was surprised that among so
many men of genius who had directed their inquiries towards the same
science  that I alone should be reserved to discover so astonishing a
secret 

Remember  I am not recording the vision of a madman   The sun does not
more certainly shine in the heavens than that which I now affirm is
true   Some miracle might have produced it  yet the stages of the
discovery were distinct and probable   After days and nights of
incredible labour and fatigue  I succeeded in discovering the cause of
generation and life  nay  more  I became myself capable of bestowing
animation upon lifeless matter 

The astonishment which I had at first experienced on this discovery
soon gave place to delight and rapture   After so much time spent in
painful labour  to arrive at once at the summit of my desires was the
most gratifying consummation of my toils   But this discovery was so
great and overwhelming that all the steps by which I had been
progressively led to it were obliterated  and I beheld only the result 
What had been the study and desire of the wisest men since the creation
of the world was now within my grasp   Not that  like a magic scene  it
all opened upon me at once   the information I had obtained was of a
nature rather to direct my endeavours so soon as I should point them
towards the object of my search than to exhibit that object already
accomplished   I was like the Arabian who had been buried with the dead
and found a passage to life  aided only by one glimmering and seemingly
ineffectual light 

I see by your eagerness and the wonder and hope which your eyes
express  my friend  that you expect to be informed of the secret with
which I am acquainted  that cannot be  listen patiently until the end
of my story  and you will easily perceive why I am reserved upon that
subject   I will not lead you on  unguarded and ardent as I then was 
to your destruction and infallible misery   Learn from me  if not by my
precepts  at least by my example  how dangerous is the acquirement of
knowledge and how much happier that man is who believes his native town
to be the world  than he who aspires to become greater than his nature
will allow 

When I found so astonishing a power placed within my hands  I hesitated
a long time concerning the manner in which I should employ it 
Although I possessed the capacity of bestowing animation  yet to
prepare a frame for the reception of it  with all its intricacies of
fibres  muscles  and veins  still remained a work of inconceivable
difficulty and labour   I doubted at first whether I should attempt the
creation of a being like myself  or one of simpler organization  but my
imagination was too much exalted by my first success to permit me to
doubt of my ability to give life to an animal as complex and wonderful
as man   The materials at present within my command hardly appeared
adequate to so arduous an undertaking  but I doubted not that I should
ultimately succeed   I prepared myself for a multitude of reverses  my
operations might be incessantly baffled  and at last my work be
imperfect  yet when I considered the improvement which every day takes
place in science and mechanics  I was encouraged to hope my present
attempts would at least lay the foundations of future success   Nor
could I consider the magnitude and complexity of my plan as any
argument of its impracticability   It was with these feelings that I
began the creation of a human being   As the minuteness of the parts
formed a great hindrance to my speed  I resolved  contrary to my first
intention  to make the being of a gigantic stature  that is to say 
about eight feet in height  and proportionably large   After having
formed this determination and having spent some months in successfully
collecting and arranging my materials  I began 

No one can conceive the variety of feelings which bore me onwards  like
a hurricane  in the first enthusiasm of success   Life and death
appeared to me ideal bounds  which I should first break through  and
pour a torrent of light into our dark world   A new species would bless
me as its creator and source  many happy and excellent natures would
owe their being to me   No father could claim the gratitude of his
child so completely as I should deserve theirs   Pursuing these
reflections  I thought that if I could bestow animation upon lifeless
matter  I might in process of time  although I now found it impossible 
renew life where death had apparently devoted the body to corruption 

These thoughts supported my spirits  while I pursued my undertaking
with unremitting ardour   My cheek had grown pale with study  and my
person had become emaciated with confinement   Sometimes  on the very
brink of certainty  I failed  yet still I clung to the hope which the
next day or the next hour might realize   One secret which I alone
possessed was the hope to which I had dedicated myself  and the moon
gazed on my midnight labours  while  with unrelaxed and breathless
eagerness  I pursued nature to her hiding places   Who shall conceive
the horrors of my secret toil as I dabbled among the unhallowed damps
of the grave or tortured the living animal to animate the lifeless
clay   My limbs now tremble  and my eyes swim with the remembrance  but
then a resistless and almost frantic impulse urged me forward  I seemed
to have lost all soul or sensation but for this one pursuit   It was
indeed but a passing trance  that only made me feel with renewed
acuteness so soon as  the unnatural stimulus ceasing to operate  I had
returned to my old habits   I collected bones from charnel houses and
disturbed  with profane fingers  the tremendous secrets of the human
frame   In a solitary chamber  or rather cell  at the top of the house 
and separated from all the other apartments by a gallery and staircase 
I kept my workshop of filthy creation  my eyeballs were starting from
their sockets in attending to the details of my employment   The
dissecting room and the slaughter house furnished many of my materials 
and often did my human nature turn with loathing from my occupation 
whilst  still urged on by an eagerness which perpetually increased  I
brought my work near to a conclusion 

The summer months passed while I was thus engaged  heart and soul  in
one pursuit   It was a most beautiful season  never did the fields
bestow a more plentiful harvest or the vines yield a more luxuriant
vintage  but my eyes were insensible to the charms of nature   And the
same feelings which made me neglect the scenes around me caused me also
to forget those friends who were so many miles absent  and whom I had
not seen for so long a time   I knew my silence disquieted them  and I
well remembered the words of my father    I know that while you are
pleased with yourself you will think of us with affection  and we shall
hear regularly from you   You must pardon me if I regard any
interruption in your correspondence as a proof that your other duties
are equally neglected  

I knew well therefore what would be my father s feelings  but I could
not tear my thoughts from my employment  loathsome in itself  but which
had taken an irresistible hold of my imagination   I wished  as it
were  to procrastinate all that related to my feelings of affection
until the great object  which swallowed up every habit of my nature 
should be completed 

I then thought that my father would be unjust if he ascribed my neglect
to vice or faultiness on my part  but I am now convinced that he was
justified in conceiving that I should not be altogether free from
blame   A human being in perfection ought always to preserve a calm and
peaceful mind and never to allow passion or a transitory desire to
disturb his tranquillity   I do not think that the pursuit of knowledge
is an exception to this rule   If the study to which you apply yourself
has a tendency to weaken your affections and to destroy your taste for
those simple pleasures in which no alloy can possibly mix  then that
study is certainly unlawful  that is to say  not befitting the human
mind   If this rule were always observed  if no man allowed any pursuit
whatsoever to interfere with the tranquillity of his domestic
affections  Greece had not been enslaved  Caesar would have spared his
country  America would have been discovered more gradually  and the
empires of Mexico and Peru had not been destroyed 

But I forget that I am moralizing in the most interesting part of my
tale  and your looks remind me to proceed   My father made no reproach
in his letters and only took notice of my silence by inquiring into my
occupations more particularly than before   Winter  spring  and summer
passed away during my labours  but I did not watch the blossom or the
expanding leaves  sights which before always yielded me supreme
delight  so deeply was I engrossed in my occupation   The leaves of
that year had withered before my work drew near to a close  and now
every day showed me more plainly how well I had succeeded   But my
enthusiasm was checked by my anxiety  and I appeared rather like one
doomed by slavery to toil in the mines  or any other unwholesome trade
than an artist occupied by his favourite employment   Every night I was
oppressed by a slow fever  and I became nervous to a most painful
degree  the fall of a leaf startled me  and I shunned my fellow
creatures as if I had been guilty of a crime   Sometimes I grew alarmed
at the wreck I perceived that I had become  the energy of my purpose
alone sustained me   my labours would soon end  and I believed that
exercise and amusement would then drive away incipient disease  and I
promised myself both of these when my creation should be complete 



Chapter 5

It was on a dreary night of November that I beheld the accomplishment
of my toils   With an anxiety that almost amounted to agony  I
collected the instruments of life around me  that I might infuse a
spark of being into the lifeless thing that lay at my feet   It was
already one in the morning  the rain pattered dismally against the
panes  and my candle was nearly burnt out  when  by the glimmer of the
half extinguished light  I saw the dull yellow eye of the creature
open  it breathed hard  and a convulsive motion agitated its limbs 

How can I describe my emotions at this catastrophe  or how delineate
the wretch whom with such infinite pains and care I had endeavoured to
form   His limbs were in proportion  and I had selected his features as
beautiful   Beautiful   Great God   His yellow skin scarcely covered
the work of muscles and arteries beneath  his hair was of a lustrous
black  and flowing  his teeth of a pearly whiteness  but these
luxuriances only formed a more horrid contrast with his watery eyes 
that seemed almost of the same colour as the dun white sockets in which
they were set  his shrivelled complexion and straight black lips 

The different accidents of life are not so changeable as the feelings
of human nature   I had worked hard for nearly two years  for the sole
purpose of infusing life into an inanimate body   For this I had
deprived myself of rest and health   I had desired it with an ardour
that far exceeded moderation  but now that I had finished  the beauty
of the dream vanished  and breathless horror and disgust filled my
heart   Unable to endure the aspect of the being I had created  I
rushed out of the room and continued a long time traversing my
bed chamber  unable to compose my mind to sleep   At length lassitude
succeeded to the tumult I had before endured  and I threw myself on the
bed in my clothes  endeavouring to seek a few moments of forgetfulness 
But it was in vain  I slept  indeed  but I was disturbed by the wildest
dreams   I thought I saw Elizabeth  in the bloom of health  walking in
the streets of Ingolstadt   Delighted and surprised  I embraced her 
but as I imprinted the first kiss on her lips  they became livid with
the hue of death  her features appeared to change  and I thought that I
held the corpse of my dead mother in my arms  a shroud enveloped her
form  and I saw the grave worms crawling in the folds of the flannel 
I started from my sleep with horror  a cold dew covered my forehead  my
teeth chattered  and every limb became convulsed  when  by the dim and
yellow light of the moon  as it forced its way through the window
shutters  I beheld the wretch  the miserable monster whom I had
created   He held up the curtain of the bed  and his eyes  if eyes they
may be called  were fixed on me   His jaws opened  and he muttered some
inarticulate sounds  while a grin wrinkled his cheeks   He might have
spoken  but I did not hear  one hand was stretched out  seemingly to
detain me  but I escaped and rushed downstairs   I took refuge in the
courtyard belonging to the house which I inhabited  where I remained
during the rest of the night  walking up and down in the greatest
agitation  listening attentively  catching and fearing each sound as if
it were to announce the approach of the demoniacal corpse to which I
had so miserably given life 

Oh   No mortal could support the horror of that countenance   A mummy
again endued with animation could not be so hideous as that wretch   I
had gazed on him while unfinished  he was ugly then  but when those
muscles and joints were rendered capable of motion  it became a thing
such as even Dante could not have conceived 

I passed the night wretchedly   Sometimes my pulse beat so quickly and
hardly that I felt the palpitation of every artery  at others  I nearly
sank to the ground through languor and extreme weakness   Mingled with
this horror  I felt the bitterness of disappointment  dreams that had
been my food and pleasant rest for so long a space were now become a
hell to me  and the change was so rapid  the overthrow so complete 

Morning  dismal and wet  at length dawned and discovered to my
sleepless and aching eyes the church of Ingolstadt  its white steeple
and clock  which indicated the sixth hour   The porter opened the gates
of the court  which had that night been my asylum  and I issued into
the streets  pacing them with quick steps  as if I sought to avoid the
wretch whom I feared every turning of the street would present to my
view   I did not dare return to the apartment which I inhabited  but
felt impelled to hurry on  although drenched by the rain which poured
from a black and comfortless sky 

I continued walking in this manner for some time  endeavouring by
bodily exercise to ease the load that weighed upon my mind   I
traversed the streets without any clear conception of where I was or
what I was doing   My heart palpitated in the sickness of fear  and I
hurried on with irregular steps  not daring to look about me 


  Like one who  on a lonely road 
  Doth walk in fear and dread 
  And  having once turned round  walks on 
  And turns no more his head 
  Because he knows a frightful fiend
  Doth close behind him tread 

   Coleridge s  Ancient Mariner   


Continuing thus  I came at length opposite to the inn at which the
various diligences and carriages usually stopped   Here I paused  I
knew not why  but I remained some minutes with my eyes fixed on a coach
that was coming towards me from the other end of the street   As it
drew nearer I observed that it was the Swiss diligence  it stopped just
where I was standing  and on the door being opened  I perceived Henry
Clerval  who  on seeing me  instantly sprung out    My dear
Frankenstein   exclaimed he   how glad I am to see you   How fortunate
that you should be here at the very moment of my alighting  

Nothing could equal my delight on seeing Clerval  his presence brought
back to my thoughts my father  Elizabeth  and all those scenes of home
so dear to my recollection   I grasped his hand  and in a moment forgot
my horror and misfortune  I felt suddenly  and for the first time
during many months  calm and serene joy   I welcomed my friend 
therefore  in the most cordial manner  and we walked towards my
college   Clerval continued talking for some time about our mutual
friends and his own good fortune in being permitted to come to
Ingolstadt    You may easily believe   said he   how great was the
difficulty to persuade my father that all necessary knowledge was not
comprised in the noble art of book keeping  and  indeed  I believe I
left him incredulous to the last  for his constant answer to my
unwearied entreaties was the same as that of the Dutch schoolmaster in
The Vicar of Wakefield    I have ten thousand florins a year without
Greek  I eat heartily without Greek    But his affection for me at
length overcame his dislike of learning  and he has permitted me to
undertake a voyage of discovery to the land of knowledge  

 It gives me the greatest delight to see you  but tell me how you left
my father  brothers  and Elizabeth  

 Very well  and very happy  only a little uneasy that they hear from
you so seldom   By the by  I mean to lecture you a little upon their
account myself   But  my dear Frankenstein   continued he  stopping
short and gazing full in my face   I did not before remark how very ill
you appear  so thin and pale  you look as if you had been watching for
several nights  

 You have guessed right  I have lately been so deeply engaged in one
occupation that I have not allowed myself sufficient rest  as you see 
but I hope  I sincerely hope  that all these employments are now at an
end and that I am at length free  

I trembled excessively  I could not endure to think of  and far less to
allude to  the occurrences of the preceding night   I walked with a
quick pace  and we soon arrived at my college   I then reflected  and
the thought made me shiver  that the creature whom I had left in my
apartment might still be there  alive and walking about   I dreaded to
behold this monster  but I feared still more that Henry should see him 
Entreating him  therefore  to remain a few minutes at the bottom of the
stairs  I darted up towards my own room   My hand was already on the
lock of the door before I recollected myself   I then paused  and a
cold shivering came over me   I threw the door forcibly open  as
children are accustomed to do when they expect a spectre to stand in
waiting for them on the other side  but nothing appeared   I stepped
fearfully in   the apartment was empty  and my bedroom was also freed
from its hideous guest   I could hardly believe that so great a good
fortune could have befallen me  but when I became assured that my enemy
had indeed fled  I clapped my hands for joy and ran down to Clerval 

We ascended into my room  and the servant presently brought breakfast 
but I was unable to contain myself   It was not joy only that possessed
me  I felt my flesh tingle with excess of sensitiveness  and my pulse
beat rapidly   I was unable to remain for a single instant in the same
place  I jumped over the chairs  clapped my hands  and laughed aloud 
Clerval at first attributed my unusual spirits to joy on his arrival 
but when he observed me more attentively  he saw a wildness in my eyes
for which he could not account  and my loud  unrestrained  heartless
laughter frightened and astonished him 

 My dear Victor   cried he   what  for God s sake  is the matter   Do
not laugh in that manner   How ill you are   What is the cause of all
this  

 Do not ask me   cried I  putting my hands before my eyes  for I
thought I saw the dreaded spectre glide into the room   HE can tell 
Oh  save me   Save me    I imagined that the monster seized me  I
struggled furiously and fell down in a fit 

Poor Clerval   What must have been his feelings   A meeting  which he
anticipated with such joy  so strangely turned to bitterness   But I
was not the witness of his grief  for I was lifeless and did not
recover my senses for a long  long time 

This was the commencement of a nervous fever which confined me for
several months   During all that time Henry was my only nurse   I
afterwards learned that  knowing my father s advanced age and unfitness
for so long a journey  and how wretched my sickness would make
Elizabeth  he spared them this grief by concealing the extent of my
disorder   He knew that I could not have a more kind and attentive
nurse than himself  and  firm in the hope he felt of my recovery  he
did not doubt that  instead of doing harm  he performed the kindest
action that he could towards them 

But I was in reality very ill  and surely nothing but the unbounded and
unremitting attentions of my friend could have restored me to life 
The form of the monster on whom I had bestowed existence was forever
before my eyes  and I raved incessantly concerning him   Doubtless my
words surprised Henry  he at first believed them to be the wanderings
of my disturbed imagination  but the pertinacity with which I
continually recurred to the same subject persuaded him that my disorder
indeed owed its origin to some uncommon and terrible event 

By very slow degrees  and with frequent relapses that alarmed and
grieved my friend  I recovered   I remember the first time I became
capable of observing outward objects with any kind of pleasure  I
perceived that the fallen leaves had disappeared and that the young
buds were shooting forth from the trees that shaded my window   It was
a divine spring  and the season contributed greatly to my
convalescence   I felt also sentiments of joy and affection revive in
my bosom  my gloom disappeared  and in a short time I became as
cheerful as before I was attacked by the fatal passion 

 Dearest Clerval   exclaimed I   how kind  how very good you are to me 
This whole winter  instead of being spent in study  as you promised
yourself  has been consumed in my sick room   How shall I ever repay
you   I feel the greatest remorse for the disappointment of which I
have been the occasion  but you will forgive me  

 You will repay me entirely if you do not discompose yourself  but get
well as fast as you can  and since you appear in such good spirits  I
may speak to you on one subject  may I not  

I trembled   One subject   What could it be   Could he allude to an
object on whom I dared not even think    Compose yourself   said
Clerval  who observed my change of colour   I will not mention it if it
agitates you  but your father and cousin would be very happy if they
received a letter from you in your own handwriting   They hardly know
how ill you have been and are uneasy at your long silence  

 Is that all  my dear Henry   How could you suppose that my first
thought would not fly towards those dear  dear friends whom I love and
who are so deserving of my love  

 If this is your present temper  my friend  you will perhaps be glad to
see a letter that has been lying here some days for you  it is from
your cousin  I believe  



Chapter 6

Clerval then put the following letter into my hands   It was from my
own Elizabeth 

 My dearest Cousin 

 You have been ill  very ill  and even the constant letters of dear
kind Henry are not sufficient to reassure me on your account   You are
forbidden to write  to hold a pen  yet one word from you  dear Victor 
is necessary to calm our apprehensions   For a long time I have thought
that each post would bring this line  and my persuasions have
restrained my uncle from undertaking a journey to Ingolstadt   I have
prevented his encountering the inconveniences and perhaps dangers of so
long a journey  yet how often have I regretted not being able to
perform it myself   I figure to myself that the task of attending on
your sickbed has devolved on some mercenary old nurse  who could never
guess your wishes nor minister to them with the care and affection of
your poor cousin   Yet that is over now   Clerval writes that indeed
you are getting better   I eagerly hope that you will confirm this
intelligence soon in your own handwriting 

 Get well  and return to us   You will find a happy  cheerful home and
friends who love you dearly   Your father s health is vigorous  and he
asks but to see you  but to be assured that you are well  and not a
care will ever cloud his benevolent countenance   How pleased you would
be to remark the improvement of our Ernest   He is now sixteen and full
of activity and spirit   He is desirous to be a true Swiss and to enter
into foreign service  but we cannot part with him  at least until his
elder brother returns to us   My uncle is not pleased with the idea of
a military career in a distant country  but Ernest never had your
powers of application   He looks upon study as an odious fetter  his
time is spent in the open air  climbing the hills or rowing on the
lake   I fear that he will become an idler unless we yield the point
and permit him to enter on the profession which he has selected 

 Little alteration  except the growth of our dear children  has taken
place since you left us   The blue lake and snow clad mountains  they
never change  and I think our placid home and our contented hearts are
regulated by the same immutable laws   My trifling occupations take up
my time and amuse me  and I am rewarded for any exertions by seeing
none but happy  kind faces around me   Since you left us  but one
change has taken place in our little household   Do you remember on
what occasion Justine Moritz entered our family   Probably you do not 
I will relate her history  therefore in a few words   Madame Moritz 
her mother  was a widow with four children  of whom Justine was the
third   This girl had always been the favourite of her father  but
through a strange perversity  her mother could not endure her  and
after the death of M  Moritz  treated her very ill   My aunt observed
this  and when Justine was twelve years of age  prevailed on her mother
to allow her to live at our house   The republican institutions of our
country have produced simpler and happier manners than those which
prevail in the great monarchies that surround it   Hence there is less
distinction between the several classes of its inhabitants  and the
lower orders  being neither so poor nor so despised  their manners are
more refined and moral   A servant in Geneva does not mean the same
thing as a servant in France and England   Justine  thus received in
our family  learned the duties of a servant  a condition which  in our
fortunate country  does not include the idea of ignorance and a
sacrifice of the dignity of a human being 

 Justine  you may remember  was a great favourite of yours  and I
recollect you once remarked that if you were in an ill humour  one
glance from Justine could dissipate it  for the same reason that
Ariosto gives concerning the beauty of Angelica  she looked so
frank hearted and happy   My aunt conceived a great attachment for her 
by which she was induced to give her an education superior to that
which she had at first intended   This benefit was fully repaid 
Justine was the most grateful little creature in the world   I do not
mean that she made any professions I never heard one pass her lips  but
you could see by her eyes that she almost adored her protectress 
Although her disposition was gay and in many respects inconsiderate 
yet she paid the greatest attention to every gesture of my aunt   She
thought her the model of all excellence and endeavoured to imitate her
phraseology and manners  so that even now she often reminds me of her 

 When my dearest aunt died every one was too much occupied in their own
grief to notice poor Justine  who had attended her during her illness
with the most anxious affection   Poor Justine was very ill  but other
trials were reserved for her 

 One by one  her brothers and sister died  and her mother  with the
exception of her neglected daughter  was left childless   The
conscience of the woman was troubled  she began to think that the
deaths of her favourites was a judgement from heaven to chastise her
partiality   She was a Roman Catholic  and I believe her confessor
confirmed the idea which she had conceived   Accordingly  a few months
after your departure for Ingolstadt  Justine was called home by her
repentant mother   Poor girl   She wept when she quitted our house  she
was much altered since the death of my aunt  grief had given softness
and a winning mildness to her manners  which had before been remarkable
for vivacity   Nor was her residence at her mother s house of a nature
to restore her gaiety   The poor woman was very vacillating in her
repentance   She sometimes begged Justine to forgive her unkindness 
but much oftener accused her of having caused the deaths of her
brothers and sister   Perpetual fretting at length threw Madame Moritz
into a decline  which at first increased her irritability  but she is
now at peace for ever   She died on the first approach of cold weather 
at the beginning of this last winter   Justine has just returned to us 
and I assure you I love her tenderly   She is very clever and gentle 
and extremely pretty  as I mentioned before  her mien and her
expression continually remind me of my dear aunt 

 I must say also a few words to you  my dear cousin  of little darling
William   I wish you could see him  he is very tall of his age  with
sweet laughing blue eyes  dark eyelashes  and curling hair   When he
smiles  two little dimples appear on each cheek  which are rosy with
health   He has already had one or two little WIVES  but Louisa Biron
is his favourite  a pretty little girl of five years of age 

 Now  dear Victor  I dare say you wish to be indulged in a little
gossip concerning the good people of Geneva   The pretty Miss Mansfield
has already received the congratulatory visits on her approaching
marriage with a young Englishman  John Melbourne  Esq   Her ugly
sister  Manon  married M  Duvillard  the rich banker  last autumn  Your
favourite schoolfellow  Louis Manoir  has suffered several misfortunes
since the departure of Clerval from Geneva   But he has already
recovered his spirits  and is reported to be on the point of marrying a
lively pretty Frenchwoman  Madame Tavernier   She is a widow  and much
older than Manoir  but she is very much admired  and a favourite with
everybody 

 I have written myself into better spirits  dear cousin  but my anxiety
returns upon me as I conclude   Write  dearest Victor   one line  one
word will be a blessing to us   Ten thousand thanks to Henry for his
kindness  his affection  and his many letters  we are sincerely
grateful   Adieu   my cousin  take care of your self  and  I entreat
you  write 

 Elizabeth Lavenza 

 Geneva  March 18  17    


 Dear  dear Elizabeth   I exclaimed  when I had read her letter    I
will write instantly and relieve them from the anxiety they must feel  
I wrote  and this exertion greatly fatigued me  but my convalescence
had commenced  and proceeded regularly   In another fortnight I was
able to leave my chamber 

One of my first duties on my recovery was to introduce Clerval to the
several professors of the university   In doing this  I underwent a
kind of rough usage  ill befitting the wounds that my mind had
sustained   Ever since the fatal night  the end of my labours  and the
beginning of my misfortunes  I had conceived a violent antipathy even
to the name of natural philosophy   When I was otherwise quite restored
to health  the sight of a chemical instrument would renew all the agony
of my nervous symptoms   Henry saw this  and had removed all my
apparatus from my view   He had also changed my apartment  for he
perceived that I had acquired a dislike for the room which had
previously been my laboratory   But these cares of Clerval were made of
no avail when I visited the professors   M  Waldman inflicted torture
when he praised  with kindness and warmth  the astonishing progress I
had made in the sciences   He soon perceived that I disliked the
subject  but not guessing the real cause  he attributed my feelings to
modesty  and changed the subject from my improvement  to the science
itself  with a desire  as I evidently saw  of drawing me out   What
could I do   He meant to please  and he tormented me   I felt as if he
had placed carefully  one by one  in my view those instruments which
were to be afterwards used in putting me to a slow and cruel death   I
writhed under his words  yet dared not exhibit the pain I felt 
Clerval  whose eyes and feelings were always quick in discerning the
sensations of others  declined the subject  alleging  in excuse  his
total ignorance  and the conversation took a more general turn   I
thanked my friend from my heart  but I did not speak   I saw plainly
that he was surprised  but he never attempted to draw my secret from
me  and although I loved him with a mixture of affection and reverence
that knew no bounds  yet I could never persuade myself to confide in
him that event which was so often present to my recollection  but which
I feared the detail to another would only impress more deeply 

M  Krempe was not equally docile  and in my condition at that time  of
almost insupportable sensitiveness  his harsh blunt encomiums gave me
even more pain than the benevolent approbation of M  Waldman    D  n
the fellow   cried he   why  M  Clerval  I assure you he has outstript
us all   Ay  stare if you please  but it is nevertheless true   A
youngster who  but a few years ago  believed in Cornelius Agrippa as
firmly as in the gospel  has now set himself at the head of the
university  and if he is not soon pulled down  we shall all be out of
countenance   Ay  ay   continued he  observing my face expressive of
suffering   M  Frankenstein is modest  an excellent quality in a young
man   Young men should be diffident of themselves  you know  M 
Clerval   I was myself when young  but that wears out in a very short
time  

M  Krempe had now commenced an eulogy on himself  which happily turned
the conversation from a subject that was so annoying to me 

Clerval had never sympathized in my tastes for natural science  and his
literary pursuits differed wholly from those which had occupied me   He
came to the university with the design of making himself complete
master of the oriental languages  and thus he should open a field for
the plan of life he had marked out for himself   Resolved to pursue no
inglorious career  he turned his eyes toward the East  as affording
scope for his spirit of enterprise   The Persian  Arabic  and Sanskrit
languages engaged his attention  and I was easily induced to enter on
the same studies   Idleness had ever been irksome to me  and now that I
wished to fly from reflection  and hated my former studies  I felt
great relief in being the fellow pupil with my friend  and found not
only instruction but consolation in the works of the orientalists   I
did not  like him  attempt a critical knowledge of their dialects  for
I did not contemplate making any other use of them than temporary
amusement   I read merely to understand their meaning  and they well
repaid my labours   Their melancholy is soothing  and their joy
elevating  to a degree I never experienced in studying the authors of
any other country   When you read their writings  life appears to
consist in a warm sun and a garden of roses   in the smiles and frowns
of a fair enemy  and the fire that consumes your own heart   How
different from the manly and heroical poetry of Greece and Rome 

Summer passed away in these occupations  and my return to Geneva was
fixed for the latter end of autumn  but being delayed by several
accidents  winter and snow arrived  the roads were deemed impassable 
and my journey was retarded until the ensuing spring   I felt this
delay very bitterly  for I longed to see my native town and my beloved
friends   My return had only been delayed so long  from an
unwillingness to leave Clerval in a strange place  before he had become
acquainted with any of its inhabitants   The winter  however  was spent
cheerfully  and although the spring was uncommonly late  when it came
its beauty compensated for its dilatoriness 

The month of May had already commenced  and I expected the letter daily
which was to fix the date of my departure  when Henry proposed a
pedestrian tour in the environs of Ingolstadt  that I might bid a
personal farewell to the country I had so long inhabited   I acceded
with pleasure to this proposition   I was fond of exercise  and Clerval
had always been my favourite companion in the ramble of this nature
that I had taken among the scenes of my native country 

We passed a fortnight in these perambulations   my health and spirits
had long been restored  and they gained additional strength from the
salubrious air I breathed  the natural incidents of our progress  and
the conversation of my friend   Study had before secluded me from the
intercourse of my fellow creatures  and rendered me unsocial  but
Clerval called forth the better feelings of my heart  he again taught
me to love the aspect of nature  and the cheerful faces of children 
Excellent friend   how sincerely you did love me  and endeavour to
elevate my mind until it was on a level with your own   A selfish
pursuit had cramped and narrowed me  until your gentleness and
affection warmed and opened my senses  I became the same happy creature
who  a few years ago  loved and beloved by all  had no sorrow or care 
When happy  inanimate nature had the power of bestowing on me the most
delightful sensations   A serene sky and verdant fields filled me with
ecstasy   The present season was indeed divine  the flowers of spring
bloomed in the hedges  while those of summer were already in bud   I
was undisturbed by thoughts which during the preceding year had pressed
upon me  notwithstanding my endeavours to throw them off  with an
invincible burden 

Henry rejoiced in my gaiety  and sincerely sympathised in my feelings 
he exerted himself to amuse me  while he expressed the sensations that
filled his soul   The resources of his mind on this occasion were truly
astonishing   his conversation was full of imagination  and very often 
in imitation of the Persian and Arabic writers  he invented tales of
wonderful fancy and passion   At other times he repeated my favourite
poems  or drew me out into arguments  which he supported with great
ingenuity   We returned to our college on a Sunday afternoon   the
peasants were dancing  and every one we met appeared gay and happy   My
own spirits were high  and I bounded along with feelings of unbridled
joy and hilarity 



Chapter 7

On my return  I found the following letter from my father   


 My dear Victor 

 You have probably waited impatiently for a letter to fix the date of
your return to us  and I was at first tempted to write only a few
lines  merely mentioning the day on which I should expect you   But
that would be a cruel kindness  and I dare not do it   What would be
your surprise  my son  when you expected a happy and glad welcome  to
behold  on the contrary  tears and wretchedness   And how  Victor  can
I relate our misfortune   Absence cannot have rendered you callous to
our joys and griefs  and how shall I inflict pain on my long absent
son   I wish to prepare you for the woeful news  but I know it is
impossible  even now your eye skims over the page to seek the words
which are to convey to you the horrible tidings 

 William is dead   that sweet child  whose smiles delighted and warmed
my heart  who was so gentle  yet so gay   Victor  he is murdered 

 I will not attempt to console you  but will simply relate the
circumstances of the transaction 

 Last Thursday  May 7th   I  my niece  and your two brothers  went to
walk in Plainpalais   The evening was warm and serene  and we prolonged
our walk farther than usual   It was already dusk before we thought of
returning  and then we discovered that William and Ernest  who had gone
on before  were not to be found   We accordingly rested on a seat until
they should return   Presently Ernest came  and enquired if we had seen
his brother  he said  that he had been playing with him  that William
had run away to hide himself  and that he vainly sought for him  and
afterwards waited for a long time  but that he did not return 

 This account rather alarmed us  and we continued to search for him
until night fell  when Elizabeth conjectured that he might have
returned to the house   He was not there   We returned again  with
torches  for I could not rest  when I thought that my sweet boy had
lost himself  and was exposed to all the damps and dews of night 
Elizabeth also suffered extreme anguish   About five in the morning I
discovered my lovely boy  whom the night before I had seen blooming and
active in health  stretched on the grass livid and motionless  the
print of the murder s finger was on his neck 

 He was conveyed home  and the anguish that was visible in my
countenance betrayed the secret to Elizabeth   She was very earnest to
see the corpse   At first I attempted to prevent her but she persisted 
and entering the room where it lay  hastily examined the neck of the
victim  and clasping her hands exclaimed   O God   I have murdered my
darling child  

 She fainted  and was restored with extreme difficulty   When she again
lived  it was only to weep and sigh   She told me  that that same
evening William had teased her to let him wear a very valuable
miniature that she possessed of your mother   This picture is gone  and
was doubtless the temptation which urged the murderer to the deed   We
have no trace of him at present  although our exertions to discover him
are unremitted  but they will not restore my beloved William 

 Come  dearest Victor  you alone can console Elizabeth   She weeps
continually  and accuses herself unjustly as the cause of his death 
her words pierce my heart   We are all unhappy  but will not that be an
additional motive for you  my son  to return and be our comforter 
Your dear mother   Alas  Victor   I now say  Thank God she did not live
to witness the cruel  miserable death of her youngest darling 

 Come  Victor  not brooding thoughts of vengeance against the assassin 
but with feelings of peace and gentleness  that will heal  instead of
festering  the wounds of our minds   Enter the house of mourning  my
friend  but with kindness and affection for those who love you  and not
with hatred for your enemies 

                Your affectionate and afflicted father 
                               Alphonse Frankenstein 



 Geneva  May 12th  17    

Clerval  who had watched my countenance as I read this letter  was
surprised to observe the despair that succeeded the joy I at first
expressed on receiving new from my friends   I threw the letter on the
table  and covered my face with my hands 

 My dear Frankenstein   exclaimed Henry  when he perceived me weep with
bitterness   are you always to be unhappy   My dear friend  what has
happened  

I motioned him to take up the letter  while I walked up and down the
room in the extremest agitation   Tears also gushed from the eyes of
Clerval  as he read the account of my misfortune 

 I can offer you no consolation  my friend   said he   your disaster is
irreparable   What do you intend to do  

 To go instantly to Geneva  come with me  Henry  to order the horses  

During our walk  Clerval endeavoured to say a few words of consolation 
he could only express his heartfelt sympathy    Poor William   said he 
 dear lovely child  he now sleeps with his angel mother   Who that had
seen him bright and joyous in his young beauty  but must weep over his
untimely loss   To die so miserably  to feel the murderer s grasp   How
much more a murdered that could destroy radiant innocence   Poor little
fellow  one only consolation have we  his friends mourn and weep  but
he is at rest  The pang is over  his sufferings are at an end for ever 
A sod covers his gentle form  and he knows no pain   He can no longer
be a subject for pity  we must reserve that for his miserable
survivors  

Clerval spoke thus as we hurried through the streets  the words
impressed themselves on my mind and I remembered them afterwards in
solitude   But now  as soon as the horses arrived  I hurried into a
cabriolet  and bade farewell to my friend 

My journey was very melancholy   At first I wished to hurry on  for I
longed to console and sympathise with my loved and sorrowing friends 
but when I drew near my native town  I slackened my progress   I could
hardly sustain the multitude of feelings that crowded into my mind   I
passed through scenes familiar to my youth  but which I had not seen
for nearly six years   How altered every thing might be during that
time   One sudden and desolating change had taken place  but a thousand
little circumstances might have by degrees worked other alterations 
which  although they were done more tranquilly  might not be the less
decisive   Fear overcame me  I dared no advance  dreading a thousand
nameless evils that made me tremble  although I was unable to define
them   I remained two days at Lausanne  in this painful state of mind 
I contemplated the lake   the waters were placid  all around was calm 
and the snowy mountains   the palaces of nature   were not changed   By
degrees the calm and heavenly scene restored me  and I continued my
journey towards Geneva 

The road ran by the side of the lake  which became narrower as I
approached my native town   I discovered more distinctly the black
sides of Jura  and the bright summit of Mont Blanc   I wept like a
child    Dear mountains  my own beautiful lake  how do you welcome your
wanderer   Your summits are clear  the sky and lake are blue and
placid   Is this to prognosticate peace  or to mock at my unhappiness  

I fear  my friend  that I shall render myself tedious by dwelling on
these preliminary circumstances  but they were days of comparative
happiness  and I think of them with pleasure   My country  my beloved
country  who but a native can tell the delight I took in again
beholding thy streams  thy mountains  and  more than all  thy lovely
lake 

Yet  as I drew nearer home  grief and fear again overcame me   Night
also closed around  and when I could hardly see the dark mountains  I
felt still more gloomily   The picture appeared a vast and dim scene of
evil  and I foresaw obscurely that I was destined to become the most
wretched of human beings   Alas   I prophesied truly  and failed only
in one single circumstance  that in all the misery I imagined and
dreaded  I did not conceive the hundredth part of the anguish I was
destined to endure   It was completely dark when I arrived in the
environs of Geneva  the gates of the town were already shut  and I was
obliged to pass the night at Secheron  a village at the distance of
half a league from the city   The sky was serene  and  as I was unable
to rest  I resolved to visit the spot where my poor William had been
murdered   As I could not pass through the town  I was obliged to cross
the lake in a boat to arrive at Plainpalais   During this short voyage
I saw the lightning playing on the summit of Mont Blanc in the most
beautiful figures   The storm appeared to approach rapidly  and  on
landing  I ascended a low hill  that I might observe its progress   It
advanced  the heavens were clouded  and I soon felt the rain coming
slowly in large drops  but its violence quickly increased 

I quitted my seat  and walked on  although the darkness and storm
increased every minute  and the thunder burst with a terrific crash
over my head   It was echoed from Saleve  the Juras  and the Alps of
Savoy  vivid flashes of lightning dazzled my eyes  illuminating the
lake  making it appear like a vast sheet of fire  then for an instant
every thing seemed of a pitchy darkness  until the eye recovered itself
from the preceding flash   The storm  as is often the case in
Switzerland  appeared at once in various parts of the heavens   The
most violent storm hung exactly north of the town  over the part of the
lake which lies between the promontory of Belrive and the village of
Copet   Another storm enlightened Jura with faint flashes  and another
darkened and sometimes disclosed the Mole  a peaked mountain to the
east of the lake 

While I watched the tempest  so beautiful yet terrific  I wandered on
with a hasty step   This noble war in the sky elevated my spirits  I
clasped my hands  and exclaimed aloud   William  dear angel  this is
thy funeral  this thy dirge   As I said these words  I perceived in the
gloom a figure which stole from behind a clump of trees near me  I
stood fixed  gazing intently   I could not be mistaken   A flash of
lightning illuminated the object  and discovered its shape plainly to
me  its gigantic stature  and the deformity of its aspect more hideous
than belongs to humanity  instantly informed me that it was the wretch 
the filthy daemon  to whom I had given life   What did he there   Could
he be  I shuddered at the conception  the murderer of my brother   No
sooner did that idea cross my imagination  than I became convinced of
its truth  my teeth chattered  and I was forced to lean against a tree
for support   The figure passed me quickly  and I lost it in the gloom 

Nothing in human shape could have destroyed the fair child   HE was the
murderer   I could not doubt it   The mere presence of the idea was an
irresistible proof of the fact   I thought of pursuing the devil  but
it would have been in vain  for another flash discovered him to me
hanging among the rocks of the nearly perpendicular ascent of Mont
Saleve  a hill that bounds Plainpalais on the south   He soon reached
the summit  and disappeared 

I remained motionless   The thunder ceased  but the rain still
continued  and the scene was enveloped in an impenetrable darkness   I
revolved in my mind the events which I had until now sought to forget 
the whole train of my progress toward the creation  the appearance of
the works of my own hands at my bedside  its departure   Two years had
now nearly elapsed since the night on which he first received life  and
was this his first crime   Alas   I had turned loose into the world a
depraved wretch  whose delight was in carnage and misery  had he not
murdered my brother 

No one can conceive the anguish I suffered during the remainder of the
night  which I spent  cold and wet  in the open air   But I did not
feel the inconvenience of the weather  my imagination was busy in
scenes of evil and despair   I considered the being whom I had cast
among mankind  and endowed with the will and power to effect purposes
of horror  such as the deed which he had now done  nearly in the light
of my own vampire  my own spirit let loose from the grave  and forced
to destroy all that was dear to me 

Day dawned  and I directed my steps towards the town   The gates were
open  and I hastened to my father s house   My first thought was to
discover what I knew of the murderer  and cause instant pursuit to be
made   But I paused when I reflected on the story that I had to tell  A
being whom I myself had formed  and endued with life  had met me at
midnight among the precipices of an inaccessible mountain   I
remembered also the nervous fever with which I had been seized just at
the time that I dated my creation  and which would give an air of
delirium to a tale otherwise so utterly improbable   I well knew that
if any other had communicated such a relation to me  I should have
looked upon it as the ravings of insanity   Besides  the strange nature
of the animal would elude all pursuit  even if I were so far credited
as to persuade my relatives to commence it   And then of what use would
be pursuit   Who could arrest a creature capable of scaling the
overhanging sides of Mont Saleve   These reflections determined me  and
I resolved to remain silent 

It was about five in the morning when I entered my father s house   I
told the servants not to disturb the family  and went into the library
to attend their usual hour of rising 

Six years had elapsed  passed in a dream but for one indelible trace 
and I stood in the same place where I had last embraced my father
before my departure for Ingolstadt   Beloved and venerable parent   He
still remained to me   I gazed on the picture of my mother  which stood
over the mantel piece   It was an historical subject  painted at my
father s desire  and represented Caroline Beaufort in an agony of
despair  kneeling by the coffin of her dead father   Her garb was
rustic  and her cheek pale  but there was an air of dignity and beauty 
that hardly permitted the sentiment of pity   Below this picture was a
miniature of William  and my tears flowed when I looked upon it   While
I was thus engaged  Ernest entered   he had heard me arrive  and
hastened to welcome me    Welcome  my dearest Victor   said he    Ah  I
wish you had come three months ago  and then you would have found us
all joyous and delighted   You come to us now to share a misery which
nothing can alleviate  yet your presence will  I hope  revive our
father  who seems sinking under his misfortune  and your persuasions
will induce poor Elizabeth to cease her vain and tormenting
self accusations   Poor William  he was our darling and our pride  

Tears  unrestrained  fell from my brother s eyes  a sense of mortal
agony crept over my frame   Before  I had only imagined the
wretchedness of my desolated home  the reality came on me as a new  and
a not less terrible  disaster   I tried to calm Ernest  I enquired more
minutely concerning my father  and here I named my cousin 

 She most of all   said Ernest   requires consolation  she accused
herself of having caused the death of my brother  and that made her
very wretched   But since the murderer has been discovered   

 The murderer discovered   Good God  how can that be  who could attempt
to pursue him   It is impossible  one might as well try to overtake the
winds  or confine a mountain stream with a straw   I saw him too  he
was free last night  

 I do not know what you mean   replied my brother  in accents of
wonder   but to us the discovery we have made completes our misery   No
one would believe it at first  and even now Elizabeth will not be
convinced  notwithstanding all the evidence   Indeed  who would credit
that Justine Moritz  who was so amiable  and fond of all the family 
could suddenly become so capable of so frightful  so appalling a crime  

 Justine Moritz   Poor  poor girl  is she the accused   But it is
wrongfully  every one knows that  no one believes it  surely  Ernest  

 No one did at first  but several circumstances came out  that have
almost forced conviction upon us  and her own behaviour has been so
confused  as to add to the evidence of facts a weight that  I fear 
leaves no hope for doubt   But she will be tried today  and you will
then hear all  

He then related that  the morning on which the murder of poor William
had been discovered  Justine had been taken ill  and confined to her
bed for several days   During this interval  one of the servants 
happening to examine the apparel she had worn on the night of the
murder  had discovered in her pocket the picture of my mother  which
had been judged to be the temptation of the murderer   The servant
instantly showed it to one of the others  who  without saying a word to
any of the family  went to a magistrate  and  upon their deposition 
Justine was apprehended   On being charged with the fact  the poor girl
confirmed the suspicion in a great measure by her extreme confusion of
manner 

This was a strange tale  but it did not shake my faith  and I replied
earnestly   You are all mistaken  I know the murderer   Justine  poor 
good Justine  is innocent  

At that instant my father entered   I saw unhappiness deeply impressed
on his countenance  but he endeavoured to welcome me cheerfully  and 
after we had exchanged our mournful greeting  would have introduced
some other topic than that of our disaster  had not Ernest exclaimed 
 Good God  papa   Victor says that he knows who was the murderer of
poor William  

 We do also  unfortunately   replied my father   for indeed I had
rather have been for ever ignorant than have discovered so much
depravity and ungratitude in one I valued so highly  

 My dear father  you are mistaken  Justine is innocent  

 If she is  God forbid that she should suffer as guilty   She is to be
tried today  and I hope  I sincerely hope  that she will be acquitted  

This speech calmed me   I was firmly convinced in my own mind that
Justine  and indeed every human being  was guiltless of this murder   I
had no fear  therefore  that any circumstantial evidence could be
brought forward strong enough to convict her   My tale was not one to
announce publicly  its astounding horror would be looked upon as
madness by the vulgar   Did any one indeed exist  except I  the
creator  who would believe  unless his senses convinced him  in the
existence of the living monument of presumption and rash ignorance
which I had let loose upon the world 

We were soon joined by Elizabeth   Time had altered her since I last
beheld her  it had endowed her with loveliness surpassing the beauty of
her childish years   There was the same candour  the same vivacity  but
it was allied to an expression more full of sensibility and intellect 
She welcomed me with the greatest affection    Your arrival  my dear
cousin   said she   fills me with hope   You perhaps will find some
means to justify my poor guiltless Justine   Alas  who is safe  if she
be convicted of crime   I rely on her innocence as certainly as I do
upon my own   Our misfortune is doubly hard to us  we have not only
lost that lovely darling boy  but this poor girl  whom I sincerely
love  is to be torn away by even a worse fate   If she is condemned  I
never shall know joy more   But she will not  I am sure she will not 
and then I shall be happy again  even after the sad death of my little
William  

 She is innocent  my Elizabeth   said I   and that shall be proved 
fear nothing  but let your spirits be cheered by the assurance of her
acquittal  

 How kind and generous you are  every one else believes in her guilt 
and that made me wretched  for I knew that it was impossible   and to
see every one else prejudiced in so deadly a manner rendered me
hopeless and despairing    She wept 

 Dearest niece   said my father   dry your tears   If she is  as you
believe  innocent  rely on the justice of our laws  and the activity
with which I shall prevent the slightest shadow of partiality  



Chapter 8

We passed a few sad hours until eleven o clock  when the trial was to
commence   My father and the rest of the family being obliged to attend
as witnesses  I accompanied them to the court   During the whole of
this wretched mockery of justice I suffered living torture   It was to
be decided whether the result of my curiosity and lawless devices would
cause the death of two of my fellow beings   one a smiling babe full of
innocence and joy  the other far more dreadfully murdered  with every
aggravation of infamy that could make the murder memorable in horror 
Justine also was a girl of merit and possessed qualities which promised
to render her life happy  now all was to be obliterated in an
ignominious grave  and I the cause   A thousand times rather would I
have confessed myself guilty of the crime ascribed to Justine  but I
was absent when it was committed  and such a declaration would have
been considered as the ravings of a madman and would not have
exculpated her who suffered through me 

The appearance of Justine was calm   She was dressed in mourning  and
her countenance  always engaging  was rendered  by the solemnity of her
feelings  exquisitely beautiful   Yet she appeared confident in
innocence and did not tremble  although gazed on and execrated by
thousands  for all the kindness which her beauty might otherwise have
excited was obliterated in the minds of the spectators by the
imagination of the enormity she was supposed to have committed   She
was tranquil  yet her tranquillity was evidently constrained  and as
her confusion had before been adduced as a proof of her guilt  she
worked up her mind to an appearance of courage   When she entered the
court she threw her eyes round it and quickly discovered where we were
seated   A tear seemed to dim her eye when she saw us  but she quickly
recovered herself  and a look of sorrowful affection seemed to attest
her utter guiltlessness 

The trial began  and after the advocate against her had stated the
charge  several witnesses were called   Several strange facts combined
against her  which might have staggered anyone who had not such proof
of her innocence as I had   She had been out the whole of the night on
which the murder had been committed and towards morning had been
perceived by a market woman not far from the spot where the body of the
murdered child had been afterwards found   The woman asked her what she
did there  but she looked very strangely and only returned a confused
and unintelligible answer   She returned to the house about eight
o clock  and when one inquired where she had passed the night  she
replied that she had been looking for the child and demanded earnestly
if anything had been heard concerning him   When shown the body  she
fell into violent hysterics and kept her bed for several days   The
picture was then produced which the servant had found in her pocket 
and when Elizabeth  in a faltering voice  proved that it was the same
which  an hour before the child had been missed  she had placed round
his neck  a murmur of horror and indignation filled the court 

Justine was called on for her defence   As the trial had proceeded  her
countenance had altered   Surprise  horror  and misery were strongly
expressed   Sometimes she struggled with her tears  but when she was
desired to plead  she collected her powers and spoke in an audible
although variable voice 

 God knows   she said   how entirely I am innocent   But I do not
pretend that my protestations should acquit me  I rest my innocence on
a plain and simple explanation of the facts which have been adduced
against me  and I hope the character I have always borne will incline
my judges to a favourable interpretation where any circumstance appears
doubtful or suspicious  

She then related that  by the permission of Elizabeth  she had passed
the evening of the night on which the murder had been committed at the
house of an aunt at Chene  a village situated at about a league from
Geneva   On her return  at about nine o clock  she met a man who asked
her if she had seen anything of the child who was lost   She was
alarmed by this account and passed several hours in looking for him 
when the gates of Geneva were shut  and she was forced to remain
several hours of the night in a barn belonging to a cottage  being
unwilling to call up the inhabitants  to whom she was well known   Most
of the night she spent here watching  towards morning she believed that
she slept for a few minutes  some steps disturbed her  and she awoke 
It was dawn  and she quitted her asylum  that she might again endeavour
to find my brother   If she had gone near the spot where his body lay 
it was without her knowledge   That she had been bewildered when
questioned by the market woman was not surprising  since she had passed
a sleepless night and the fate of poor William was yet uncertain 
Concerning the picture she could give no account 

 I know   continued the unhappy victim   how heavily and fatally this
one circumstance weighs against me  but I have no power of explaining
it  and when I have expressed my utter ignorance  I am only left to
conjecture concerning the probabilities by which it might have been
placed in my pocket   But here also I am checked   I believe that I
have no enemy on earth  and none surely would have been so wicked as to
destroy me wantonly   Did the murderer place it there   I know of no
opportunity afforded him for so doing  or  if I had  why should he have
stolen the jewel  to part with it again so soon 

 I commit my cause to the justice of my judges  yet I see no room for
hope   I beg permission to have a few witnesses examined concerning my
character  and if their testimony shall not overweigh my supposed
guilt  I must be condemned  although I would pledge my salvation on my
innocence  

Several witnesses were called who had known her for many years  and
they spoke well of her  but fear and hatred of the crime of which they
supposed her guilty rendered them timorous and unwilling to come
forward   Elizabeth saw even this last resource  her excellent
dispositions and irreproachable conduct  about to fail the accused 
when  although violently agitated  she desired permission to address
the court 

 I am   said she   the cousin of the unhappy child who was murdered  or
rather his sister  for I was educated by and have lived with his
parents ever since and even long before his birth   It may therefore be
judged indecent in me to come forward on this occasion  but when I see
a fellow creature about to perish through the cowardice of her
pretended friends  I wish to be allowed to speak  that I may say what I
know of her character   I am well acquainted with the accused   I have
lived in the same house with her  at one time for five and at another
for nearly two years   During all that period she appeared to me the
most amiable and benevolent of human creatures   She nursed Madame
Frankenstein  my aunt  in her last illness  with the greatest affection
and care and afterwards attended her own mother during a tedious
illness  in a manner that excited the admiration of all who knew her 
after which she again lived in my uncle s house  where she was beloved
by all the family   She was warmly attached to the child who is now
dead and acted towards him like a most affectionate mother   For my own
part  I do not hesitate to say that  notwithstanding all the evidence
produced against her  I believe and rely on her perfect innocence   She
had no temptation for such an action  as to the bauble on which the
chief proof rests  if she had earnestly desired it  I should have
willingly given it to her  so much do I esteem and value her  

A murmur of approbation followed Elizabeth s simple and powerful
appeal  but it was excited by her generous interference  and not in
favour of poor Justine  on whom the public indignation was turned with
renewed violence  charging her with the blackest ingratitude   She
herself wept as Elizabeth spoke  but she did not answer   My own
agitation and anguish was extreme during the whole trial   I believed
in her innocence  I knew it   Could the demon who had  I did not for a
minute doubt  murdered my brother also in his hellish sport have
betrayed the innocent to death and ignominy   I could not sustain the
horror of my situation  and when I perceived that the popular voice and
the countenances of the judges had already condemned my unhappy victim 
I rushed out of the court in agony   The tortures of the accused did
not equal mine  she was sustained by innocence  but the fangs of
remorse tore my bosom and would not forgo their hold 

I passed a night of unmingled wretchedness   In the morning I went to
the court  my lips and throat were parched   I dared not ask the fatal
question  but I was known  and the officer guessed the cause of my
visit   The ballots had been thrown  they were all black  and Justine
was condemned 

I cannot pretend to describe what I then felt   I had before
experienced sensations of horror  and I have endeavoured to bestow upon
them adequate expressions  but words cannot convey an idea of the
heart sickening despair that I then endured   The person to whom I
addressed myself added that Justine had already confessed her guilt 
 That evidence   he observed   was hardly required in so glaring a
case  but I am glad of it  and  indeed  none of our judges like to
condemn a criminal upon circumstantial evidence  be it ever so
decisive  

This was strange and unexpected intelligence  what could it mean   Had
my eyes deceived me   And was I really as mad as the whole world would
believe me to be if I disclosed the object of my suspicions   I
hastened to return home  and Elizabeth eagerly demanded the result 

 My cousin   replied I   it is decided as you may have expected  all
judges had rather that ten innocent should suffer than that one guilty
should escape   But she has confessed  

This was a dire blow to poor Elizabeth  who had relied with firmness
upon Justine s innocence    Alas   said she    How shall I ever again
believe in human goodness   Justine  whom I loved and esteemed as my
sister  how could she put on those smiles of innocence only to betray 
Her mild eyes seemed incapable of any severity or guile  and yet she
has committed a murder  

Soon after we heard that the poor victim had expressed a desire to see
my cousin   My father wished her not to go but said that he left it to
her own judgment and feelings to decide    Yes   said Elizabeth   I
will go  although she is guilty  and you  Victor  shall accompany me  I
cannot go alone    The idea of this visit was torture to me  yet I
could not refuse   We entered the gloomy prison chamber and beheld
Justine sitting on some straw at the farther end  her hands were
manacled  and her head rested on her knees   She rose on seeing us
enter  and when we were left alone with her  she threw herself at the
feet of Elizabeth  weeping bitterly   My cousin wept also 

 Oh  Justine   said she    Why did you rob me of my last consolation 
I relied on your innocence  and although I was then very wretched  I
was not so miserable as I am now  

 And do you also believe that I am so very  very wicked   Do you also
join with my enemies to crush me  to condemn me as a murderer   Her
voice was suffocated with sobs 

 Rise  my poor girl   said Elizabeth   why do you kneel  if you are
innocent   I am not one of your enemies  I believed you guiltless 
notwithstanding every evidence  until I heard that you had yourself
declared your guilt   That report  you say  is false  and be assured 
dear Justine  that nothing can shake my confidence in you for a moment 
but your own confession  

 I did confess  but I confessed a lie   I confessed  that I might
obtain absolution  but now that falsehood lies heavier at my heart than
all my other sins   The God of heaven forgive me   Ever since I was
condemned  my confessor has besieged me  he threatened and menaced 
until I almost began to think that I was the monster that he said I
was   He threatened excommunication and hell fire in my last moments if
I continued obdurate   Dear lady  I had none to support me  all looked
on me as a wretch doomed to ignominy and perdition   What could I do 
In an evil hour I subscribed to a lie  and now only am I truly
miserable  

She paused  weeping  and then continued   I thought with horror  my
sweet lady  that you should believe your Justine  whom your blessed
aunt had so highly honoured  and whom you loved  was a creature capable
of a crime which none but the devil himself could have perpetrated 
Dear William  dearest blessed child   I soon shall see you again in
heaven  where we shall all be happy  and that consoles me  going as I
am to suffer ignominy and death  

 Oh  Justine   Forgive me for having for one moment distrusted you 
Why did you confess   But do not mourn  dear girl   Do not fear   I
will proclaim  I will prove your innocence   I will melt the stony
hearts of your enemies by my tears and prayers   You shall not die 
You  my playfellow  my companion  my sister  perish on the scaffold 
No   No   I never could survive so horrible a misfortune  

Justine shook her head mournfully    I do not fear to die   she said 
 that pang is past   God raises my weakness and gives me courage to
endure the worst   I leave a sad and bitter world  and if you remember
me and think of me as of one unjustly condemned  I am resigned to the
fate awaiting me   Learn from me  dear lady  to submit in patience to
the will of heaven  

During this conversation I had retired to a corner of the prison room 
where I could conceal the horrid anguish that possessed me   Despair 
Who dared talk of that   The poor victim  who on the morrow was to pass
the awful boundary between life and death  felt not  as I did  such
deep and bitter agony   I gnashed my teeth and ground them together 
uttering a groan that came from my inmost soul   Justine started   When
she saw who it was  she approached me and said   Dear sir  you are very
kind to visit me  you  I hope  do not believe that I am guilty  

I could not answer    No  Justine   said Elizabeth   he is more
convinced of your innocence than I was  for even when he heard that you
had confessed  he did not credit it  

 I truly thank him   In these last moments I feel the sincerest
gratitude towards those who think of me with kindness   How sweet is
the affection of others to such a wretch as I am   It removes more than
half my misfortune  and I feel as if I could die in peace now that my
innocence is acknowledged by you  dear lady  and your cousin  

Thus the poor sufferer tried to comfort others and herself   She indeed
gained the resignation she desired   But I  the true murderer  felt the
never dying worm alive in my bosom  which allowed of no hope or
consolation   Elizabeth also wept and was unhappy  but hers also was
the misery of innocence  which  like a cloud that passes over the fair
moon  for a while hides but cannot tarnish its brightness   Anguish and
despair had penetrated into the core of my heart  I bore a hell within
me which nothing could extinguish   We stayed several hours with
Justine  and it was with great difficulty that Elizabeth could tear
herself away    I wish   cried she   that I were to die with you  I
cannot live in this world of misery  

Justine assumed an air of cheerfulness  while she with difficulty
repressed her bitter tears   She embraced Elizabeth and said in a voice
of half suppressed emotion   Farewell  sweet lady  dearest Elizabeth 
my beloved and only friend  may heaven  in its bounty  bless and
preserve you  may this be the last misfortune that you will ever
suffer   Live  and be happy  and make others so  

And on the morrow Justine died   Elizabeth s heart rending eloquence
failed to move the judges from their settled conviction in the
criminality of the saintly sufferer   My passionate and indignant
appeals were lost upon them   And when I received their cold answers
and heard the harsh  unfeeling reasoning of these men  my purposed
avowal died away on my lips   Thus I might proclaim myself a madman 
but not revoke the sentence passed upon my wretched victim   She
perished on the scaffold as a murderess 

From the tortures of my own heart  I turned to contemplate the deep and
voiceless grief of my Elizabeth   This also was my doing   And my
father s woe  and the desolation of that late so smiling home all was
the work of my thrice accursed hands   Ye weep  unhappy ones  but these
are not your last tears   Again shall you raise the funeral wail  and
the sound of your lamentations shall again and again be heard 
Frankenstein  your son  your kinsman  your early  much loved friend  he
who would spend each vital drop of blood for your sakes  who has no
thought nor sense of joy except as it is mirrored also in your dear
countenances  who would fill the air with blessings and spend his life
in serving you  he bids you weep  to shed countless tears  happy beyond
his hopes  if thus inexorable fate be satisfied  and if the destruction
pause before the peace of the grave have succeeded to your sad torments 

Thus spoke my prophetic soul  as  torn by remorse  horror  and despair 
I beheld those I loved spend vain sorrow upon the graves of William and
Justine  the first hapless victims to my unhallowed arts 



Chapter 9

Nothing is more painful to the human mind than  after the feelings have
been worked up by a quick succession of events  the dead calmness of
inaction and certainty which follows and deprives the soul both of hope
and fear   Justine died  she rested  and I was alive   The blood flowed
freely in my veins  but a weight of despair and remorse pressed on my
heart which nothing could remove   Sleep fled from my eyes  I wandered
like an evil spirit  for I had committed deeds of mischief beyond
description horrible  and more  much more  I persuaded myself  was yet
behind   Yet my heart overflowed with kindness and the love of virtue 
I had begun life with benevolent intentions and thirsted for the moment
when I should put them in practice and make myself useful to my fellow
beings   Now all was blasted  instead of that serenity of conscience
which allowed me to look back upon the past with self satisfaction  and
from thence to gather promise of new hopes  I was seized by remorse and
the sense of guilt  which hurried me away to a hell of intense tortures
such as no language can describe 

This state of mind preyed upon my health  which had perhaps never
entirely recovered from the first shock it had sustained   I shunned
the face of man  all sound of joy or complacency was torture to me 
solitude was my only consolation  deep  dark  deathlike solitude 

My father observed with pain the alteration perceptible in my
disposition and habits and endeavoured by arguments deduced from the
feelings of his serene conscience and guiltless life to inspire me with
fortitude and awaken in me the courage to dispel the dark cloud which
brooded over me    Do you think  Victor   said he   that I do not
suffer also   No one could love a child more than I loved your
brother   tears came into his eyes as he spoke   but is it not a duty
to the survivors that we should refrain from augmenting their
unhappiness by an appearance of immoderate grief   It is also a duty
owed to yourself  for excessive sorrow prevents improvement or
enjoyment  or even the discharge of daily usefulness  without which no
man is fit for society  

This advice  although good  was totally inapplicable to my case  I
should have been the first to hide my grief and console my friends if
remorse had not mingled its bitterness  and terror its alarm  with my
other sensations   Now I could only answer my father with a look of
despair and endeavour to hide myself from his view 

About this time we retired to our house at Belrive   This change was
particularly agreeable to me   The shutting of the gates regularly at
ten o clock and the impossibility of remaining on the lake after that
hour had rendered our residence within the walls of Geneva very irksome
to me   I was now free   Often  after the rest of the family had
retired for the night  I took the boat and passed many hours upon the
water   Sometimes  with my sails set  I was carried by the wind  and
sometimes  after rowing into the middle of the lake  I left the boat to
pursue its own course and gave way to my own miserable reflections   I
was often tempted  when all was at peace around me  and I the only
unquiet thing that wandered restless in a scene so beautiful and
heavenly  if I except some bat  or the frogs  whose harsh and
interrupted croaking was heard only when I approached the shore  often 
I say  I was tempted to plunge into the silent lake  that the waters
might close over me and my calamities forever   But I was restrained 
when I thought of the heroic and suffering Elizabeth  whom I tenderly
loved  and whose existence was bound up in mine   I thought also of my
father and surviving brother  should I by my base desertion leave them
exposed and unprotected to the malice of the fiend whom I had let loose
among them 

At these moments I wept bitterly and wished that peace would revisit my
mind only that I might afford them consolation and happiness   But that
could not be   Remorse extinguished every hope   I had been the author
of unalterable evils  and I lived in daily fear lest the monster whom I
had created should perpetrate some new wickedness   I had an obscure
feeling that all was not over and that he would still commit some
signal crime  which by its enormity should almost efface the
recollection of the past   There was always scope for fear so long as
anything I loved remained behind   My abhorrence of this fiend cannot
be conceived   When I thought of him I gnashed my teeth  my eyes became
inflamed  and I ardently wished to extinguish that life which I had so
thoughtlessly bestowed   When I reflected on his crimes and malice  my
hatred and revenge burst all bounds of moderation   I would have made a
pilgrimage to the highest peak of the Andes  could I when there have
precipitated him to their base   I wished to see him again  that I
might wreak the utmost extent of abhorrence on his head and avenge the
deaths of William and Justine   Our house was the house of mourning  My
father s health was deeply shaken by the horror of the recent events 
Elizabeth was sad and desponding  she no longer took delight in her
ordinary occupations  all pleasure seemed to her sacrilege toward the
dead  eternal woe and tears she then thought was the just tribute she
should pay to innocence so blasted and destroyed   She was no longer
that happy creature who in earlier youth wandered with me on the banks
of the lake and talked with ecstasy of our future prospects   The first
of those sorrows which are sent to wean us from the earth had visited
her  and its dimming influence quenched her dearest smiles 

 When I reflect  my dear cousin   said she   on the miserable death of
Justine Moritz  I no longer see the world and its works as they before
appeared to me   Before  I looked upon the accounts of vice and
injustice that I read in books or heard from others as tales of ancient
days or imaginary evils  at least they were remote and more familiar to
reason than to the imagination  but now misery has come home  and men
appear to me as monsters thirsting for each other s blood   Yet I am
certainly unjust   Everybody believed that poor girl to be guilty  and
if she could have committed the crime for which she suffered  assuredly
she would have been the most depraved of human creatures   For the sake
of a few jewels  to have murdered the son of her benefactor and friend 
a child whom she had nursed from its birth  and appeared to love as if
it had been her own   I could not consent to the death of any human
being  but certainly I should have thought such a creature unfit to
remain in the society of men   But she was innocent   I know  I feel
she was innocent  you are of the same opinion  and that confirms me 
Alas   Victor  when falsehood can look so like the truth  who can
assure themselves of certain happiness   I feel as if I were walking on
the edge of a precipice  towards which thousands are crowding and
endeavouring to plunge me into the abyss   William and Justine were
assassinated  and the murderer escapes  he walks about the world free 
and perhaps respected   But even if I were condemned to suffer on the
scaffold for the same crimes  I would not change places with such a
wretch  

I listened to this discourse with the extremest agony   I  not in deed 
but in effect  was the true murderer   Elizabeth read my anguish in my
countenance  and kindly taking my hand  said   My dearest friend  you
must calm yourself   These events have affected me  God knows how
deeply  but I am not so wretched as you are   There is an expression of
despair  and sometimes of revenge  in your countenance that makes me
tremble   Dear Victor  banish these dark passions   Remember the
friends around you  who centre all their hopes in you   Have we lost
the power of rendering you happy   Ah   While we love  while we are
true to each other  here in this land of peace and beauty  your native
country  we may reap every tranquil blessing  what can disturb our
peace  

And could not such words from her whom I fondly prized before every
other gift of fortune suffice to chase away the fiend that lurked in my
heart   Even as she spoke I drew near to her  as if in terror  lest at
that very moment the destroyer had been near to rob me of her 

Thus not the tenderness of friendship  nor the beauty of earth  nor of
heaven  could redeem my soul from woe  the very accents of love were
ineffectual   I was encompassed by a cloud which no beneficial
influence could penetrate   The wounded deer dragging its fainting
limbs to some untrodden brake  there to gaze upon the arrow which had
pierced it  and to die  was but a type of me 

Sometimes I could cope with the sullen despair that overwhelmed me  but
sometimes the whirlwind passions of my soul drove me to seek  by bodily
exercise and by change of place  some relief from my intolerable
sensations   It was during an access of this kind that I suddenly left
my home  and bending my steps towards the near Alpine valleys  sought
in the magnificence  the eternity of such scenes  to forget myself and
my ephemeral  because human  sorrows   My wanderings were directed
towards the valley of Chamounix   I had visited it frequently during my
boyhood   Six years had passed since then    I  was a wreck  but nought
had changed in those savage and enduring scenes 

I performed the first part of my journey on horseback   I afterwards
hired a mule  as the more sure footed and least liable to receive
injury on these rugged roads   The weather was fine  it was about the
middle of the month of August  nearly two months after the death of
Justine  that miserable epoch from which I dated all my woe   The
weight upon my spirit was sensibly lightened as I plunged yet deeper in
the ravine of Arve   The immense mountains and precipices that overhung
me on every side  the sound of the river raging among the rocks  and
the dashing of the waterfalls around spoke of a power mighty as
Omnipotence  and I ceased to fear or to bend before any being less
almighty than that which had created and ruled the elements  here
displayed in their most terrific guise   Still  as I ascended higher 
the valley assumed a more magnificent and astonishing character 
Ruined castles hanging on the precipices of piny mountains  the
impetuous Arve  and cottages every here and there peeping forth from
among the trees formed a scene of singular beauty   But it was
augmented and rendered sublime by the mighty Alps  whose white and
shining pyramids and domes towered above all  as belonging to another
earth  the habitations of another race of beings 

I passed the bridge of Pelissier  where the ravine  which the river
forms  opened before me  and I began to ascend the mountain that
overhangs it   Soon after  I entered the valley of Chamounix   This
valley is more wonderful and sublime  but not so beautiful and
picturesque as that of Servox  through which I had just passed   The
high and snowy mountains were its immediate boundaries  but I saw no
more ruined castles and fertile fields   Immense glaciers approached
the road  I heard the rumbling thunder of the falling avalanche and
marked the smoke of its passage   Mont Blanc  the supreme and
magnificent Mont Blanc  raised itself from the surrounding aiguilles 
and its tremendous dome overlooked the valley 

A tingling long lost sense of pleasure often came across me during this
journey   Some turn in the road  some new object suddenly perceived and
recognized  reminded me of days gone by  and were associated with the
lighthearted gaiety of boyhood   The very winds whispered in soothing
accents  and maternal Nature bade me weep no more   Then again the
kindly influence ceased to act  I found myself fettered again to grief
and indulging in all the misery of reflection   Then I spurred on my
animal  striving so to forget the world  my fears  and more than all 
myself  or  in a more desperate fashion  I alighted and threw myself on
the grass  weighed down by horror and despair 

At length I arrived at the village of Chamounix   Exhaustion succeeded
to the extreme fatigue both of body and of mind which I had endured 
For a short space of time I remained at the window watching the pallid
lightnings that played above Mont Blanc and listening to the rushing of
the Arve  which pursued its noisy way beneath   The same lulling sounds
acted as a lullaby to my too keen sensations  when I placed my head
upon my pillow  sleep crept over me  I felt it as it came and blessed
the giver of oblivion 



Chapter 10

I spent the following day roaming through the valley   I stood beside
the sources of the Arveiron  which take their rise in a glacier  that
with slow pace is advancing down from the summit of the hills to
barricade the valley   The abrupt sides of vast mountains were before
me  the icy wall of the glacier overhung me  a few shattered pines were
scattered around  and the solemn silence of this glorious
presence chamber of imperial nature was broken only by the brawling
waves or the fall of some vast fragment  the thunder sound of the
avalanche or the cracking  reverberated along the mountains  of the
accumulated ice  which  through the silent working of immutable laws 
was ever and anon rent and torn  as if it had been but a plaything in
their hands   These sublime and magnificent scenes afforded me the
greatest consolation that I was capable of receiving   They elevated me
from all littleness of feeling  and although they did not remove my
grief  they subdued and tranquillized it   In some degree  also  they
diverted my mind from the thoughts over which it had brooded for the
last month   I retired to rest at night  my slumbers  as it were 
waited on and ministered to by the assemblance of grand shapes which I
had contemplated during the day   They congregated round me  the
unstained snowy mountain top  the glittering pinnacle  the pine woods 
and ragged bare ravine  the eagle  soaring amidst the clouds  they all
gathered round me and bade me be at peace 

Where had they fled when the next morning I awoke   All of
soul inspiriting fled with sleep  and dark melancholy clouded every
thought   The rain was pouring in torrents  and thick mists hid the
summits of the mountains  so that I even saw not the faces of those
mighty friends   Still I would penetrate their misty veil and seek them
in their cloudy retreats   What were rain and storm to me   My mule was
brought to the door  and I resolved to ascend to the summit of
Montanvert   I remembered the effect that the view of the tremendous
and ever moving glacier had produced upon my mind when I first saw it 
It had then filled me with a sublime ecstasy that gave wings to the
soul and allowed it to soar from the obscure world to light and joy 
The sight of the awful and majestic in nature had indeed always the
effect of solemnizing my mind and causing me to forget the passing
cares of life   I determined to go without a guide  for I was well
acquainted with the path  and the presence of another would destroy the
solitary grandeur of the scene 

The ascent is precipitous  but the path is cut into continual and short
windings  which enable you to surmount the perpendicularity of the
mountain   It is a scene terrifically desolate   In a thousand spots
the traces of the winter avalanche may be perceived  where trees lie
broken and strewed on the ground  some entirely destroyed  others bent 
leaning upon the jutting rocks of the mountain or transversely upon
other trees   The path  as you ascend higher  is intersected by ravines
of snow  down which stones continually roll from above  one of them is
particularly dangerous  as the slightest sound  such as even speaking
in a loud voice  produces a concussion of air sufficient to draw
destruction upon the head of the speaker   The pines are not tall or
luxuriant  but they are sombre and add an air of severity to the scene 
I looked on the valley beneath  vast mists were rising from the rivers
which ran through it and curling in thick wreaths around the opposite
mountains  whose summits were hid in the uniform clouds  while rain
poured from the dark sky and added to the melancholy impression I
received from the objects around me   Alas   Why does man boast of
sensibilities superior to those apparent in the brute  it only renders
them more necessary beings   If our impulses were confined to hunger 
thirst  and desire  we might be nearly free  but now we are moved by
every wind that blows and a chance word or scene that that word may
convey to us 


  We rest  a dream has power to poison sleep 
   We rise  one wand ring thought pollutes the day 
  We feel  conceive  or reason  laugh or weep 
   Embrace fond woe  or cast our cares away 
  It is the same   for  be it joy or sorrow 
   The path of its departure still is free 
  Man s yesterday may ne er be like his morrow 
   Nought may endure but mutability 


It was nearly noon when I arrived at the top of the ascent   For some
time I sat upon the rock that overlooks the sea of ice   A mist covered
both that and the surrounding mountains   Presently a breeze dissipated
the cloud  and I descended upon the glacier   The surface is very
uneven  rising like the waves of a troubled sea  descending low  and
interspersed by rifts that sink deep   The field of ice is almost a
league in width  but I spent nearly two hours in crossing it   The
opposite mountain is a bare perpendicular rock   From the side where I
now stood Montanvert was exactly opposite  at the distance of a league 
and above it rose Mont Blanc  in awful majesty   I remained in a recess
of the rock  gazing on this wonderful and stupendous scene   The sea 
or rather the vast river of ice  wound among its dependent mountains 
whose aerial summits hung over its recesses   Their icy and glittering
peaks shone in the sunlight over the clouds   My heart  which was
before sorrowful  now swelled with something like joy  I exclaimed 
 Wandering spirits  if indeed ye wander  and do not rest in your narrow
beds  allow me this faint happiness  or take me  as your companion 
away from the joys of life  

As I said this I suddenly beheld the figure of a man  at some distance 
advancing towards me with superhuman speed   He bounded over the
crevices in the ice  among which I had walked with caution  his
stature  also  as he approached  seemed to exceed that of man   I was
troubled  a mist came over my eyes  and I felt a faintness seize me 
but I was quickly restored by the cold gale of the mountains   I
perceived  as the shape came nearer  sight tremendous and abhorred  
that it was the wretch whom I had created   I trembled with rage and
horror  resolving to wait his approach and then close with him in
mortal combat   He approached  his countenance bespoke bitter anguish 
combined with disdain and malignity  while its unearthly ugliness
rendered it almost too horrible for human eyes   But I scarcely
observed this  rage and hatred had at first deprived me of utterance 
and I recovered only to overwhelm him with words expressive of furious
detestation and contempt 

 Devil   I exclaimed   do you dare approach me   And do not you fear
the fierce vengeance of my arm wreaked on your miserable head   Begone 
vile insect   Or rather  stay  that I may trample you to dust   And 
oh   That I could  with the extinction of your miserable existence 
restore those victims whom you have so diabolically murdered  

 I expected this reception   said the daemon    All men hate the
wretched  how  then  must I be hated  who am miserable beyond all
living things   Yet you  my creator  detest and spurn me  thy creature 
to whom thou art bound by ties only dissoluble by the annihilation of
one of us   You purpose to kill me   How dare you sport thus with life 
Do your duty towards me  and I will do mine towards you and the rest of
mankind   If you will comply with my conditions  I will leave them and
you at peace  but if you refuse  I will glut the maw of death  until it
be satiated with the blood of your remaining friends  

 Abhorred monster   Fiend that thou art   The tortures of hell are too
mild a vengeance for thy crimes   Wretched devil   You reproach me with
your creation  come on  then  that I may extinguish the spark which I
so negligently bestowed  

My rage was without bounds  I sprang on him  impelled by all the
feelings which can arm one being against the existence of another 

He easily eluded me and said 

 Be calm   I entreat you to hear me before you give vent to your hatred
on my devoted head   Have I not suffered enough  that you seek to
increase my misery   Life  although it may only be an accumulation of
anguish  is dear to me  and I will defend it   Remember  thou hast made
me more powerful than thyself  my height is superior to thine  my
joints more supple   But I will not be tempted to set myself in
opposition to thee   I am thy creature  and I will be even mild and
docile to my natural lord and king if thou wilt also perform thy part 
the which thou owest me   Oh  Frankenstein  be not equitable to every
other and trample upon me alone  to whom thy justice  and even thy
clemency and affection  is most due   Remember that I am thy creature 
I ought to be thy Adam  but I am rather the fallen angel  whom thou
drivest from joy for no misdeed   Everywhere I see bliss  from which I
alone am irrevocably excluded   I was benevolent and good  misery made
me a fiend   Make me happy  and I shall again be virtuous  

 Begone   I will not hear you   There can be no community between you
and me  we are enemies   Begone  or let us try our strength in a fight 
in which one must fall  

 How can I move thee   Will no entreaties cause thee to turn a
favourable eye upon thy creature  who implores thy goodness and
compassion   Believe me  Frankenstein  I was benevolent  my soul glowed
with love and humanity  but am I not alone  miserably alone   You  my
creator  abhor me  what hope can I gather from your fellow creatures 
who owe me nothing   They spurn and hate me   The desert mountains and
dreary glaciers are my refuge   I have wandered here many days  the
caves of ice  which I only do not fear  are a dwelling to me  and the
only one which man does not grudge   These bleak skies I hail  for they
are kinder to me than your fellow beings   If the multitude of mankind
knew of my existence  they would do as you do  and arm themselves for
my destruction   Shall I not then hate them who abhor me   I will keep
no terms with my enemies   I am miserable  and they shall share my
wretchedness   Yet it is in your power to recompense me  and deliver
them from an evil which it only remains for you to make so great  that
not only you and your family  but thousands of others  shall be
swallowed up in the whirlwinds of its rage   Let your compassion be
moved  and do not disdain me   Listen to my tale  when you have heard
that  abandon or commiserate me  as you shall judge that I deserve 
But hear me   The guilty are allowed  by human laws  bloody as they
are  to speak in their own defence before they are condemned   Listen
to me  Frankenstein   You accuse me of murder  and yet you would  with
a satisfied conscience  destroy your own creature   Oh  praise the
eternal justice of man   Yet I ask you not to spare me  listen to me 
and then  if you can  and if you will  destroy the work of your hands  

 Why do you call to my remembrance   I rejoined   circumstances of
which I shudder to reflect  that I have been the miserable origin and
author   Cursed be the day  abhorred devil  in which you first saw
light   Cursed  although I curse myself  be the hands that formed you 
You have made me wretched beyond expression   You have left me no power
to consider whether I am just to you or not   Begone   Relieve me from
the sight of your detested form  

 Thus I relieve thee  my creator   he said  and placed his hated hands
before my eyes  which I flung from me with violence   thus I take from
thee a sight which you abhor   Still thou canst listen to me and grant
me thy compassion   By the virtues that I once possessed  I demand this
from you   Hear my tale  it is long and strange  and the temperature of
this place is not fitting to your fine sensations  come to the hut upon
the mountain   The sun is yet high in the heavens  before it descends
to hide itself behind your snowy precipices and illuminate another
world  you will have heard my story and can decide   On you it rests 
whether I quit forever the neighbourhood of man and lead a harmless
life  or become the scourge of your fellow creatures and the author of
your own speedy ruin  

As he said this he led the way across the ice  I followed   My heart
was full  and I did not answer him  but as I proceeded  I weighed the
various arguments that he had used and determined at least to listen to
his tale   I was partly urged by curiosity  and compassion confirmed my
resolution   I had hitherto supposed him to be the murderer of my
brother  and I eagerly sought a confirmation or denial of this opinion 
For the first time  also  I felt what the duties of a creator towards
his creature were  and that I ought to render him happy before I
complained of his wickedness   These motives urged me to comply with
his demand   We crossed the ice  therefore  and ascended the opposite
rock   The air was cold  and the rain again began to descend  we
entered the hut  the fiend with an air of exultation  I with a heavy
heart and depressed spirits   But I consented to listen  and seating
myself by the fire which my odious companion had lighted  he thus began
his tale 



Chapter 11

 It is with considerable difficulty that I remember the original era of
my being  all the events of that period appear confused and indistinct 
A strange multiplicity of sensations seized me  and I saw  felt  heard 
and smelt at the same time  and it was  indeed  a long time before I
learned to distinguish between the operations of my various senses   By
degrees  I remember  a stronger light pressed upon my nerves  so that I
was obliged to shut my eyes   Darkness then came over me and troubled
me  but hardly had I felt this when  by opening my eyes  as I now
suppose  the light poured in upon me again   I walked and  I believe 
descended  but I presently found a great alteration in my sensations 
Before  dark and opaque bodies had surrounded me  impervious to my
touch or sight  but I now found that I could wander on at liberty  with
no obstacles which I could not either surmount or avoid   The light
became more and more oppressive to me  and the heat wearying me as I
walked  I sought a place where I could receive shade   This was the
forest near Ingolstadt  and here I lay by the side of a brook resting
from my fatigue  until I felt tormented by hunger and thirst   This
roused me from my nearly dormant state  and I ate some berries which I
found hanging on the trees or lying on the ground   I slaked my thirst
at the brook  and then lying down  was overcome by sleep 

 It was dark when I awoke  I felt cold also  and half frightened  as it
were  instinctively  finding myself so desolate   Before I had quitted
your apartment  on a sensation of cold  I had covered myself with some
clothes  but these were insufficient to secure me from the dews of
night   I was a poor  helpless  miserable wretch  I knew  and could
distinguish  nothing  but feeling pain invade me on all sides  I sat
down and wept 

 Soon a gentle light stole over the heavens and gave me a sensation of
pleasure   I started up and beheld a radiant form rise from among the
trees    The moon   I gazed with a kind of wonder   It moved slowly 
but it enlightened my path  and I again went out in search of berries 
I was still cold when under one of the trees I found a huge cloak  with
which I covered myself  and sat down upon the ground   No distinct
ideas occupied my mind  all was confused   I felt light  and hunger 
and thirst  and darkness  innumerable sounds rang in my ears  and on
all sides various scents saluted me  the only object that I could
distinguish was the bright moon  and I fixed my eyes on that with
pleasure 

 Several changes of day and night passed  and the orb of night had
greatly lessened  when I began to distinguish my sensations from each
other   I gradually saw plainly the clear stream that supplied me with
drink and the trees that shaded me with their foliage   I was delighted
when I first discovered that a pleasant sound  which often saluted my
ears  proceeded from the throats of the little winged animals who had
often intercepted the light from my eyes   I began also to observe 
with greater accuracy  the forms that surrounded me and to perceive the
boundaries of the radiant roof of light which canopied me   Sometimes I
tried to imitate the pleasant songs of the birds but was unable 
Sometimes I wished to express my sensations in my own mode  but the
uncouth and inarticulate sounds which broke from me frightened me into
silence again 

 The moon had disappeared from the night  and again  with a lessened
form  showed itself  while I still remained in the forest   My
sensations had by this time become distinct  and my mind received every
day additional ideas   My eyes became accustomed to the light and to
perceive objects in their right forms  I distinguished the insect from
the herb  and by degrees  one herb from another   I found that the
sparrow uttered none but harsh notes  whilst those of the blackbird and
thrush were sweet and enticing 

 One day  when I was oppressed by cold  I found a fire which had been
left by some wandering beggars  and was overcome with delight at the
warmth I experienced from it   In my joy I thrust my hand into the live
embers  but quickly drew it out again with a cry of pain   How strange 
I thought  that the same cause should produce such opposite effects   I
examined the materials of the fire  and to my joy found it to be
composed of wood   I quickly collected some branches  but they were wet
and would not burn   I was pained at this and sat still watching the
operation of the fire   The wet wood which I had placed near the heat
dried and itself became inflamed   I reflected on this  and by touching
the various branches  I discovered the cause and busied myself in
collecting a great quantity of wood  that I might dry it and have a
plentiful supply of fire   When night came on and brought sleep with
it  I was in the greatest fear lest my fire should be extinguished   I
covered it carefully with dry wood and leaves and placed wet branches
upon it  and then  spreading my cloak  I lay on the ground and sank
into sleep 

 It was morning when I awoke  and my first care was to visit the fire 
I uncovered it  and a gentle breeze quickly fanned it into a flame   I
observed this also and contrived a fan of branches  which roused the
embers when they were nearly extinguished   When night came again I
found  with pleasure  that the fire gave light as well as heat and that
the discovery of this element was useful to me in my food  for I found
some of the offals that the travellers had left had been roasted  and
tasted much more savoury than the berries I gathered from the trees   I
tried  therefore  to dress my food in the same manner  placing it on
the live embers   I found that the berries were spoiled by this
operation  and the nuts and roots much improved 

 Food  however  became scarce  and I often spent the whole day
searching in vain for a few acorns to assuage the pangs of hunger  When
I found this  I resolved to quit the place that I had hitherto
inhabited  to seek for one where the few wants I experienced would be
more easily satisfied   In this emigration I exceedingly lamented the
loss of the fire which I had obtained through accident and knew not how
to reproduce it   I gave several hours to the serious consideration of
this difficulty  but I was obliged to relinquish all attempt to supply
it  and wrapping myself up in my cloak  I struck across the wood
towards the setting sun   I passed three days in these rambles and at
length discovered the open country   A great fall of snow had taken
place the night before  and the fields were of one uniform white  the
appearance was disconsolate  and I found my feet chilled by the cold
damp substance that covered the ground 

 It was about seven in the morning  and I longed to obtain food and
shelter  at length I perceived a small hut  on a rising ground  which
had doubtless been built for the convenience of some shepherd   This
was a new sight to me  and I examined the structure with great
curiosity   Finding the door open  I entered   An old man sat in it 
near a fire  over which he was preparing his breakfast   He turned on
hearing a noise  and perceiving me  shrieked loudly  and quitting the
hut  ran across the fields with a speed of which his debilitated form
hardly appeared capable   His appearance  different from any I had ever
before seen  and his flight somewhat surprised me   But I was enchanted
by the appearance of the hut  here the snow and rain could not
penetrate  the ground was dry  and it presented to me then as exquisite
and divine a retreat as Pandemonium appeared to the demons of hell
after their sufferings in the lake of fire   I greedily devoured the
remnants of the shepherd s breakfast  which consisted of bread  cheese 
milk  and wine  the latter  however  I did not like   Then  overcome by
fatigue  I lay down among some straw and fell asleep 

 It was noon when I awoke  and allured by the warmth of the sun  which
shone brightly on the white ground  I determined to recommence my
travels  and  depositing the remains of the peasant s breakfast in a
wallet I found  I proceeded across the fields for several hours  until
at sunset I arrived at a village   How miraculous did this appear   The
huts  the neater cottages  and stately houses engaged my admiration by
turns   The vegetables in the gardens  the milk and cheese that I saw
placed at the windows of some of the cottages  allured my appetite  One
of the best of these I entered  but I had hardly placed my foot within
the door before the children shrieked  and one of the women fainted 
The whole village was roused  some fled  some attacked me  until 
grievously bruised by stones and many other kinds of missile weapons  I
escaped to the open country and fearfully took refuge in a low hovel 
quite bare  and making a wretched appearance after the palaces I had
beheld in the village   This hovel however  joined a cottage of a neat
and pleasant appearance  but after my late dearly bought experience  I
dared not enter it   My place of refuge was constructed of wood  but so
low that I could with difficulty sit upright in it   No wood  however 
was placed on the earth  which formed the floor  but it was dry  and
although the wind entered it by innumerable chinks  I found it an
agreeable asylum from the snow and rain 

 Here  then  I retreated and lay down happy to have found a shelter 
however miserable  from the inclemency of the season  and still more
from the barbarity of man   As soon as morning dawned I crept from my
kennel  that I might view the adjacent cottage and discover if I could
remain in the habitation I had found   It was situated against the back
of the cottage and surrounded on the sides which were exposed by a pig
sty and a clear pool of water   One part was open  and by that I had
crept in  but now I covered every crevice by which I might be perceived
with stones and wood  yet in such a manner that I might move them on
occasion to pass out  all the light I enjoyed came through the sty  and
that was sufficient for me 

 Having thus arranged my dwelling and carpeted it with clean straw  I
retired  for I saw the figure of a man at a distance  and I remembered
too well my treatment the night before to trust myself in his power   I
had first  however  provided for my sustenance for that day by a loaf
of coarse bread  which I purloined  and a cup with which I could drink
more conveniently than from my hand of the pure water which flowed by
my retreat   The floor was a little raised  so that it was kept
perfectly dry  and by its vicinity to the chimney of the cottage it was
tolerably warm 

 Being thus provided  I resolved to reside in this hovel until
something should occur which might alter my determination   It was
indeed a paradise compared to the bleak forest  my former residence 
the rain dropping branches  and dank earth   I ate my breakfast with
pleasure and was about to remove a plank to procure myself a little
water when I heard a step  and looking through a small chink  I beheld
a young creature  with a pail on her head  passing before my hovel  The
girl was young and of gentle demeanour  unlike what I have since found
cottagers and farmhouse servants to be   Yet she was meanly dressed  a
coarse blue petticoat and a linen jacket being her only garb  her fair
hair was plaited but not adorned   she looked patient yet sad   I lost
sight of her  and in about a quarter of an hour she returned bearing
the pail  which was now partly filled with milk   As she walked along 
seemingly incommoded by the burden  a young man met her  whose
countenance expressed a deeper despondence   Uttering a few sounds with
an air of melancholy  he took the pail from her head and bore it to the
cottage himself   She followed  and they disappeared   Presently I saw
the young man again  with some tools in his hand  cross the field
behind the cottage  and the girl was also busied  sometimes in the
house and sometimes in the yard 

 On examining my dwelling  I found that one of the windows of the
cottage had formerly occupied a part of it  but the panes had been
filled up with wood  In one of these was a small and almost
imperceptible chink through which the eye could just penetrate 
Through this crevice a small room was visible  whitewashed and clean
but very bare of furniture  In one corner  near a small fire  sat an
old man  leaning his head on his hands in a disconsolate attitude  The
young girl was occupied in arranging the cottage  but presently she
took something out of a drawer  which employed her hands  and she sat
down beside the old man  who  taking up an instrument  began to play
and to produce sounds sweeter than the voice of the thrush or the
nightingale  It was a lovely sight  even to me  poor wretch who had
never beheld aught beautiful before  The silver hair and benevolent
countenance of the aged cottager won my reverence  while the gentle
manners of the girl enticed my love  He played a sweet mournful air
which I perceived drew tears from the eyes of his amiable companion  of
which the old man took no notice  until she sobbed audibly  he then
pronounced a few sounds  and the fair creature  leaving her work  knelt
at his feet  He raised her and smiled with such kindness and affection
that I felt sensations of a peculiar and overpowering nature  they were
a mixture of pain and pleasure  such as I had never before experienced 
either from hunger or cold  warmth or food  and I withdrew from the
window  unable to bear these emotions 

 Soon after this the young man returned  bearing on his shoulders a
load of wood   The girl met him at the door  helped to relieve him of
his burden  and taking some of the fuel into the cottage  placed it on
the fire  then she and the youth went apart into a nook of the cottage 
and he showed her a large loaf and a piece of cheese   She seemed
pleased and went into the garden for some roots and plants  which she
placed in water  and then upon the fire   She afterwards continued her
work  whilst the young man went into the garden and appeared busily
employed in digging and pulling up roots   After he had been employed
thus about an hour  the young woman joined him and they entered the
cottage together 

 The old man had  in the meantime  been pensive  but on the appearance
of his companions he assumed a more cheerful air  and they sat down to
eat   The meal was quickly dispatched   The young woman was again
occupied in arranging the cottage  the old man walked before the
cottage in the sun for a few minutes  leaning on the arm of the youth 
Nothing could exceed in beauty the contrast between these two excellent
creatures   One was old  with silver hairs and a countenance beaming
with benevolence and love  the younger was slight and graceful in his
figure  and his features were moulded with the finest symmetry  yet his
eyes and attitude expressed the utmost sadness and despondency   The
old man returned to the cottage  and the youth  with tools different
from those he had used in the morning  directed his steps across the
fields 

 Night quickly shut in  but to my extreme wonder  I found that the
cottagers had a means of prolonging light by the use of tapers  and was
delighted to find that the setting of the sun did not put an end to the
pleasure I experienced in watching my human neighbours   In the evening
the young girl and her companion were employed in various occupations
which I did not understand  and the old man again took up the
instrument which produced the divine sounds that had enchanted me in
the morning   So soon as he had finished  the youth began  not to play 
but to utter sounds that were monotonous  and neither resembling the
harmony of the old man s instrument nor the songs of the birds  I since
found that he read aloud  but at that time I knew nothing of the
science of words or letters 

 The family  after having been thus occupied for a short time 
extinguished their lights and retired  as I conjectured  to rest  



Chapter 12

 I lay on my straw  but I could not sleep   I thought of the
occurrences of the day   What chiefly struck me was the gentle manners
of these people  and I longed to join them  but dared not   I
remembered too well the treatment I had suffered the night before from
the barbarous villagers  and resolved  whatever course of conduct I
might hereafter think it right to pursue  that for the present I would
remain quietly in my hovel  watching and endeavouring to discover the
motives which influenced their actions 

 The cottagers arose the next morning before the sun   The young woman
arranged the cottage and prepared the food  and the youth departed
after the first meal 

 This day was passed in the same routine as that which preceded it 
The young man was constantly employed out of doors  and the girl in
various laborious occupations within   The old man  whom I soon
perceived to be blind  employed his leisure hours on his instrument or
in contemplation   Nothing could exceed the love and respect which the
younger cottagers exhibited towards their venerable companion   They
performed towards him every little office of affection and duty with
gentleness  and he rewarded them by his benevolent smiles 

 They were not entirely happy   The young man and his companion often
went apart and appeared to weep   I saw no cause for their unhappiness 
but I was deeply affected by it   If such lovely creatures were
miserable  it was less strange that I  an imperfect and solitary being 
should be wretched   Yet why were these gentle beings unhappy   They
possessed a delightful house  for such it was in my eyes  and every
luxury  they had a fire to warm them when chill and delicious viands
when hungry  they were dressed in excellent clothes  and  still more 
they enjoyed one another s company and speech  interchanging each day
looks of affection and kindness   What did their tears imply   Did they
really express pain   I was at first unable to solve these questions 
but perpetual attention and time explained to me many appearances which
were at first enigmatic 

 A considerable period elapsed before I discovered one of the causes of
the uneasiness of this amiable family   it was poverty  and they
suffered that evil in a very distressing degree   Their nourishment
consisted entirely of the vegetables of their garden and the milk of
one cow  which gave very little during the winter  when its masters
could scarcely procure food to support it   They often  I believe 
suffered the pangs of hunger very poignantly  especially the two
younger cottagers  for several times they placed food before the old
man when they reserved none for themselves 

 This trait of kindness moved me sensibly   I had been accustomed 
during the night  to steal a part of their store for my own
consumption  but when I found that in doing this I inflicted pain on
the cottagers  I abstained and satisfied myself with berries  nuts  and
roots which I gathered from a neighbouring wood 

 I discovered also another means through which I was enabled to assist
their labours   I found that the youth spent a great part of each day
in collecting wood for the family fire  and during the night I often
took his tools  the use of which I quickly discovered  and brought home
firing sufficient for the consumption of several days 

 I remember  the first time that I did this  the young woman  when she
opened the door in the morning  appeared greatly astonished on seeing a
great pile of wood on the outside   She uttered some words in a loud
voice  and the youth joined her  who also expressed surprise   I
observed  with pleasure  that he did not go to the forest that day  but
spent it in repairing the cottage and cultivating the garden 

 By degrees I made a discovery of still greater moment   I found that
these people possessed a method of communicating their experience and
feelings to one another by articulate sounds   I perceived that the
words they spoke sometimes produced pleasure or pain  smiles or
sadness  in the minds and countenances of the hearers   This was indeed
a godlike science  and I ardently desired to become acquainted with it 
But I was baffled in every attempt I made for this purpose   Their
pronunciation was quick  and the words they uttered  not having any
apparent connection with visible objects  I was unable to discover any
clue by which I could unravel the mystery of their reference   By great
application  however  and after having remained during the space of
several revolutions of the moon in my hovel  I discovered the names
that were given to some of the most familiar objects of discourse  I
learned and applied the words   fire    milk    bread   and  wood    I
learned also the names of the cottagers themselves   The youth and his
companion had each of them several names  but the old man had only one 
which was  father   The girl was called  sister  or  Agatha   and the
youth  Felix    brother   or  son    I cannot describe the delight I
felt when I learned the ideas appropriated to each of these sounds and
was able to pronounce them   I distinguished several other words
without being able as yet to understand or apply them  such as  good  
 dearest    unhappy  

 I spent the winter in this manner   The gentle manners and beauty of
the cottagers greatly endeared them to me  when they were unhappy  I
felt depressed  when they rejoiced  I sympathized in their joys   I saw
few human beings besides them  and if any other happened to enter the
cottage  their harsh manners and rude gait only enhanced to me the
superior accomplishments of my friends   The old man  I could perceive 
often endeavoured to encourage his children  as sometimes I found that
he called them  to cast off their melancholy   He would talk in a
cheerful accent  with an expression of goodness that bestowed pleasure
even upon me   Agatha listened with respect  her eyes sometimes filled
with tears  which she endeavoured to wipe away unperceived  but I
generally found that her countenance and tone were more cheerful after
having listened to the exhortations of her father   It was not thus
with Felix   He was always the saddest of the group  and even to my
unpractised senses  he appeared to have suffered more deeply than his
friends   But if his countenance was more sorrowful  his voice was more
cheerful than that of his sister  especially when he addressed the old
man 

 I could mention innumerable instances which  although slight  marked
the dispositions of these amiable cottagers   In the midst of poverty
and want  Felix carried with pleasure to his sister the first little
white flower that peeped out from beneath the snowy ground   Early in
the morning  before she had risen  he cleared away the snow that
obstructed her path to the milk house  drew water from the well  and
brought the wood from the outhouse  where  to his perpetual
astonishment  he found his store always replenished by an invisible
hand   In the day  I believe  he worked sometimes for a neighbouring
farmer  because he often went forth and did not return until dinner 
yet brought no wood with him   At other times he worked in the garden 
but as there was little to do in the frosty season  he read to the old
man and Agatha 

 This reading had puzzled me extremely at first  but by degrees I
discovered that he uttered many of the same sounds when he read as when
he talked   I conjectured  therefore  that he found on the paper signs
for speech which he understood  and I ardently longed to comprehend
these also  but how was that possible when I did not even understand
the sounds for which they stood as signs   I improved  however 
sensibly in this science  but not sufficiently to follow up any kind of
conversation  although I applied my whole mind to the endeavour  for I
easily perceived that  although I eagerly longed to discover myself to
the cottagers  I ought not to make the attempt until I had first become
master of their language  which knowledge might enable me to make them
overlook the deformity of my figure  for with this also the contrast
perpetually presented to my eyes had made me acquainted 

 I had admired the perfect forms of my cottagers  their grace  beauty 
and delicate complexions  but how was I terrified when I viewed myself
in a transparent pool   At first I started back  unable to believe that
it was indeed I who was reflected in the mirror  and when I became
fully convinced that I was in reality the monster that I am  I was
filled with the bitterest sensations of despondence and mortification 
Alas   I did not yet entirely know the fatal effects of this miserable
deformity 

 As the sun became warmer and the light of day longer  the snow
vanished  and I beheld the bare trees and the black earth   From this
time Felix was more employed  and the heart moving indications of
impending famine disappeared   Their food  as I afterwards found  was
coarse  but it was wholesome  and they procured a sufficiency of it 
Several new kinds of plants sprang up in the garden  which they
dressed  and these signs of comfort increased daily as the season
advanced 

 The old man  leaning on his son  walked each day at noon  when it did
not rain  as I found it was called when the heavens poured forth its
waters   This frequently took place  but a high wind quickly dried the
earth  and the season became far more pleasant than it had been 

 My mode of life in my hovel was uniform   During the morning I
attended the motions of the cottagers  and when they were dispersed in
various occupations  I slept  the remainder of the day was spent in
observing my friends   When they had retired to rest  if there was any
moon or the night was star light  I went into the woods and collected
my own food and fuel for the cottage   When I returned  as often as it
was necessary  I cleared their path from the snow and performed those
offices that I had seen done by Felix   I afterwards found that these
labours  performed by an invisible hand  greatly astonished them  and
once or twice I heard them  on these occasions  utter the words  good
spirit    wonderful   but I did not then understand the signification
of these terms 

 My thoughts now became more active  and I longed to discover the
motives and feelings of these lovely creatures  I was inquisitive to
know why Felix appeared so miserable and Agatha so sad   I thought
 foolish wretch   that it might be in my power to restore happiness to
these deserving people   When I slept or was absent  the forms of the
venerable blind father  the gentle Agatha  and the excellent Felix
flitted before me   I looked upon them as superior beings who would be
the arbiters of my future destiny   I formed in my imagination a
thousand pictures of presenting myself to them  and their reception of
me   I imagined that they would be disgusted  until  by my gentle
demeanour and conciliating words  I should first win their favour and
afterwards their love 

 These thoughts exhilarated me and led me to apply with fresh ardour to
the acquiring the art of language   My organs were indeed harsh  but
supple  and although my voice was very unlike the soft music of their
tones  yet I pronounced such words as I understood with tolerable ease 
It was as the ass and the lap dog  yet surely the gentle ass whose
intentions were affectionate  although his manners were rude  deserved
better treatment than blows and execration 

 The pleasant showers and genial warmth of spring greatly altered the
aspect of the earth   Men who before this change seemed to have been
hid in caves dispersed themselves and were employed in various arts of
cultivation   The birds sang in more cheerful notes  and the leaves
began to bud forth on the trees   Happy  happy earth   Fit habitation
for gods  which  so short a time before  was bleak  damp  and
unwholesome   My spirits were elevated by the enchanting appearance of
nature  the past was blotted from my memory  the present was tranquil 
and the future gilded by bright rays of hope and anticipations of joy  



Chapter 13

 I now hasten to the more moving part of my story   I shall relate
events that impressed me with feelings which  from what I had been 
have made me what I am 

 Spring advanced rapidly  the weather became fine and the skies
cloudless   It surprised me that what before was desert and gloomy
should now bloom with the most beautiful flowers and verdure   My
senses were gratified and refreshed by a thousand scents of delight and
a thousand sights of beauty 

 It was on one of these days  when my cottagers periodically rested
from labour  the old man played on his guitar  and the children
listened to him  that I observed the countenance of Felix was
melancholy beyond expression  he sighed frequently  and once his father
paused in his music  and I conjectured by his manner that he inquired
the cause of his son s sorrow   Felix replied in a cheerful accent  and
the old man was recommencing his music when someone tapped at the door 

 It was a lady on horseback  accompanied by a country man as a guide 
The lady was dressed in a dark suit and covered with a thick black
veil   Agatha asked a question  to which the stranger only replied by
pronouncing  in a sweet accent  the name of Felix   Her voice was
musical but unlike that of either of my friends   On hearing this word 
Felix came up hastily to the lady  who  when she saw him  threw up her
veil  and I beheld a countenance of angelic beauty and expression   Her
hair of a shining raven black  and curiously braided  her eyes were
dark  but gentle  although animated  her features of a regular
proportion  and her complexion wondrously fair  each cheek tinged with
a lovely pink 

 Felix seemed ravished with delight when he saw her  every trait of
sorrow vanished from his face  and it instantly expressed a degree of
ecstatic joy  of which I could hardly have believed it capable  his
eyes sparkled  as his cheek flushed with pleasure  and at that moment I
thought him as beautiful as the stranger   She appeared affected by
different feelings  wiping a few tears from her lovely eyes  she held
out her hand to Felix  who kissed it rapturously and called her  as
well as I could distinguish  his sweet Arabian   She did not appear to
understand him  but smiled   He assisted her to dismount  and
dismissing her guide  conducted her into the cottage   Some
conversation took place between him and his father  and the young
stranger knelt at the old man s feet and would have kissed his hand 
but he raised her and embraced her affectionately 

 I soon perceived that although the stranger uttered articulate sounds
and appeared to have a language of her own  she was neither understood
by nor herself understood the cottagers   They made many signs which I
did not comprehend  but I saw that her presence diffused gladness
through the cottage  dispelling their sorrow as the sun dissipates the
morning mists   Felix seemed peculiarly happy and with smiles of
delight welcomed his Arabian   Agatha  the ever gentle Agatha  kissed
the hands of the lovely stranger  and pointing to her brother  made
signs which appeared to me to mean that he had been sorrowful until she
came   Some hours passed thus  while they  by their countenances 
expressed joy  the cause of which I did not comprehend   Presently I
found  by the frequent recurrence of some sound which the stranger
repeated after them  that she was endeavouring to learn their language 
and the idea instantly occurred to me that I should make use of the
same instructions to the same end   The stranger learned about twenty
words at the first lesson  most of them  indeed  were those which I had
before understood  but I profited by the others 

 As night came on  Agatha and the Arabian retired early   When they
separated Felix kissed the hand of the stranger and said   Good night
sweet Safie    He sat up much longer  conversing with his father  and
by the frequent repetition of her name I conjectured that their lovely
guest was the subject of their conversation   I ardently desired to
understand them  and bent every faculty towards that purpose  but found
it utterly impossible 

 The next morning Felix went out to his work  and after the usual
occupations of Agatha were finished  the Arabian sat at the feet of the
old man  and taking his guitar  played some airs so entrancingly
beautiful that they at once drew tears of sorrow and delight from my
eyes   She sang  and her voice flowed in a rich cadence  swelling or
dying away like a nightingale of the woods 

 When she had finished  she gave the guitar to Agatha  who at first
declined it   She played a simple air  and her voice accompanied it in
sweet accents  but unlike the wondrous strain of the stranger   The old
man appeared enraptured and said some words which Agatha endeavoured to
explain to Safie  and by which he appeared to wish to express that she
bestowed on him the greatest delight by her music 

 The days now passed as peaceably as before  with the sole alteration
that joy had taken place of sadness in the countenances of my friends 
Safie was always gay and happy  she and I improved rapidly in the
knowledge of language  so that in two months I began to comprehend most
of the words uttered by my protectors 

 In the meanwhile also the black ground was covered with herbage  and
the green banks interspersed with innumerable flowers  sweet to the
scent and the eyes  stars of pale radiance among the moonlight woods 
the sun became warmer  the nights clear and balmy  and my nocturnal
rambles were an extreme pleasure to me  although they were considerably
shortened by the late setting and early rising of the sun  for I never
ventured abroad during daylight  fearful of meeting with the same
treatment I had formerly endured in the first village which I entered 

 My days were spent in close attention  that I might more speedily
master the language  and I may boast that I improved more rapidly than
the Arabian  who understood very little and conversed in broken
accents  whilst I comprehended and could imitate almost every word that
was spoken 

 While I improved in speech  I also learned the science of letters as
it was taught to the stranger  and this opened before me a wide field
for wonder and delight 

 The book from which Felix instructed Safie was Volney s Ruins of
Empires   I should not have understood the purport of this book had not
Felix  in reading it  given very minute explanations   He had chosen
this work  he said  because the declamatory style was framed in
imitation of the Eastern authors   Through this work I obtained a
cursory knowledge of history and a view of the several empires at
present existing in the world  it gave me an insight into the manners 
governments  and religions of the different nations of the earth   I
heard of the slothful Asiatics  of the stupendous genius and mental
activity of the Grecians  of the wars and wonderful virtue of the early
Romans  of their subsequent degenerating  of the decline of that mighty
empire  of chivalry  Christianity  and kings   I heard of the discovery
of the American hemisphere and wept with Safie over the hapless fate of
its original inhabitants 

 These wonderful narrations inspired me with strange feelings   Was
man  indeed  at once so powerful  so virtuous and magnificent  yet so
vicious and base   He appeared at one time a mere scion of the evil
principle and at another as all that can be conceived of noble and
godlike   To be a great and virtuous man appeared the highest honour
that can befall a sensitive being  to be base and vicious  as many on
record have been  appeared the lowest degradation  a condition more
abject than that of the blind mole or harmless worm   For a long time I
could not conceive how one man could go forth to murder his fellow  or
even why there were laws and governments  but when I heard details of
vice and bloodshed  my wonder ceased and I turned away with disgust and
loathing 

 Every conversation of the cottagers now opened new wonders to me 
While I listened to the instructions which Felix bestowed upon the
Arabian  the strange system of human society was explained to me   I
heard of the division of property  of immense wealth and squalid
poverty  of rank  descent  and noble blood 

 The words induced me to turn towards myself   I learned that the
possessions most esteemed by your fellow creatures were high and
unsullied descent united with riches   A man might be respected with
only one of these advantages  but without either he was considered 
except in very rare instances  as a vagabond and a slave  doomed to
waste his powers for the profits of the chosen few   And what was I  Of
my creation and creator I was absolutely ignorant  but I knew that I
possessed no money  no friends  no kind of property   I was  besides 
endued with a figure hideously deformed and loathsome  I was not even
of the same nature as man   I was more agile than they and could
subsist upon coarser diet  I bore the extremes of heat and cold with
less injury to my frame  my stature far exceeded theirs   When I looked
around I saw and heard of none like me   Was I  then  a monster  a blot
upon the earth  from which all men fled and whom all men disowned 

 I cannot describe to you the agony that these reflections inflicted
upon me  I tried to dispel them  but sorrow only increased with
knowledge   Oh  that I had forever remained in my native wood  nor
known nor felt beyond the sensations of hunger  thirst  and heat 

 Of what a strange nature is knowledge   It clings to the mind when it
has once seized on it like a lichen on the rock   I wished sometimes to
shake off all thought and feeling  but I learned that there was but one
means to overcome the sensation of pain  and that was death  a state
which I feared yet did not understand   I admired virtue and good
feelings and loved the gentle manners and amiable qualities of my
cottagers  but I was shut out from intercourse with them  except
through means which I obtained by stealth  when I was unseen and
unknown  and which rather increased than satisfied the desire I had of
becoming one among my fellows   The gentle words of Agatha and  the
animated smiles of the charming Arabian were not for me   The mild
exhortations of the old man and the lively conversation of the loved
Felix were not for me  Miserable  unhappy wretch 

 Other lessons were impressed upon me even more deeply   I heard of the
difference of sexes  and the birth and growth of children  how the
father doted on the smiles of the infant  and the lively sallies of the
older child  how all the life and cares of the mother were wrapped up
in the precious charge  how the mind of youth expanded and gained
knowledge  of brother  sister  and all the various relationships which
bind one human being to another in mutual bonds 

 But where were my friends and relations   No father had watched my
infant days  no mother had blessed me with smiles and caresses  or if
they had  all my past life was now a blot  a blind vacancy in which I
distinguished nothing   From my earliest remembrance I had been as I
then was in height and proportion   I had never yet seen a being
resembling me or who claimed any intercourse with me   What was I   The
question again recurred  to be answered only with groans 

 I will soon explain to what these feelings tended  but allow me now to
return to the cottagers  whose story excited in me such various
feelings of indignation  delight  and wonder  but which all terminated
in additional love and reverence for my protectors  for so I loved  in
an innocent  half painful self deceit  to call them   



Chapter 14

 Some time elapsed before I learned the history of my friends   It was
one which could not fail to impress itself deeply on my mind  unfolding
as it did a number of circumstances  each interesting and wonderful to
one so utterly inexperienced as I was 

 The name of the old man was De Lacey   He was descended from a good
family in France  where he had lived for many years in affluence 
respected by his superiors and beloved by his equals   His son was bred
in the service of his country  and Agatha had ranked with ladies of the
highest distinction   A few months before my arrival they had lived in
a large and luxurious city called Paris  surrounded by friends and
possessed of every enjoyment which virtue  refinement of intellect  or
taste  accompanied by a moderate fortune  could afford 

 The father of Safie had been the cause of their ruin   He was a
Turkish merchant and had inhabited Paris for many years  when  for some
reason which I could not learn  he became obnoxious to the government 
He was seized and cast into prison the very day that Safie arrived from
Constantinople to join him   He was tried and condemned to death   The
injustice of his sentence was very flagrant  all Paris was indignant 
and it was judged that his religion and wealth rather than the crime
alleged against him had been the cause of his condemnation 

 Felix had accidentally been present at the trial  his horror and
indignation were uncontrollable when he heard the decision of the
court   He made  at that moment  a solemn vow to deliver him and then
looked around for the means   After many fruitless attempts to gain
admittance to the prison  he found a strongly grated window in an
unguarded part of the building  which lighted the dungeon of the
unfortunate Muhammadan  who  loaded with chains  waited in despair the
execution of the barbarous sentence   Felix visited the grate at night
and made known to the prisoner his intentions in his favour   The Turk 
amazed and delighted  endeavoured to kindle the zeal of his deliverer
by promises of reward and wealth   Felix rejected his offers with
contempt  yet when he saw the lovely Safie  who was allowed to visit
her father and who by her gestures expressed her lively gratitude  the
youth could not help owning to his own mind that the captive possessed
a treasure which would fully reward his toil and hazard 

 The Turk quickly perceived the impression that his daughter had made
on the heart of Felix and endeavoured to secure him more entirely in
his interests by the promise of her hand in marriage so soon as he
should be conveyed to a place of safety   Felix was too delicate to
accept this offer  yet he looked forward to the probability of the
event as to the consummation of his happiness 

 During the ensuing days  while the preparations were going forward for
the escape of the merchant  the zeal of Felix was warmed by several
letters that he received from this lovely girl  who found means to
express her thoughts in the language of her lover by the aid of an old
man  a servant of her father who understood French   She thanked him in
the most ardent terms for his intended services towards her parent  and
at the same time she gently deplored her own fate 

 I have copies of these letters  for I found means  during my residence
in the hovel  to procure the implements of writing  and the letters
were often in the hands of Felix or Agatha   Before I depart I will
give them to you  they will prove the truth of my tale  but at present 
as the sun is already far declined  I shall only have time to repeat
the substance of them to you 

 Safie related that her mother was a Christian Arab  seized and made a
slave by the Turks  recommended by her beauty  she had won the heart of
the father of Safie  who married her   The young girl spoke in high and
enthusiastic terms of her mother  who  born in freedom  spurned the
bondage to which she was now reduced   She instructed her daughter in
the tenets of her religion and taught her to aspire to higher powers of
intellect and an independence of spirit forbidden to the female
followers of Muhammad   This lady died  but her lessons were indelibly
impressed on the mind of Safie  who sickened at the prospect of again
returning to Asia and being immured within the walls of a harem 
allowed only to occupy herself with infantile amusements  ill suited to
the temper of her soul  now accustomed to grand ideas and a noble
emulation for virtue   The prospect of marrying a Christian and
remaining in a country where women were allowed to take a rank in
society was enchanting to her 

 The day for the execution of the Turk was fixed  but on the night
previous to it he quitted his prison and before morning was distant
many leagues from Paris   Felix had procured passports in the name of
his father  sister  and himself   He had previously communicated his
plan to the former  who aided the deceit by quitting his house  under
the pretence of a journey and concealed himself  with his daughter  in
an obscure part of Paris 

 Felix conducted the fugitives through France to Lyons and across Mont
Cenis to Leghorn  where the merchant had decided to wait a favourable
opportunity of passing into some part of the Turkish dominions 

 Safie resolved to remain with her father until the moment of his
departure  before which time the Turk renewed his promise that she
should be united to his deliverer  and Felix remained with them in
expectation of that event  and in the meantime he enjoyed the society
of the Arabian  who exhibited towards him the simplest and tenderest
affection   They conversed with one another through the means of an
interpreter  and sometimes with the interpretation of looks  and Safie
sang to him the divine airs of her native country 

 The Turk allowed this intimacy to take place and encouraged the hopes
of the youthful lovers  while in his heart he had formed far other
plans   He loathed the idea that his daughter should be united to a
Christian  but he feared the resentment of Felix if he should appear
lukewarm  for he knew that he was still in the power of his deliverer
if he should choose to betray him to the Italian state which they
inhabited   He revolved a thousand plans by which he should be enabled
to prolong the deceit until it might be no longer necessary  and
secretly to take his daughter with him when he departed   His plans
were facilitated by the news which arrived from Paris 

 The government of France were greatly enraged at the escape of their
victim and spared no pains to detect and punish his deliverer   The
plot of Felix was quickly discovered  and De Lacey and Agatha were
thrown into prison   The news reached Felix and roused him from his
dream of pleasure   His blind and aged father and his gentle sister lay
in a noisome dungeon while he enjoyed the free air and the society of
her whom he loved   This idea was torture to him   He quickly arranged
with the Turk that if the latter should find a favourable opportunity
for escape before Felix could return to Italy  Safie should remain as a
boarder at a convent at Leghorn  and then  quitting the lovely Arabian 
he hastened to Paris and delivered himself up to the vengeance of the
law  hoping to free De Lacey and Agatha by this proceeding 

 He did not succeed   They remained confined for five months before the
trial took place  the result of which deprived them of their fortune
and condemned them to a perpetual exile from their native country 

 They found a miserable asylum in the cottage in Germany  where I
discovered them   Felix soon learned that the treacherous Turk  for
whom he and his family endured such unheard of oppression  on
discovering that his deliverer was thus reduced to poverty and ruin 
became a traitor to good feeling and honour and had quitted Italy with
his daughter  insultingly sending Felix a pittance of money to aid him 
as he said  in some plan of future maintenance 

 Such were the events that preyed on the heart of Felix and rendered
him  when I first saw him  the most miserable of his family   He could
have endured poverty  and while this distress had been the meed of his
virtue  he gloried in it  but the ingratitude of the Turk and the loss
of his beloved Safie were misfortunes more bitter and irreparable   The
arrival of the Arabian now infused new life into his soul 

 When the news reached Leghorn that Felix was deprived of his wealth
and rank  the merchant commanded his daughter to think no more of her
lover  but to prepare to return to her native country   The generous
nature of Safie was outraged by this command  she attempted to
expostulate with her father  but he left her angrily  reiterating his
tyrannical mandate 

 A few days after  the Turk entered his daughter s apartment and told
her hastily that he had reason to believe that his residence at Leghorn
had been divulged and that he should speedily be delivered up to the
French government  he had consequently hired a vessel to convey him to
Constantinople  for which city he should sail in a few hours   He
intended to leave his daughter under the care of a confidential
servant  to follow at her leisure with the greater part of his
property  which had not yet arrived at Leghorn 

 When alone  Safie resolved in her own mind the plan of conduct that it
would become her to pursue in this emergency   A residence in Turkey
was abhorrent to her  her religion and her feelings were alike averse
to it   By some papers of her father which fell into her hands she
heard of the exile of her lover and learnt the name of the spot where
he then resided   She hesitated some time  but at length she formed her
determination   Taking with her some jewels that belonged to her and a
sum of money  she quitted Italy with an attendant  a native of Leghorn 
but who understood the common language of Turkey  and departed for
Germany 

 She arrived in safety at a town about twenty leagues from the cottage
of De Lacey  when her attendant fell dangerously ill   Safie nursed her
with the most devoted affection  but the poor girl died  and the
Arabian was left alone  unacquainted with the language of the country
and utterly ignorant of the customs of the world   She fell  however 
into good hands   The Italian had mentioned the name of the spot for
which they were bound  and after her death the woman of the house in
which they had lived took care that Safie should arrive in safety at
the cottage of her lover  



Chapter 15

 Such was the history of my beloved cottagers   It impressed me deeply 
I learned  from the views of social life which it developed  to admire
their virtues and to deprecate the vices of mankind 

 As yet I looked upon crime as a distant evil  benevolence and
generosity were ever present before me  inciting within me a desire to
become an actor in the busy scene where so many admirable qualities
were called forth and displayed   But in giving an account of the
progress of my intellect  I must not omit a circumstance which occurred
in the beginning of the month of August of the same year 

 One night during my accustomed visit to the neighbouring wood where I
collected my own food and brought home firing for my protectors  I
found on the ground a leathern portmanteau containing several articles
of dress and some books   I eagerly seized the prize and returned with
it to my hovel   Fortunately the books were written in the language 
the elements of which I had acquired at the cottage  they consisted of
Paradise Lost  a volume of Plutarch s Lives  and the Sorrows of Werter 
The possession of these treasures gave me extreme delight  I now
continually studied and exercised my mind upon these histories  whilst
my friends were employed in their ordinary occupations 

 I can hardly describe to you the effect of these books   They produced
in me an infinity of new images and feelings  that sometimes raised me
to ecstasy  but more frequently sunk me into the lowest dejection   In
the Sorrows of Werter  besides the interest of its simple and affecting
story  so many opinions are canvassed and so many lights thrown upon
what had hitherto been to me obscure subjects that I found in it a
never ending source of speculation and astonishment   The gentle and
domestic manners it described  combined with lofty sentiments and
feelings  which had for their object something out of self  accorded
well with my experience among my protectors and with the wants which
were forever alive in my own bosom   But I thought Werter himself a
more divine being than I had ever beheld or imagined  his character
contained no pretension  but it sank deep   The disquisitions upon
death and suicide were calculated to fill  me with wonder   I did not
pretend to enter into the merits of the case  yet I inclined towards
the opinions of the hero  whose extinction I wept  without precisely
understanding it 

 As I read  however  I applied much personally to my own feelings and
condition   I found myself similar yet at the same time strangely
unlike to the beings concerning whom I read and to whose conversation I
was a listener   I sympathized with and partly understood them  but I
was unformed in mind  I was dependent on none and related to none 
 The path of my departure was free   and there was none to lament my
annihilation   My person was hideous and my stature gigantic   What did
this mean   Who was I   What was I   Whence did I come   What was my
destination   These questions continually recurred  but I was unable to
solve them 

 The volume of Plutarch s Lives which I possessed contained the
histories of the first founders of the ancient republics   This book
had a far different effect upon me from the Sorrows of Werter   I
learned from Werter s imaginations despondency and gloom  but Plutarch
taught me high thoughts  he elevated me above the wretched sphere of my
own reflections  to admire and love the heroes of past ages   Many
things I read surpassed my understanding and experience   I had a very
confused knowledge of kingdoms  wide extents of country  mighty rivers 
and boundless seas   But I was perfectly unacquainted with towns and
large assemblages of men  The cottage of my protectors had been the
only school in which I had studied human nature  but this book
developed new and mightier scenes of action   I read of men concerned
in public affairs  governing or massacring their species   I felt the
greatest ardour for virtue rise within me  and abhorrence for vice  as
far as I understood the signification of those terms  relative as they
were  as I applied them  to pleasure and pain alone   Induced by these
feelings  I was of course led to admire peaceable lawgivers  Numa 
Solon  and Lycurgus  in preference to Romulus and Theseus   The
patriarchal lives of my protectors caused these impressions to take a
firm hold on my mind  perhaps  if my first introduction to humanity had
been made by a young soldier  burning for glory and slaughter  I should
have been imbued with different sensations 

 But Paradise Lost excited different and far deeper emotions   I read
it  as I had read the other volumes which had fallen into my hands  as
a true history   It moved every feeling of wonder and awe that the
picture of an omnipotent God warring with his creatures was capable of
exciting   I often referred the several situations  as their similarity
struck me  to my own   Like Adam  I was apparently united by no link to
any other being in existence  but his state was far different from mine
in every other respect   He had come forth from the hands of God a
perfect creature  happy and prosperous  guarded by the especial care of
his Creator  he was allowed to converse with and acquire knowledge from
beings of a superior nature  but I was wretched  helpless  and alone 
Many times I considered Satan as the fitter emblem of my condition  for
often  like him  when I viewed the bliss of my protectors  the bitter
gall of envy rose within me 

 Another circumstance strengthened and confirmed these feelings   Soon
after my arrival in the hovel I discovered some papers in the pocket of
the dress which I had taken from your laboratory   At first I had
neglected them  but now that I was able to decipher the characters in
which they were written  I began to study them with diligence   It was
your journal of the four months that preceded my creation   You
minutely described in these papers every step you took in the progress
of your work  this history was mingled with accounts of domestic
occurrences   You doubtless recollect these papers   Here they are 
Everything is related in them which bears reference to my accursed
origin  the whole detail of that series of disgusting circumstances
which produced it is set in view  the minutest description of my odious
and loathsome person is given  in language which painted your own
horrors and rendered mine indelible   I sickened as I read    Hateful
day when I received life   I exclaimed in agony    Accursed creator 
Why did you form a monster so hideous that even YOU turned from me in
disgust   God  in pity  made man beautiful and alluring  after his own
image  but my form is a filthy type of yours  more horrid even from the
very resemblance   Satan had his companions  fellow devils  to admire
and encourage him  but I am solitary and abhorred  

 These were the reflections of my hours of despondency and solitude 
but when I contemplated the virtues of the cottagers  their amiable and
benevolent dispositions  I persuaded myself that when they should
become acquainted with my admiration of their virtues they  would
compassionate me and overlook my personal deformity   Could they turn
from their door one  however monstrous  who solicited their compassion
and friendship   I resolved  at least  not to despair  but in every way
to fit myself for an interview with them which would decide my fate   I
postponed this attempt for some months longer  for the importance
attached to its success inspired me with a dread lest I should fail 
Besides  I found that my understanding improved so much with every
day s experience that I was unwilling to commence this undertaking
until a few more months should have added to my sagacity 

 Several changes  in the meantime  took place in the cottage   The
presence of Safie diffused happiness among its inhabitants  and I also
found that a greater degree of plenty reigned there   Felix and Agatha
spent more time in amusement and conversation  and were assisted in
their labours by servants   They did not appear rich  but they were
contented and happy  their feelings were serene and peaceful  while
mine became every day more tumultuous   Increase of knowledge only
discovered to me more clearly what a wretched outcast I was   I
cherished hope  it is true  but it vanished when I beheld my person
reflected in water or my shadow in the moonshine  even as that frail
image and that inconstant shade 

 I endeavoured to crush these fears and to fortify myself for the trial
which in a few months I resolved to undergo  and sometimes I allowed my
thoughts  unchecked by reason  to ramble in the fields of Paradise  and
dared to fancy amiable and lovely creatures sympathizing with my
feelings and cheering my gloom  their angelic countenances breathed
smiles of consolation   But it was all a dream  no Eve soothed my
sorrows nor shared my thoughts  I was alone   I remembered Adam s
supplication to his Creator   But where was mine   He had abandoned me 
and in the bitterness of my heart I cursed him 

 Autumn passed thus   I saw  with surprise and grief  the leaves decay
and fall  and nature again assume the barren and bleak appearance it
had worn when I first beheld the woods and the lovely moon   Yet I did
not heed the bleakness of the weather  I was better fitted by my
conformation for the endurance of cold than heat   But my chief
delights were the sight of the flowers  the birds  and all the gay
apparel of summer  when those deserted me  I turned with more attention
towards the cottagers   Their happiness was not decreased by the
absence of summer   They loved and sympathized with one another  and
their joys  depending on each other  were not interrupted by the
casualties that took place around them   The more I saw of them  the
greater became my desire to claim their protection and kindness  my
heart yearned to be known and loved by these amiable creatures  to see
their sweet looks directed towards me with affection was the utmost
limit of my ambition   I dared not think that they would turn them from
me with disdain and horror   The poor that stopped at their door were
never driven away   I asked  it is true  for greater treasures than a
little food or rest   I required kindness and sympathy  but I did not
believe myself utterly unworthy of it 

 The winter advanced  and an entire revolution of the seasons had taken
place since I awoke into life   My attention at this time was solely
directed towards my plan of introducing myself into the cottage of my
protectors   I revolved many projects  but that on which I finally
fixed was to enter the dwelling when the blind old man should be alone 
I had sagacity enough to discover that the unnatural hideousness of my
person was the chief object of horror with those who had formerly
beheld me   My voice  although harsh  had nothing terrible in it  I
thought  therefore  that if in the absence of his children I could gain
the good will and mediation of the old De Lacey  I might by his means
be tolerated by my younger protectors 

 One day  when the sun shone on the red leaves that strewed the ground
and diffused cheerfulness  although it denied warmth  Safie  Agatha 
and Felix departed on a long country walk  and the old man  at his own
desire  was left alone in the cottage   When his children had departed 
he took up his guitar and played several mournful but sweet airs  more
sweet and mournful than I had ever heard him play before   At first his
countenance was illuminated with pleasure  but as he continued 
thoughtfulness and sadness succeeded  at length  laying aside the
instrument  he sat absorbed in reflection 

 My heart beat quick  this was the hour and moment of trial  which
would decide my hopes or realize my fears   The servants were gone to a
neighbouring fair   All was silent in and around the cottage  it was an
excellent opportunity  yet  when I proceeded to execute my plan  my
limbs failed me and I sank to the ground   Again I rose  and exerting
all the firmness of which I was master  removed the planks which I had
placed before my hovel to conceal my retreat   The fresh air revived
me  and with renewed determination I approached the door of their
cottage 

 I knocked    Who is there   said the old man    Come in  

 I entered    Pardon this intrusion   said I   I am a traveller in want
of a little rest  you would greatly oblige me if you would allow me to
remain a few minutes before the fire  

  Enter   said De Lacey   and I will try in what manner I can to
relieve your wants  but  unfortunately  my children are from home  and
as I am blind  I am afraid I shall find it difficult to procure food
for you  

  Do not trouble yourself  my kind host  I have food  it is warmth and
rest only that I need  

 I sat down  and a silence ensued   I knew that every minute was
precious to me  yet I remained irresolute in what manner to commence
the interview  when the old man addressed me    By your language 
stranger  I suppose you are my countryman  are you French  

  No  but I was educated by a French family and understand that
language only   I am now going to claim the protection of some friends 
whom I sincerely love  and of whose favour I have some hopes  

  Are they Germans  

  No  they are French   But let us change the subject   I am an
unfortunate and deserted creature  I look around and I have no relation
or friend upon earth   These amiable people to whom I go have never
seen me and know little of me   I am full of fears  for if I fail
there  I am an outcast in the world forever  

  Do not despair   To be friendless is indeed to be unfortunate  but
the hearts of men  when unprejudiced by any obvious self interest  are
full of brotherly love and charity   Rely  therefore  on your hopes 
and if these friends are good and amiable  do not despair  

  They are kind  they are the most excellent creatures in the world 
but  unfortunately  they are prejudiced against me   I have good
dispositions  my life has been hitherto harmless and in some degree
beneficial  but a fatal prejudice clouds their eyes  and where they
ought to see a feeling and kind friend  they behold only a detestable
monster  

  That is indeed unfortunate  but if you are really blameless  cannot
you undeceive them  

  I am about to undertake that task  and it is on that account that I
feel so many overwhelming terrors   I tenderly love these friends  I
have  unknown to them  been for many months in the habits of daily
kindness towards them  but they believe that I wish to injure them  and
it is that prejudice which I wish to overcome  

  Where do these friends reside  

  Near this spot  

 The old man paused and then continued   If you will unreservedly
confide to me the particulars of your tale  I perhaps may be of use in
undeceiving them   I am blind and cannot judge of your countenance  but
there is something in your words which persuades me that you are
sincere   I am poor and an exile  but it will afford me true pleasure
to be in any way serviceable to a human creature  

  Excellent man   I thank you and accept your generous offer   You
raise me from the dust by this kindness  and I trust that  by your aid 
I shall not be driven from the society and sympathy of your fellow
creatures  

  Heaven forbid   Even if you were really criminal  for that can only
drive you to desperation  and not instigate you to virtue   I also am
unfortunate  I and my family have been condemned  although innocent 
judge  therefore  if I do not feel for your misfortunes  

  How can I thank you  my best and only benefactor   From your lips
first have I heard the voice of kindness directed towards me  I shall
be forever grateful  and your present humanity assures me of success
with those friends whom I am on the point of meeting  

  May I know the names and residence of those friends  

 I paused  This  I thought  was the moment of decision  which was to
rob me of or bestow happiness on me forever   I struggled vainly for
firmness sufficient to answer him  but the effort destroyed all my
remaining strength  I sank on the chair and sobbed aloud   At that
moment I heard the steps of my younger protectors   I had not a moment
to lose  but seizing the hand of the old man  I cried   Now is the
time   Save and protect me   You and your family are the friends whom I
seek   Do not you desert me in the hour of trial  

  Great God   exclaimed the old man    Who are you  

 At that instant the cottage door was opened  and Felix  Safie  and
Agatha entered   Who can describe their horror and consternation on
beholding me   Agatha fainted  and Safie  unable to attend to her
friend  rushed out of the cottage   Felix darted forward  and with
supernatural force tore me from his father  to whose knees I clung  in
a transport of fury  he dashed me to the ground and struck me violently
with a stick   I could have torn him limb from limb  as the lion rends
the antelope   But my heart sank within me as with bitter sickness  and
I refrained   I saw him on the point of repeating his blow  when 
overcome by pain and anguish  I quitted the cottage  and in the general
tumult escaped unperceived to my hovel  



Chapter 16

 Cursed  cursed creator   Why did I live   Why  in that instant  did I
not extinguish the spark of existence which you had so wantonly
bestowed   I know not  despair had not yet taken possession of me  my
feelings were those of rage and revenge   I could with pleasure have
destroyed the cottage and its inhabitants and have glutted myself with
their shrieks and misery 

 When night came I quitted my retreat and wandered in the wood  and
now  no longer restrained by the fear of discovery  I gave vent to my
anguish in fearful howlings   I was like a wild beast that had broken
the toils  destroying the objects that obstructed me and ranging
through the wood with a stag like swiftness   Oh   What a miserable
night I passed   The cold stars shone in mockery  and the bare trees
waved their branches above me  now and then the sweet voice of a bird
burst forth amidst the universal stillness   All  save I  were at rest
or in enjoyment  I  like the arch fiend  bore a hell within me  and
finding myself unsympathized with  wished to tear up the trees  spread
havoc and destruction around me  and then to have sat down and enjoyed
the ruin 

 But this was a luxury of sensation that could not endure  I became
fatigued with excess of bodily exertion and sank on the damp grass in
the sick impotence of despair   There was none among the myriads of men
that existed who would pity or assist me  and should I feel kindness
towards my enemies   No  from that moment I declared everlasting war
against the species  and more than all  against him who had formed me
and sent me forth to this insupportable misery 

 The sun rose  I heard the voices of men and knew that it was
impossible to return to my retreat during that day   Accordingly I hid
myself in some thick underwood  determining to devote the ensuing hours
to reflection on my situation 

 The pleasant sunshine and the pure air of day restored me to some
degree of tranquillity  and when I considered what had passed at the
cottage  I could not help believing that I had been too hasty in my
conclusions   I had certainly acted imprudently   It was apparent that
my conversation had interested the father in my behalf  and  I was a
fool in having exposed my person to the horror of his children   I
ought to have familiarized the old De Lacey to me  and by degrees to
have discovered myself to the rest of his family  when they should have
been  prepared for my approach   But I did not believe my errors to be
irretrievable  and after much consideration I resolved to return to the
cottage  seek the old man  and by my representations win him to my
party 

 These thoughts calmed me  and in the afternoon I sank into a profound
sleep  but the fever of my blood did not allow me to be visited by
peaceful dreams   The horrible scene of the preceding day was forever
acting before my eyes  the females were flying and the enraged Felix
tearing me from his father s feet   I awoke exhausted  and finding that
it was already night  I crept forth from my hiding place  and went in
search of food 

 When my hunger was appeased  I directed my steps towards the
well known path that conducted to the cottage   All there was at peace 
I crept into my hovel and remained in silent expectation of the
accustomed hour when the family arose   That hour passed  the sun
mounted high in the heavens  but the cottagers did not appear   I
trembled violently  apprehending some dreadful misfortune   The inside
of the cottage was dark  and I heard no motion  I cannot describe the
agony of this suspense 

 Presently two countrymen passed by  but pausing near the cottage  they
entered into conversation  using violent gesticulations  but I did not
understand what they said  as they spoke the language of the country 
which differed from that of my protectors   Soon after  however  Felix
approached with another man  I was surprised  as I knew that he had not
quitted the cottage that morning  and waited anxiously to discover from
his discourse the meaning of these unusual appearances 

  Do you consider   said his companion to him   that you will be
obliged to pay three months  rent and to lose the produce of your
garden   I do not wish to take any unfair advantage  and I beg
therefore that you will take some days to consider of your
determination  

  It is utterly useless   replied Felix   we can never again inhabit
your cottage   The life of my father is in the greatest danger  owing
to the dreadful circumstance that I have related   My wife and my
sister will never recover from their horror   I entreat you not to
reason with me any more   Take possession of your tenement and let me
fly from this place  

 Felix trembled violently as he said this   He and his companion
entered the cottage  in which they remained for a few minutes  and then
departed   I never saw any of the family of De Lacey more 

 I continued for the remainder of the day in my hovel in a state of
utter and stupid despair   My protectors had departed and had broken
the only link that held me to the world   For the first time the
feelings of revenge and hatred filled my bosom  and I did not strive to
control them  but allowing myself to be borne away by the stream  I
bent my mind towards injury and death   When I thought of my friends 
of the mild voice of De Lacey  the gentle eyes of Agatha  and the
exquisite beauty of the Arabian  these thoughts vanished and a gush of
tears somewhat soothed me   But again when I reflected that they had
spurned and deserted me  anger returned  a rage of anger  and unable to
injure anything human  I turned my fury towards inanimate objects   As
night advanced I placed a variety of combustibles around the cottage 
and after having destroyed every vestige of cultivation in the garden 
I waited with forced impatience until the moon had sunk to commence my
operations 

 As the night advanced  a fierce wind arose from the woods and quickly
dispersed the clouds that had loitered in the heavens  the blast tore
along like a mighty avalanche and produced a kind of insanity in my
spirits that burst all bounds of reason and reflection   I lighted the
dry branch of a tree and danced with fury around the devoted cottage 
my eyes still fixed on the western horizon  the edge of which the moon
nearly touched   A part of its orb was at length hid  and I waved my
brand  it sank  and with a loud scream I fired the straw  and heath 
and bushes  which I had collected   The wind fanned the fire  and the
cottage was quickly enveloped by the flames  which clung to it and
licked it with their forked and destroying tongues 

 As soon as I was convinced that no assistance could save any part of
the habitation  I quitted the scene and sought for refuge in the woods 

 And now  with the world before me  whither should I bend my steps   I
resolved to fly far from the scene of my misfortunes  but to me  hated
and despised  every country must be equally horrible   At length the
thought of you crossed my mind   I learned from your papers that you
were my father  my creator  and to whom could I apply with more fitness
than to him who had given me life   Among the lessons that Felix had
bestowed upon Safie  geography had not been omitted  I had learned from
these the relative situations of the different countries of the earth 
You had mentioned Geneva as the name of your native town  and towards
this place I resolved to proceed 

 But how was I to direct myself   I knew that I must travel in a
southwesterly direction to reach my destination  but the sun was my
only guide   I did not know the names of the towns that I was to pass
through  nor could I ask information from a single human being  but I
did not despair   From you only could I hope for succour  although
towards you I felt no sentiment but that of hatred   Unfeeling 
heartless creator   You had endowed me with perceptions and passions
and then cast me abroad an object for the scorn and horror of mankind 
But on you only had I any claim for pity and redress  and from you I
determined to seek that justice which I vainly attempted to gain from
any other being that wore the human form 

 My travels were long and the sufferings I endured intense   It was
late in autumn when I quitted the district where I had so long resided 
I travelled only at night  fearful of encountering the visage of a
human being   Nature decayed around me  and the sun became heatless 
rain and snow poured around me  mighty rivers were frozen  the surface
of the earth was hard and chill  and bare  and I found no shelter   Oh 
earth   How often did I imprecate curses on the cause of my being   The
mildness of my nature had fled  and all within me was turned to gall
and bitterness   The nearer I approached to your habitation  the more
deeply did I feel the spirit of revenge enkindled in my heart   Snow
fell  and the waters were hardened  but I rested not   A few incidents
now and then directed me  and I possessed a map of the country  but I
often wandered wide from my path   The agony of my feelings allowed me
no respite  no incident occurred from which my rage and misery could
not extract its food  but a circumstance that happened when I arrived
on the confines of Switzerland  when the sun had recovered its warmth
and the earth again began to look green  confirmed in an especial
manner the bitterness and horror of my feelings 

 I generally rested during the day and travelled only when I was
secured by night from the view of man   One morning  however  finding
that my path lay through a deep wood  I ventured to continue my journey
after the sun had risen  the day  which was one of the first of spring 
cheered even me by the loveliness of its sunshine and the balminess of
the air   I felt emotions of gentleness and pleasure  that had long
appeared dead  revive within me   Half surprised by the novelty of
these sensations  I allowed myself to be borne away by them  and
forgetting my solitude and deformity  dared to be happy   Soft tears
again bedewed my cheeks  and I even raised my humid eyes with
thankfulness towards the blessed sun  which bestowed such joy upon me 

 I continued to wind among the paths of the wood  until I came to its
boundary  which was skirted by a deep and rapid river  into which many
of the trees bent their branches  now budding with the fresh spring 
Here I paused  not exactly knowing what path to pursue  when I heard
the sound of voices  that induced me to conceal myself under the shade
of a cypress   I was scarcely hid when a young girl came running
towards the spot where I was concealed  laughing  as if she ran from
someone in sport   She continued her course along the precipitous sides
of the river  when suddenly her foot slipped  and she fell into the
rapid stream   I rushed from my hiding place and with extreme labour 
from the force of the current  saved her and dragged her to shore   She
was senseless  and I endeavoured by every means in my power to restore
animation  when I was suddenly interrupted by the approach of a rustic 
who was probably the person from whom she had playfully fled   On
seeing me  he darted towards me  and tearing the girl from my arms 
hastened towards the deeper parts of the wood   I followed speedily  I
hardly knew why  but when the man saw me draw near  he aimed a gun 
which he carried  at my body and fired   I sank to the ground  and my
injurer  with increased swiftness  escaped into the wood 

 This was then the reward of my benevolence   I had saved a human being
from destruction  and as a recompense I now writhed under the miserable
pain of a wound which shattered the flesh and bone   The feelings of
kindness and gentleness which I had entertained but a few moments
before gave place to hellish rage and gnashing of teeth   Inflamed by
pain  I vowed eternal hatred and vengeance to all mankind   But the
agony of my wound overcame me  my pulses paused  and I fainted 

 For some weeks I led a miserable life in the woods  endeavouring to
cure the wound which I had received   The ball had entered my shoulder 
and I knew not whether it had remained there or passed through  at any
rate I had no means of extracting it   My sufferings were augmented
also by the oppressive sense of the injustice and ingratitude of their
infliction   My daily vows rose for revenge  a deep and deadly revenge 
such as would alone compensate for the outrages and anguish I had
endured 

 After some weeks my wound healed  and I continued my journey   The
labours I endured were no longer to be alleviated by the bright sun or
gentle breezes of spring  all joy was but a mockery which insulted my
desolate state and made me feel more painfully that I was not made for
the enjoyment of pleasure 

 But my toils now drew near a close  and in two months from this time I
reached the environs of Geneva 

 It was evening when I arrived  and I retired to a hiding place among
the fields that surround it to meditate in what manner I should apply
to you   I was oppressed by fatigue and hunger and far too unhappy to
enjoy the gentle breezes of evening or the prospect of the sun setting
behind the stupendous mountains of Jura 

 At this time a slight sleep relieved me from the pain of reflection 
which was disturbed by the approach of a beautiful child  who came
running into the recess I had chosen  with all the sportiveness of
infancy   Suddenly  as I gazed on him  an idea seized me that this
little creature was unprejudiced and had lived too short a time to have
imbibed a horror of deformity   If  therefore  I could seize him and
educate him as my companion and friend  I should not be so desolate in
this peopled earth 

 Urged by this impulse  I seized on the boy as he passed and drew him
towards me   As soon as he beheld my form  he placed his hands before
his eyes and uttered a shrill scream  I drew his hand forcibly from his
face and said   Child  what is the meaning of this   I do not intend to
hurt you  listen to me  

 He struggled violently    Let me go   he cried   monster   Ugly
wretch   You wish to eat me and tear me to pieces   You are an ogre 
Let me go  or I will tell my papa  

  Boy  you will never see your father again  you must come with me  

  Hideous monster   Let me go   My papa is a syndic  he is M 
Frankenstein  he will punish you   You dare not keep me  

  Frankenstein  you belong then to my enemy  to him towards whom I have
sworn eternal revenge  you shall be my first victim  

 The child still struggled and loaded me with epithets which carried
despair to my heart  I grasped his throat to silence him  and in a
moment he lay dead at my feet 

 I gazed on my victim  and my heart swelled with exultation and hellish
triumph  clapping my hands  I exclaimed   I too can create desolation 
my enemy is not invulnerable  this death will carry despair to him  and
a thousand other miseries shall torment and destroy him  

 As I fixed my eyes on the child  I saw something glittering on his
breast   I took it  it was a portrait of a most lovely woman   In spite
of my malignity  it softened and attracted me   For a few moments I
gazed with delight on her dark eyes  fringed by deep lashes  and her
lovely lips  but presently my rage returned  I remembered that I was
forever deprived of the delights that such beautiful creatures could
bestow and that she whose resemblance I contemplated would  in
regarding me  have changed that air of divine benignity to one
expressive of disgust and affright 

 Can you wonder that such thoughts transported me with rage   I only
wonder that at that moment  instead of venting my sensations in
exclamations and agony  I did not rush among mankind and perish in the
attempt to destroy them 

 While I was overcome by these feelings  I left the spot where I had
committed the murder  and seeking a more secluded hiding place  I
entered a barn which had appeared to me to be empty   A woman was
sleeping on some straw  she was young  not indeed so beautiful as her
whose portrait I held  but of an agreeable aspect and blooming in the
loveliness of youth and health   Here  I thought  is one of those whose
joy imparting smiles are bestowed on all but me   And then I bent over
her and whispered   Awake  fairest  thy lover is near  he who would
give his life but to obtain one look of affection from thine eyes  my
beloved  awake  

 The sleeper stirred  a thrill of terror ran through me   Should she
indeed awake  and see me  and curse me  and denounce the murderer  Thus
would she assuredly act if her darkened eyes opened and she beheld me 
The thought was madness  it stirred the fiend within me  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   She moved again  and I fled 

 For some days I haunted the spot where these scenes had taken place 
sometimes wishing to see you  sometimes resolved to quit the world and
its miseries forever   At length I wandered towards these mountains 
and have ranged through their immense recesses  consumed by a burning
passion which you alone can gratify   We may not part until you have
promised to comply with my requisition   I am alone and miserable  man
will not associate with me  but one as deformed and horrible as myself
would not deny herself to me   My companion must be of the same species
and have the same defects   This being you must create  



Chapter 17

The being finished speaking and fixed his looks upon me in the
expectation of a reply   But I was bewildered  perplexed  and unable to
arrange my ideas sufficiently to understand the full extent of his
proposition   He continued 

 You must create a female for me with whom I can live in the
interchange of those sympathies necessary for my being   This you alone
can do  and I demand it of you as a right which you must not refuse to
concede  

The latter part of his tale had kindled anew in me the anger that had
died away while he narrated his peaceful life among the cottagers  and
as he said this I could no longer suppress the rage that burned within
me 

 I do refuse it   I replied   and no torture shall ever extort a
consent from me   You may render me the most miserable of men  but you
shall never make me base in my own eyes   Shall I create another like
yourself  whose joint wickedness might desolate the world   Begone   I
have answered you  you may torture me  but I will never consent  

 You are in the wrong   replied the fiend   and instead of threatening 
I am content to reason with you   I am malicious because I am
miserable   Am I not shunned and hated by all mankind   You  my
creator  would tear me to pieces and triumph  remember that  and tell
me why I should pity man more than he pities me   You would not call it
murder if you could precipitate me into one of those ice rifts and
destroy my frame  the work of your own hands   Shall I respect man when
he condemns me   Let him live with me in the interchange of kindness 
and instead of injury I would bestow every benefit upon him with tears
of gratitude at his acceptance   But that cannot be  the human senses
are insurmountable barriers to our union   Yet mine shall not be the
submission of abject slavery   I will revenge my injuries  if I cannot
inspire love  I will cause fear  and chiefly towards you my arch enemy 
because my creator  do I swear inextinguishable hatred   Have a care  I
will work at your destruction  nor finish until I desolate your heart 
so that you shall curse the hour of your birth  

A fiendish rage animated him as he said this  his face was wrinkled
into contortions too horrible for human eyes to behold  but presently
he calmed himself and proceeded  

 I intended to reason   This passion is detrimental to me  for you do
not reflect that YOU are the cause of its excess   If any being felt
emotions of benevolence towards me  I should return them a hundred and
a hundredfold  for that one creature s sake I would make peace with the
whole kind   But I now indulge in dreams of bliss that cannot be
realized   What I ask of you is reasonable and moderate  I demand a
creature of another sex  but as hideous as myself  the gratification is
small  but it is all that I can receive  and it shall content me   It
is true  we shall be monsters  cut off from all the world  but on that
account we shall be more attached to one another   Our lives will not
be happy  but they will be harmless and free from the misery I now
feel   Oh   My creator  make me happy  let me feel gratitude towards
you for one benefit   Let me see that I excite the sympathy of some
existing thing  do not deny me my request  

I was moved   I shuddered when I thought of the possible consequences
of my consent  but I felt that there was some justice in his argument 
His tale and the feelings he now expressed proved him to be a creature
of fine sensations  and did I not as his maker owe him all the portion
of happiness that it was in my power to bestow   He saw my change of
feeling and continued 

 If you consent  neither you nor any other human being shall ever see
us again  I will go to the vast wilds of South America   My food is not
that of man  I do not destroy the lamb and the kid to glut my appetite 
acorns and berries afford me sufficient nourishment   My companion will
be of the same nature as myself and will be content with the same fare 
We shall make our bed of dried leaves  the sun will shine on us as on
man and will ripen our food   The picture I present to you is peaceful
and human  and you must feel that you could deny it only in the
wantonness of power and cruelty   Pitiless as you have been towards me 
I now see compassion in your eyes  let me seize the favourable moment
and persuade you to promise what I so ardently desire  

 You propose   replied I   to fly from the habitations of man  to dwell
in those wilds where the beasts of the field will be your only
companions   How can you  who long for the love and sympathy of man 
persevere in this exile   You will return and again seek their
kindness  and you will meet with their detestation  your evil passions
will be renewed  and you will then have a companion to aid you in the
task of destruction   This may not be  cease to argue the point  for I
cannot consent  

 How inconstant are your feelings   But a moment ago you were moved by
my representations  and why do you again harden yourself to my
complaints   I swear to you  by the earth which I inhabit  and by you
that made me  that with the companion you bestow I will quit the
neighbourhood of man and dwell  as it may chance  in the most savage of
places   My evil passions will have fled  for I shall meet with
sympathy   My life will flow quietly away  and in my dying moments I
shall not curse my maker  

His words had a strange effect upon me   I compassionated him and
sometimes felt a wish to console him  but when I looked upon him  when
I saw the filthy mass that moved and talked  my heart sickened and my
feelings were altered to those of horror and hatred   I tried to stifle
these sensations  I thought that as I could not sympathize with him  I
had no right to withhold from him the small portion of happiness which
was yet in my power to bestow 

 You swear   I said   to be harmless  but have you not already shown a
degree of malice that should reasonably make me distrust you   May not
even this be a feint that will increase your triumph by affording a
wider scope for your revenge  

 How is this   I must not be trifled with  and I demand an answer   If
I have no ties and no affections  hatred and vice must be my portion 
the love of another will destroy the cause of my crimes  and I shall
become a thing of whose existence everyone will be ignorant   My vices
are the children of a forced solitude that I abhor  and my virtues will
necessarily arise when I live in communion with an equal   I shall feel
the affections of a sensitive being and become linked to the chain of
existence and events from which I am now excluded  

I paused some time to reflect on all he had related and the various
arguments which he had employed   I thought of the promise of virtues
which he had displayed on the opening of his existence and the
subsequent blight of all kindly feeling by the loathing and scorn which
his protectors had manifested towards him   His power and threats were
not omitted in my calculations  a creature who could exist in the ice
caves of the glaciers and hide himself from pursuit among the ridges of
inaccessible precipices was a being possessing faculties it would be
vain to cope with   After a long pause of reflection I concluded that
the justice due both to him and my fellow creatures demanded of me that
I should comply with his request   Turning to him  therefore  I said 

 I consent to your demand  on your solemn oath to quit Europe forever 
and every other place in the neighbourhood of man  as soon as I shall
deliver into your hands a female who will accompany you in your exile  

 I swear   he cried   by the sun  and by the blue sky of heaven  and by
the fire of love that burns my heart  that if you grant my prayer 
while they exist you shall never behold me again   Depart to your home
and commence your labours  I shall watch their progress with
unutterable anxiety  and fear not but that when you are ready I shall
appear  

Saying this  he suddenly quitted me  fearful  perhaps  of any change in
my sentiments   I saw him descend the mountain with greater speed than
the flight of an eagle  and quickly lost among the undulations of the
sea of ice 

His tale had occupied the whole day  and the sun was upon the verge of
the horizon when he departed   I knew that I ought to hasten my descent
towards the valley  as I should soon be encompassed in darkness  but my
heart was heavy  and my steps slow   The labour of winding among the
little paths of the mountain and fixing my feet firmly as I advanced
perplexed me  occupied as I was by the emotions which the occurrences
of the day had produced   Night was far advanced when I came to the
halfway resting place and seated myself beside the fountain   The stars
shone at intervals as the clouds passed from over them  the dark pines
rose before me  and every here and there a broken tree lay on the
ground  it was a scene of wonderful solemnity and stirred strange
thoughts within me   I wept bitterly  and clasping my hands in agony  I
exclaimed   Oh   Stars and clouds and winds  ye are all about to mock
me  if ye really pity me  crush sensation and memory  let me become as
nought  but if not  depart  depart  and leave me in darkness  

These were wild and miserable thoughts  but I cannot describe to you
how the eternal twinkling of the stars weighed upon me and how I
listened to every blast of wind as if it were a dull ugly siroc on its
way to consume me 

Morning dawned before I arrived at the village of Chamounix  I took no
rest  but returned immediately to Geneva   Even in my own heart I could
give no expression to my sensations  they weighed on me with a
mountain s weight and their excess destroyed my agony beneath them 
Thus I returned home  and entering the house  presented myself to the
family   My haggard and wild appearance awoke intense alarm  but I
answered no question  scarcely did I speak   I felt as if I were placed
under a ban  as if I had no right to claim their sympathies  as if
never more might I enjoy companionship with them   Yet even thus I
loved them to adoration  and to save them  I resolved to dedicate
myself to my most abhorred task   The prospect of such an occupation
made every other circumstance of existence pass before me like a dream 
and that thought only had to me the reality of life 



Chapter 18

Day after day  week after week  passed away on my return to Geneva  and
I could not collect the courage to recommence my work   I feared the
vengeance of the disappointed fiend  yet I was unable to overcome my
repugnance to the task which was enjoined me   I found that I could not
compose a female without again devoting several months to profound
study and laborious disquisition   I had heard of some discoveries
having been made by an English philosopher  the knowledge of which was
material to my success  and I sometimes thought of obtaining my
father s consent to visit England for this purpose  but I clung to
every pretence of delay and shrank from taking the first step in an
undertaking whose immediate necessity began to appear less absolute to
me   A change indeed had taken place in me  my health  which had
hitherto declined  was now much restored  and my spirits  when
unchecked by the memory of my unhappy promise  rose proportionably   My
father saw this change with pleasure  and he turned his thoughts
towards the best method of eradicating the remains of my melancholy 
which every now and then would return by fits  and with a devouring
blackness overcast the approaching sunshine   At these moments I took
refuge in the most perfect solitude   I passed whole days on the lake
alone in a little boat  watching the clouds and listening to the
rippling of the waves  silent and listless   But the fresh air and
bright sun seldom failed to restore me to some degree of composure  and
on my return I met the salutations of my friends with a readier smile
and a more cheerful heart 

It was after my return from one of these rambles that my father 
calling me aside  thus addressed me 

 I am happy to remark  my dear son  that you have resumed your former
pleasures and seem to be returning to yourself   And yet you are still
unhappy and still avoid our society   For some time I was lost in
conjecture as to the cause of this  but yesterday an idea struck me 
and if it is well founded  I conjure you to avow it   Reserve on such a
point would be not only useless  but draw down treble misery on us all  

I trembled violently at his exordium  and my father continued   I
confess  my son  that I have always looked forward to your marriage
with our dear Elizabeth as the tie of our domestic comfort and the stay
of my declining years   You were attached to each other from your
earliest infancy  you studied together  and appeared  in dispositions
and tastes  entirely suited to one another   But so blind is the
experience of man that what I conceived to be the best assistants to my
plan may have entirely destroyed it   You  perhaps  regard her as your
sister  without any wish that she might become your wife   Nay  you may
have met with another whom you may love  and considering yourself as
bound in honour to Elizabeth  this struggle may occasion the poignant
misery which you appear to feel  

 My dear father  reassure yourself   I love my cousin tenderly and
sincerely   I never saw any woman who excited  as Elizabeth does  my
warmest admiration and affection   My future hopes and prospects are
entirely bound up in the expectation of our union  

 The expression of your sentiments of this subject  my dear Victor 
gives me more pleasure than I have for some time experienced   If you
feel thus  we shall assuredly be happy  however present events may cast
a gloom over us   But it is this gloom which appears to have taken so
strong a hold of your mind that I wish to dissipate   Tell me 
therefore  whether you object to an immediate solemnization of the
marriage   We have been unfortunate  and recent events have drawn us
from that everyday tranquillity befitting my years and infirmities  You
are younger  yet I do not suppose  possessed as you are of a competent
fortune  that an early marriage would at all interfere with any future
plans of honour and utility that you may have formed   Do not suppose 
however  that I wish to dictate happiness to you or that a delay on
your part would cause me any serious uneasiness   Interpret my words
with candour and answer me  I conjure you  with confidence and
sincerity  

I listened to my father in silence and remained for some time incapable
of offering any reply   I revolved rapidly in my mind a multitude of
thoughts and endeavoured to arrive at some conclusion   Alas   To me
the idea of an immediate union with my Elizabeth was one of horror and
dismay   I was bound by a solemn promise which I had not yet fulfilled
and dared not break  or if I did  what manifold miseries might not
impend over me and my devoted family   Could I enter into a festival
with this deadly weight yet hanging round my neck and bowing me to the
ground   I must perform my engagement and let the monster depart with
his mate before I allowed myself to enjoy the delight of a union from
which I expected peace 

I remembered also the necessity imposed upon me of either journeying to
England or entering into a long correspondence with those philosophers
of that country whose knowledge and discoveries were of indispensable
use to me in my present undertaking   The latter method of obtaining
the desired intelligence was dilatory and unsatisfactory  besides  I
had an insurmountable aversion to the idea of engaging myself in my
loathsome task in my father s house while in habits of familiar
intercourse with those I loved   I knew that a thousand fearful
accidents might occur  the slightest of which would disclose a tale to
thrill all connected with me with horror   I was aware also that I
should often lose all self command  all capacity of hiding the
harrowing sensations that would possess me during the progress of my
unearthly occupation   I must absent myself from all I loved while thus
employed   Once commenced  it would quickly be achieved  and I might be
restored to my family in peace and happiness   My promise fulfilled 
the monster would depart forever   Or  so my fond fancy imaged  some
accident might meanwhile occur to destroy him and put an end to my
slavery forever 

These feelings dictated my answer to my father   I expressed a wish to
visit England  but concealing the true reasons of this request  I
clothed my desires under a guise which excited no suspicion  while I
urged my desire with an earnestness that easily induced my father to
comply   After so long a period of an absorbing melancholy that
resembled madness in its intensity and effects  he was glad to find
that I was capable of taking pleasure in the idea of such a journey 
and he hoped that change of scene and varied amusement would  before my
return  have restored me entirely to myself 

The duration of my absence was left to my own choice  a few months  or
at most a year  was the period contemplated   One paternal kind
precaution he had taken to ensure my having a companion   Without
previously communicating with me  he had  in concert with Elizabeth 
arranged that Clerval should join me at Strasbourg   This interfered
with the solitude I coveted for the prosecution of my task  yet at the
commencement of my journey the presence of my friend could in no way be
an impediment  and truly I rejoiced that thus I should be saved many
hours of lonely  maddening reflection   Nay  Henry might stand between
me and the intrusion of my foe   If I were alone  would he not at times
force his abhorred presence on me to remind me of my task or to
contemplate its progress 

To England  therefore  I was bound  and it was understood that my union
with Elizabeth should take place immediately on my return   My father s
age rendered him extremely averse to delay   For myself  there was one
reward I promised myself from my detested toils  one consolation for my
unparalleled sufferings  it was the prospect of that day when 
enfranchised from my miserable slavery  I might claim Elizabeth and
forget the past in my union with her 

I now made arrangements for my journey  but one feeling haunted me
which filled me with fear and agitation   During my absence I should
leave my friends unconscious of the existence of their enemy and
unprotected from his attacks  exasperated as he might be by my
departure   But he had promised to follow me wherever I might go  and
would he not accompany me to England   This imagination was dreadful in
itself  but soothing inasmuch as it supposed the safety of my friends 
I was agonized with the idea of the possibility that the reverse of
this might happen   But through the whole period during which I was the
slave of my creature I allowed myself to be governed by the impulses of
the moment  and my present sensations strongly intimated that the fiend
would follow me and exempt my family from the danger of his
machinations 

It was in the latter end of September that I again quitted my native
country   My journey had been my own suggestion  and Elizabeth
therefore acquiesced  but she was filled with disquiet at the idea of
my suffering  away from her  the inroads of misery and grief   It had
been her care which provided me a companion in Clerval  and yet a man
is blind to a thousand minute circumstances which call forth a woman s
sedulous attention   She longed to bid me hasten my return  a thousand
conflicting emotions rendered her mute as she bade me a tearful  silent
farewell 

I threw myself into the carriage that was to convey me away  hardly
knowing whither I was going  and careless of what was passing around 
I remembered only  and it was with a bitter anguish that I reflected on
it  to order that my chemical instruments should be packed to go with
me   Filled with dreary imaginations  I passed through many beautiful
and majestic scenes  but my eyes were fixed and unobserving   I could
only think of the bourne of my travels and the work which was to occupy
me whilst they endured 

After some days spent in listless indolence  during which I traversed
many leagues  I arrived at Strasbourg  where I waited two days for
Clerval   He came   Alas  how great was the contrast between us   He
was alive to every new scene  joyful when he saw the beauties of the
setting sun  and more happy when he beheld it rise and recommence a new
day   He pointed out to me the shifting colours of the landscape and
the appearances of the sky    This is what it is to live   he cried 
 how I enjoy existence   But you  my dear Frankenstein  wherefore are
you desponding and sorrowful   In truth  I was occupied by gloomy
thoughts and neither saw the descent of the evening star nor the golden
sunrise reflected in the Rhine   And you  my friend  would be far more
amused with the journal of Clerval  who observed the scenery with an
eye of feeling and delight  than in listening to my reflections   I  a
miserable wretch  haunted by a curse that shut up every avenue to
enjoyment 

We had agreed to descend the Rhine in a boat from Strasbourg to
Rotterdam  whence we might take shipping for London   During this
voyage we passed many willowy islands and saw several beautiful towns 
We stayed a day at Mannheim  and on the fifth from our departure from
Strasbourg  arrived at Mainz   The course of the Rhine below Mainz
becomes much more picturesque   The river descends rapidly and winds
between hills  not high  but steep  and of beautiful forms   We saw
many ruined castles standing on the edges of precipices  surrounded by
black woods  high and inaccessible   This part of the Rhine  indeed 
presents a singularly variegated landscape   In one spot you view
rugged hills  ruined castles overlooking tremendous precipices  with
the dark Rhine rushing beneath  and on the sudden turn of a promontory 
flourishing vineyards with green sloping banks and a meandering river
and populous towns occupy the scene 

We travelled at the time of the vintage and heard the song of the
labourers as we glided down the stream   Even I  depressed in mind  and
my spirits continually agitated by gloomy feelings  even I was pleased 
I lay at the bottom of the boat  and as I gazed on the cloudless blue
sky  I seemed to drink in a tranquillity to which I had long been a
stranger   And if these were my sensations  who can describe those of
Henry   He felt as if he had been transported to fairy land and enjoyed
a happiness seldom tasted by man    I have seen   he said   the most
beautiful scenes of my own country  I have visited the lakes of Lucerne
and Uri  where the snowy mountains descend almost perpendicularly to
the water  casting black and impenetrable shades  which would cause a
gloomy and mournful appearance were it not for the most verdant islands
that believe the eye by their gay appearance  I have seen this lake
agitated by a tempest  when the wind tore up whirlwinds of water and
gave you an idea of what the water spout must be on the great ocean 
and the waves dash with fury the base of the mountain  where the priest
and his mistress were overwhelmed by an avalanche and where their dying
voices are still said to be heard amid the pauses of the nightly wind 
I have seen the mountains of La Valais  and the Pays de Vaud  but this
country  Victor  pleases me more than all those wonders   The mountains
of Switzerland are more majestic and strange  but there is a charm in
the banks of this divine river that I never before saw equalled   Look
at that castle which overhangs yon precipice  and that also on the
island  almost concealed amongst the foliage of those lovely trees  and
now that group of labourers coming from among their vines  and that
village half hid in the recess of the mountain   Oh  surely the spirit
that inhabits and guards this place has a soul more in harmony with man
than those who pile the glacier or retire to the inaccessible peaks of
the mountains of our own country   Clerval   Beloved friend   Even now
it delights me to record your words and to dwell on the praise of which
you are so eminently deserving   He was a being formed in the  very
poetry of nature   His wild and enthusiastic imagination was chastened
by the sensibility of his heart   His soul overflowed with ardent
affections  and his friendship was of that devoted and wondrous nature
that the world minded teach us to look for only in the imagination  But
even human sympathies were not sufficient to satisfy his eager mind 
The scenery of external nature  which others regard only with
admiration  he loved with ardour   


         The sounding cataract
     Haunted him like a passion   the tall rock 
     The mountain  and the deep and gloomy wood 
     Their colours and their forms  were then to him
     An appetite  a feeling  and a love 
     That had no need of a remoter charm 
     By thought supplied  or any interest
     Unborrow d from the eye 

                     Wordsworth s  Tintern Abbey   


And where does he now exist   Is this gentle and lovely being lost
forever   Has this mind  so replete with ideas  imaginations fanciful
and magnificent  which formed a world  whose existence depended on the
life of its creator   has this mind perished   Does it now only exist
in my memory   No  it is not thus  your form so divinely wrought  and
beaming with beauty  has decayed  but your spirit still visits and
consoles your unhappy friend 

Pardon this gush of sorrow  these ineffectual words are but a slight
tribute to the unexampled worth of Henry  but they soothe my heart 
overflowing with the anguish which his remembrance creates   I will
proceed with my tale 

Beyond Cologne we descended to the plains of Holland  and we resolved
to post the remainder of our way  for the wind was contrary and the
stream of the river was too gentle to aid us   Our journey here lost
the interest arising from beautiful scenery  but we arrived in a few
days at Rotterdam  whence we proceeded by sea to England   It was on a
clear morning  in the latter days of December  that I first saw the
white cliffs of Britain   The banks of the Thames presented a new
scene  they were flat but fertile  and almost every town was marked by
the remembrance of some story   We saw Tilbury Fort and remembered the
Spanish Armada  Gravesend  Woolwich  and Greenwich  places which I had
heard of even in my country 

At length we saw the numerous steeples of London  St  Paul s towering
above all  and the Tower famed in English history 



Chapter 19

London was our present point of rest  we determined to remain several
months in this wonderful and celebrated city   Clerval desired the
intercourse of the men of genius and talent who flourished at this
time  but this was with me a secondary object  I was principally
occupied with the means of obtaining the information necessary for the
completion of my promise and quickly availed myself of the letters of
introduction that I had brought with me  addressed to the most
distinguished natural philosophers 

If this journey had taken place during my days of study and happiness 
it would have afforded me inexpressible pleasure   But a blight had
come over my existence  and I only visited these people for the sake of
the information they might give me on the subject in which my interest
was so terribly profound   Company was irksome to me  when alone  I
could fill my mind with the sights of heaven and earth  the voice of
Henry soothed me  and I could thus cheat myself into a transitory
peace   But busy  uninteresting  joyous faces brought back despair to
my heart   I saw an insurmountable barrier placed between me and my
fellow men  this barrier was sealed with the blood of William and
Justine  and to reflect on the events connected with those names filled
my soul with anguish 

But in Clerval I saw the image of my former self  he was inquisitive
and anxious to gain experience and instruction   The difference of
manners which he observed was to him an inexhaustible source of
instruction and amusement   He was also pursuing an object he had long
had in view   His design was to visit India  in the belief that he had
in his knowledge of its various languages  and in the views he had
taken of its society  the means of materially assisting the progress of
European colonization and trade   In Britain only could he further the
execution of his plan   He was forever busy  and the only check to his
enjoyments was my sorrowful and dejected mind   I tried to conceal this
as much as possible  that I might not debar him from the pleasures
natural to one who was entering on a new scene of life  undisturbed by
any care or bitter recollection   I often refused to accompany him 
alleging another engagement  that I might remain alone   I now also
began to collect the materials necessary for my new creation  and this
was to me like the torture of single drops of water continually falling
on the head   Every thought that was devoted to it was an extreme
anguish  and every word that I spoke in allusion to it caused my lips
to quiver  and my heart to palpitate 

After passing some months in London  we received a letter from a person
in Scotland who had formerly been our visitor at Geneva   He mentioned
the beauties of his native country and asked us if those were not
sufficient allurements to induce us to prolong our journey as far north
as Perth  where he resided   Clerval eagerly desired to accept this
invitation  and I  although I abhorred society  wished to view again
mountains and streams and all the wondrous works with which Nature
adorns her chosen dwelling places   We had arrived in England at the
beginning of October  and it was now February   We accordingly
determined to commence our journey towards the north at the expiration
of another month   In this expedition we did not intend to follow the
great road to Edinburgh  but to visit Windsor  Oxford  Matlock  and the
Cumberland lakes  resolving to arrive at the completion of this tour
about the end of July   I packed up my chemical instruments and the
materials I had collected  resolving to finish my labours in some
obscure nook in the northern highlands of Scotland 

We quitted London on the 27th of March and remained a few days at
Windsor  rambling in its beautiful forest   This was a new scene to us
mountaineers  the majestic oaks  the quantity of game  and the herds of
stately deer were all novelties to us 

From thence we proceeded to Oxford   As we entered this city our minds
were filled with the remembrance of the events that had been transacted
there more than a century and a half before   It was here that Charles
I  had collected his forces   This city had remained faithful to him 
after the whole nation had forsaken his cause to join the standard of
Parliament and liberty   The memory of that unfortunate king and his
companions  the amiable Falkland  the insolent Goring  his queen  and
son  gave a peculiar interest to every part of the city which they
might be supposed to have inhabited   The spirit of elder days found a
dwelling here  and we delighted to trace its footsteps   If these
feelings had not found an imaginary gratification  the appearance of
the city had yet in itself sufficient beauty to obtain our admiration 
The colleges are ancient and picturesque  the streets are almost
magnificent  and the lovely Isis  which flows beside it through meadows
of exquisite verdure  is spread forth into a placid expanse of waters 
which reflects its majestic assemblage of towers  and spires  and
domes  embosomed among aged trees 

I enjoyed this scene  and yet my enjoyment was embittered both by the
memory of the past and the anticipation of the future   I was formed
for peaceful happiness   During my youthful days discontent never
visited my mind  and if I was ever overcome by ennui  the sight of what
is beautiful in nature or the study of what is excellent and sublime in
the productions of man could always interest my heart and communicate
elasticity to my spirits   But I am a blasted tree  the bolt has
entered my soul  and I felt then that I should survive to exhibit what
I shall soon cease to be  a miserable spectacle of wrecked humanity 
pitiable to others and intolerable to myself 

We passed a considerable period at Oxford  rambling among its environs
and endeavouring to identify every spot which might relate to the most
animating epoch of English history   Our little voyages of discovery
were often prolonged by the successive objects that presented
themselves   We visited the tomb of the illustrious Hampden and the
field on which that patriot fell   For a moment my soul was elevated
from its debasing and miserable fears to contemplate the divine ideas
of liberty and self sacrifice of which these sights were the monuments
and the remembrancers   For an instant I dared to shake off my chains
and look around me with a free and lofty spirit  but the iron had eaten
into my flesh  and I sank again  trembling and hopeless  into my
miserable self 

We left Oxford with regret and proceeded to Matlock  which was our next
place of rest   The country in the neighbourhood of this village
resembled  to a greater degree  the scenery of Switzerland  but
everything is on a lower scale  and the green hills want the crown of
distant white Alps which always attend on the piny mountains of my
native country   We visited the wondrous cave and the little cabinets
of natural history  where the curiosities are disposed in the same
manner as in the collections at Servox and Chamounix   The latter name
made me tremble when pronounced by Henry  and I hastened to quit
Matlock  with which that terrible scene was thus associated 

From Derby  still journeying northwards  we passed two months in
Cumberland and Westmorland   I could now almost fancy myself among the
Swiss mountains   The little patches of snow which yet lingered on the
northern sides of the mountains  the lakes  and the dashing of the
rocky streams were all familiar and dear sights to me   Here also we
made some acquaintances  who almost contrived to cheat me into
happiness   The delight of Clerval was proportionably greater than
mine  his mind expanded in the company of men of talent  and he found
in his own nature greater capacities and resources than he could have
imagined himself to have possessed while he associated with his
inferiors    I could pass my life here   said he to me   and among
these mountains I should scarcely regret Switzerland and the Rhine  

But he found that a traveller s life is one that includes much pain
amidst its enjoyments   His feelings are forever on the stretch  and
when he begins to sink into repose  he finds himself obliged to quit
that on which he rests in pleasure for something new  which again
engages his attention  and which also he forsakes for other novelties 

We had scarcely visited the various lakes of Cumberland and Westmorland
and conceived an affection for some of the inhabitants when the period
of our appointment with our Scotch friend approached  and we left them
to travel on   For my own part I was not sorry   I had now neglected my
promise for some time  and I feared the effects of the daemon s
disappointment   He might remain in Switzerland and wreak his vengeance
on my relatives   This idea pursued me and tormented me at every moment
from which I might otherwise have snatched repose and peace   I waited
for my letters with feverish impatience  if they were delayed I was
miserable and overcome by a thousand fears  and when they arrived and I
saw the superscription of Elizabeth or my father  I hardly dared to
read and ascertain my fate   Sometimes I thought that the fiend
followed me and might expedite my remissness by murdering my companion 
When these thoughts possessed me  I would not quit Henry for a moment 
but followed him as his shadow  to protect him from the fancied rage of
his destroyer   I felt as if I had committed some great crime  the
consciousness of which haunted me   I was guiltless  but I had indeed
drawn down a horrible curse upon my head  as mortal as that of crime 

I visited Edinburgh with languid eyes and mind  and yet that city might
have interested the most unfortunate being   Clerval did not like it so
well as Oxford  for the antiquity of the latter city was more pleasing
to him   But the beauty and regularity of the new town of Edinburgh 
its romantic castle and its environs  the most delightful in the world 
Arthur s Seat  St  Bernard s Well  and the Pentland Hills compensated
him for the change and filled him with cheerfulness and admiration  But
I was impatient to arrive at the termination of my journey 

We left Edinburgh in a week  passing through Coupar  St  Andrew s  and
along the banks of the Tay  to Perth  where our friend expected us 
But I was in no mood to laugh and talk with strangers or enter into
their feelings or plans with the good humour expected from a guest  and
accordingly I told Clerval that I wished to make the tour of Scotland
alone    Do you   said I   enjoy yourself  and let this be our
rendezvous   I may be absent a month or two  but do not interfere with
my motions  I entreat you  leave me to peace and solitude for a short
time  and when I return  I hope it will be with a lighter heart  more
congenial to your own temper  

Henry wished to dissuade me  but seeing me bent on this plan  ceased to
remonstrate   He entreated me to write often    I had rather be with
you   he said   in your solitary rambles  than with these Scotch
people  whom I do not know  hasten  then  my dear  friend  to return 
that I may again feel myself somewhat at home  which I cannot do in
your absence  

Having parted from my friend  I determined to visit some remote spot of
Scotland and finish my work in solitude   I did not doubt but that the
monster followed me and would discover himself to me when I should have
finished  that he might receive his companion   With this resolution I
traversed the northern highlands and fixed on one of the remotest of
the Orkneys as the scene of my labours   It was a place fitted for such
a work  being hardly more than a rock whose high sides were continually
beaten upon by the waves   The soil was barren  scarcely affording
pasture for a few miserable cows  and oatmeal for its inhabitants 
which consisted of five persons  whose gaunt and scraggy limbs gave
tokens of their miserable fare   Vegetables and bread  when they
indulged in such luxuries  and even fresh water  was to be procured
from the mainland  which was about five miles distant 

On the whole island there were but three miserable huts  and one of
these was vacant when I arrived   This I hired   It contained but two
rooms  and these exhibited all the squalidness of the most miserable
penury   The thatch had fallen in  the walls were unplastered  and the
door was off its hinges   I ordered it to be repaired  bought some
furniture  and took possession  an incident which would doubtless have
occasioned some surprise had not all the senses of the cottagers been
benumbed by want and squalid poverty   As it was  I lived ungazed at
and unmolested  hardly thanked for the pittance of food and clothes
which I gave  so much does suffering blunt even the coarsest sensations
of men 

In this retreat I devoted the morning to labour  but in the evening 
when the weather permitted  I walked on the stony beach of the sea to
listen to the waves as they roared and dashed at my feet   It was a
monotonous yet ever changing scene   I thought of Switzerland  it was
far different from this desolate and appalling landscape   Its hills
are covered with vines  and its cottages are scattered thickly in the
plains   Its fair lakes reflect a blue and gentle sky  and when
troubled by the winds  their tumult is but as the play of a lively
infant when compared to the roarings of the giant ocean 

In this manner I distributed my occupations when I first arrived  but
as I proceeded in my labour  it became every day more horrible and
irksome to me   Sometimes I could not prevail on myself to enter my
laboratory for several days  and at other times I toiled day and night
in order to complete my work   It was  indeed  a filthy process in
which I was engaged   During my first experiment  a kind of
enthusiastic frenzy had blinded me to the horror of my employment  my
mind was intently fixed on the consummation of my labour  and my eyes
were shut to the horror of my proceedings   But now I went to it in
cold blood  and my heart often sickened at the work of my hands 

Thus situated  employed in the most detestable occupation  immersed in
a solitude where nothing could for an instant call my attention from
the actual scene in which I was engaged  my spirits became unequal  I
grew restless and nervous   Every moment I feared to meet my
persecutor   Sometimes I sat with my eyes fixed on the ground  fearing
to raise them lest they should encounter the object which I so much
dreaded to behold   I feared to wander from the sight of my fellow
creatures lest when alone he should come to claim his companion 

In the mean time I worked on  and my labour was already considerably
advanced   I looked towards its completion with a tremulous and eager
hope  which I dared not trust myself to question but which was
intermixed with obscure forebodings of evil that made my heart sicken
in my bosom 



Chapter 20

I sat one evening in my laboratory  the sun had set  and the moon was
just rising from the sea  I had not sufficient light for my employment 
and I remained idle  in a pause of consideration of whether I should
leave my labour for the night or hasten its conclusion by an
unremitting attention to it   As I sat  a train of reflection occurred
to me which led me to consider the effects of what I was now doing 
Three years before  I was engaged in the same manner and had created a
fiend whose unparalleled barbarity had desolated my heart and filled it
forever with the bitterest remorse   I was now about to form another
being of whose dispositions I was alike ignorant  she might become ten
thousand times more malignant than her mate and delight  for its own
sake  in murder and wretchedness   He had sworn to quit the
neighbourhood of man and hide himself in deserts  but she had not  and
she  who in all probability was to become a thinking and reasoning
animal  might refuse to comply with a compact made before her creation 
They might even hate each other  the creature who already lived loathed
his own deformity  and might he not conceive a greater abhorrence for
it when it came before his eyes in the female form   She also might
turn with disgust from him to the superior beauty of man  she might
quit him  and he be again alone  exasperated by the fresh provocation
of being deserted by one of his own species   Even if they were to
leave Europe and inhabit the deserts of the new world  yet one of the
first results of those sympathies for which the daemon thirsted would
be children  and a race of devils would be propagated upon the earth
who might make the very existence of the species of man a condition
precarious and full of terror   Had I right  for my own benefit  to
inflict this curse upon everlasting generations   I had before been
moved by the sophisms of the being I had created  I had been struck
senseless by his fiendish threats  but now  for the first time  the
wickedness of my promise burst upon me  I shuddered to think that
future ages might curse me as their pest  whose selfishness had not
hesitated to buy its own peace at the price  perhaps  of the existence
of the whole human race 

I trembled and my heart failed within me  when  on looking up  I saw by
the light of the moon the daemon at the casement   A ghastly grin
wrinkled his lips as he gazed on me  where I sat fulfilling the task
which he had allotted to me   Yes  he had followed me in my travels  he
had loitered in forests  hid himself in caves  or taken refuge in wide
and desert heaths  and he now came to mark my progress and claim the
fulfilment of my promise 

As I looked on him  his countenance expressed the utmost extent of
malice and treachery   I thought with a sensation of madness on my
promise of creating another like to him  and trembling with passion 
tore to pieces the thing on which I was engaged   The wretch saw me
destroy the creature on whose future existence he depended for
happiness  and with a howl of devilish despair and revenge  withdrew 

I left the room  and locking the door  made a solemn vow in my own
heart never to resume my labours  and then  with trembling steps  I
sought my own apartment  I was alone  none were near me to dissipate
the gloom and relieve me from the sickening oppression of the most
terrible reveries 

Several hours passed  and I remained near my window gazing on the sea 
it was almost motionless  for the winds were hushed  and all nature
reposed under the eye of the quiet moon   A few fishing vessels alone
specked the water  and now and then the gentle breeze wafted the sound
of voices as the fishermen called to one another   I felt the silence 
although I was hardly conscious of its extreme profundity  until my ear
was suddenly arrested by the paddling of oars near the shore  and a
person landed close to my house 

In a few minutes after  I heard the creaking of my door  as if some one
endeavoured to open it softly   I trembled from head to foot  I felt a
presentiment of who it was and wished to rouse one of the peasants who
dwelt in a cottage not far from mine  but I was overcome by the
sensation of helplessness  so often felt in frightful dreams  when you
in vain endeavour to fly from an impending danger  and was rooted to
the spot  Presently I heard the sound of footsteps along the passage 
the door opened  and the wretch whom I dreaded appeared 

Shutting the door  he approached me and said in a smothered voice   You
have destroyed the work which you began  what is it that you intend 
Do you dare to break your promise   I have endured toil and misery  I
left Switzerland with you  I crept along the shores of the Rhine  among
its willow islands and over the summits of its hills   I have dwelt
many months in the heaths of England and among the deserts of Scotland 
I have endured incalculable fatigue  and cold  and hunger  do you dare
destroy my hopes  

 Begone   I do break my promise  never will I create another like
yourself  equal in deformity and wickedness  

 Slave  I before reasoned with you  but you have proved yourself
unworthy of my condescension   Remember that I have power  you believe
yourself miserable  but I can make you so wretched that the light of
day will be hateful to you   You are my creator  but I am your master 
obey  

 The hour of my irresolution is past  and the period of your power is
arrived   Your threats cannot move me to do an act of wickedness  but
they confirm me in a determination of not creating you a companion in
vice   Shall I  in cool blood  set loose upon the earth a daemon whose
delight is in death and wretchedness   Begone   I am firm  and your
words will only exasperate my rage  

The monster saw my determination in my face and gnashed his teeth in
the impotence of anger    Shall each man   cried he   find a wife for
his bosom  and each beast have his mate  and I be alone   I had
feelings of affection  and they were requited by detestation and scorn 
Man   You may hate  but beware   Your hours will pass in dread and
misery  and soon the bolt  will fall which must ravish from you your
happiness forever   Are you to be happy while I grovel in the intensity
of my wretchedness   You can blast my other passions  but revenge
remains  revenge  henceforth dearer than light or food   I may die  but
first you  my tyrant and tormentor  shall curse the sun that gazes on
your misery   Beware  for I am fearless and therefore powerful   I will
watch with the wiliness of a snake  that I may sting with its venom 
Man  you shall repent of the injuries you inflict  

 Devil  cease  and do not poison the air with these sounds of malice 
I have declared my resolution to you  and I am no coward to bend
beneath words   Leave me  I am inexorable  

 It is well   I go  but remember  I shall be with you on your
wedding night  

I started forward and exclaimed   Villain   Before you sign my
death warrant  be sure that you are yourself safe  

I would have seized him  but he eluded me and quitted the house with
precipitation   In a few moments I saw him in his boat  which shot
across the waters with an arrowy swiftness and was soon lost amidst the
waves 

All was again silent  but his words rang in my ears   I burned with
rage to pursue the murderer of my peace and precipitate him into the
ocean   I walked up and down my room hastily and perturbed  while my
imagination conjured up a thousand images to torment and sting me   Why
had I not followed him and closed with him in mortal strife   But I had
suffered him to depart  and he had directed his course towards the
mainland   I shuddered to think who might be the next victim sacrificed
to his insatiate revenge   And then I thought again of his words   I
WILL BE WITH YOU ON YOUR WEDDING NIGHT    That  then  was the period
fixed for the fulfilment of my destiny   In that hour I should die and
at once satisfy and extinguish his malice   The prospect did not move
me to fear  yet when I thought of my beloved Elizabeth  of her tears
and endless sorrow  when she should find her lover so barbarously
snatched from her  tears  the first I had shed for many months 
streamed from my eyes  and I resolved not to fall before my enemy
without a bitter struggle 

The night passed away  and the sun rose from the ocean  my feelings
became calmer  if it may be called calmness when the violence of rage
sinks into the depths of despair   I left the house  the horrid scene
of the last night s contention  and walked on the beach of the sea 
which I almost regarded as an insuperable barrier between me and my
fellow creatures  nay  a wish that such should prove the fact stole
across me 

I desired that I might pass my life on that barren rock  wearily  it is
true  but uninterrupted by any sudden shock of misery   If I returned 
it was to be sacrificed or to see those whom I most loved die under the
grasp of a daemon whom I had myself created 

I walked about the isle like a restless spectre  separated from all it
loved and miserable in the separation   When it became noon  and the
sun rose higher  I lay down on the grass and was overpowered by a deep
sleep   I had been awake the whole of the preceding night  my nerves
were agitated  and my eyes inflamed by watching and misery   The sleep
into which I now sank refreshed me  and when I awoke  I again felt as
if I belonged to a race of human beings like myself  and I began to
reflect upon what had passed with greater composure  yet still the
words of the fiend rang in my ears like a death knell  they appeared
like a dream  yet distinct and oppressive as a reality 

The sun had far descended  and I still sat on the shore  satisfying my
appetite  which had become ravenous  with an oaten cake  when I saw a
fishing boat land close to me  and one of the men brought me a packet 
it contained letters from Geneva  and one from Clerval entreating me to
join him   He said that he was wearing away his time fruitlessly where
he was  that letters from the friends he had formed in London desired
his return to complete the negotiation they had entered into for his
Indian enterprise   He could not any longer delay his departure  but as
his journey to London might be followed  even sooner than he now
conjectured  by his longer voyage  he entreated me to bestow as much of
my society on him as I could spare   He besought me  therefore  to
leave my solitary isle and to meet him at Perth  that we might proceed
southwards together   This letter in a degree recalled me to life  and
I determined to quit my island at the expiration of two days   Yet 
before I departed  there was a task to perform  on which I shuddered to
reflect  I must pack up my chemical instruments  and for that purpose I
must enter the room which had been the scene of my odious work  and I
must handle those utensils the sight of which was sickening to me  The
next morning  at daybreak  I summoned sufficient courage and unlocked
the door of my laboratory   The remains of the half finished creature 
whom I had destroyed  lay scattered on the floor  and I almost felt as
if I had mangled the living flesh of a human being   I paused to
collect myself and then entered the chamber   With trembling hand I
conveyed the instruments out of the room  but I reflected that I ought
not to leave the relics of my work to excite the horror and suspicion
of the peasants  and I accordingly put them into a basket  with a great
quantity of stones  and laying them up  determined to throw them into
the sea that very night  and in the meantime I sat upon the beach 
employed in cleaning and arranging my chemical apparatus 

Nothing could be more complete than the alteration that had taken place
in my feelings since the night of the appearance of the daemon   I had
before regarded my promise with a gloomy despair as a thing that  with
whatever consequences  must be fulfilled  but I now felt as if a film
had been taken from before my eyes and that I for the first time saw
clearly   The idea of renewing my labours did not for one instant occur
to me  the threat I had heard weighed on my thoughts  but I did not
reflect that a voluntary act of mine could avert it   I had resolved in
my own mind that to create another like the fiend I had first made
would be an act of the basest and most atrocious selfishness  and I
banished from my mind every thought that could lead to a different
conclusion 

Between two and three in the morning the moon rose  and I then  putting
my basket aboard a little skiff  sailed out about four miles from the
shore   The scene was perfectly solitary  a few boats were returning
towards land  but I sailed away from them   I felt as if I was about
the commission of a dreadful crime and avoided with shuddering anxiety
any encounter with my fellow creatures   At one time the moon  which
had before been clear  was suddenly overspread by a thick cloud  and I
took advantage of the moment of darkness and cast my basket into the
sea  I listened to the gurgling sound as it sank and then sailed away
from the spot   The sky became clouded  but the air was pure  although
chilled by the northeast breeze that was then rising   But it refreshed
me and filled me with such agreeable sensations that I resolved to
prolong my stay on the water  and fixing the rudder in a direct
position  stretched myself at the bottom of the boat   Clouds hid the
moon  everything was obscure  and I heard only the sound of the boat as
its keel cut through the waves  the murmur lulled me  and in a short
time I slept soundly  I do not know how long I remained in this
situation  but when I awoke I found that the sun had already mounted
considerably   The wind was high  and the waves continually threatened
the safety of my little skiff   I found that the wind was northeast and
must have driven me far from the coast from which I had embarked   I
endeavoured to change my course but quickly found that if I again made
the attempt the boat would be instantly filled with water   Thus
situated  my only resource was to drive before the wind   I confess
that I felt a few sensations of terror   I had no compass with me and
was so slenderly acquainted with the geography of this part of the
world that the sun was of little benefit to me   I might be driven into
the wide Atlantic and feel all the tortures of starvation or be
swallowed up in the immeasurable waters that roared and buffeted around
me   I had already been out many hours and felt the torment of a
burning thirst  a prelude to my other sufferings   I looked on the
heavens  which were covered by clouds that flew before the wind  only
to be replaced by others  I looked upon the sea  it was to be my grave 
 Fiend   I exclaimed   your task is already fulfilled    I thought of
Elizabeth  of my father  and of Clerval  all left behind  on whom the
monster might satisfy his sanguinary and merciless passions   This idea
plunged me into a reverie so despairing and frightful that even now 
when the scene is on the point of closing before me forever  I shudder
to reflect on it 

Some hours passed thus  but by degrees  as the sun declined towards the
horizon  the wind died away into a gentle breeze and the sea became
free from breakers   But these gave place to a heavy swell  I felt sick
and hardly able to hold the rudder  when suddenly I saw a line of high
land towards the south 

Almost spent  as I was  by fatigue and the dreadful suspense I endured
for several hours  this sudden certainty of life rushed like a flood of
warm joy to my heart  and tears gushed from my eyes 

How mutable are our feelings  and how strange is that clinging love we
have of life even in the excess of misery   I constructed another sail
with a part of my dress and eagerly steered my course towards the land 
It had a wild and rocky appearance  but as I approached nearer I easily
perceived the traces of cultivation   I saw vessels near the shore and
found myself suddenly transported back to the neighbourhood of
civilized man   I carefully traced the windings of the land and hailed
a steeple which I at length saw issuing from behind a small promontory 
As I was in a state of extreme debility  I resolved to sail directly
towards the town  as a place where I could most easily procure
nourishment   Fortunately I had money with me 

As I turned the promontory I perceived a small neat town and a good
harbour  which I entered  my heart bounding with joy at my unexpected
escape 

As I was occupied in fixing the boat and arranging the sails  several
people crowded towards the spot   They seemed much surprised at my
appearance  but instead of offering me any assistance  whispered
together with gestures that at any other time might have produced in me
a slight sensation of alarm  As it was  I merely remarked that they
spoke English  and I therefore addressed them in that language    My
good friends   said I   will you be so kind as to tell me the name of
this town and inform me where I am  

 You will know that soon enough   replied a man with a hoarse voice 
 Maybe you are come to a place that will not prove much to your taste 
but you will not be consulted as to your quarters  I promise you  

I was exceedingly surprised on receiving so rude an answer from a
stranger  and I was also disconcerted on perceiving the frowning and
angry countenances of his companions    Why do you answer me so
roughly    I replied    Surely it is not the custom of Englishmen to
receive strangers so inhospitably  

 I do not know   said the man   what the custom of the English may be 
but it is the custom of the Irish to hate villains   While this strange
dialogue continued  I perceived the crowd rapidly increase   Their
faces expressed a mixture of curiosity and anger  which annoyed  and in
some degree alarmed me 

I inquired the way to the inn  but no one replied   I then moved
forward  and a murmuring sound arose from the crowd as they followed
and surrounded me  when an ill looking man approaching tapped me on the
shoulder and said   Come  sir  you must follow me to Mr  Kirwin s to
give an account of yourself  

 Who is Mr  Kirwin   Why am I to give an account of myself   Is not
this a free country  

 Ay  sir  free enough for honest folks   Mr  Kirwin is a magistrate 
and you are to give an account of the death of a gentleman who was
found murdered here last night  

This answer startled me  but I presently recovered myself   I was
innocent  that could easily be proved  accordingly I followed my
conductor in silence and was led to one of the best houses in the town 
I was ready to sink from fatigue and hunger  but being surrounded by a
crowd  I thought it politic to rouse all my strength  that no physical
debility might be construed into apprehension or conscious guilt 
Little did I then expect the calamity that was in a few moments to
overwhelm me and extinguish in horror and despair all fear of ignominy
or death  I must pause here  for it requires all my fortitude to recall
the memory of the frightful events which I am about to relate  in
proper detail  to my recollection 



Chapter 21

I was soon introduced into the presence of the magistrate  an old
benevolent man with calm and mild manners   He looked upon me  however 
with some degree of severity  and then  turning towards my conductors 
he asked who appeared as witnesses on this occasion 

About half a dozen men came forward  and  one being selected by the
magistrate  he deposed that he had been out fishing the night before
with his son and brother in law  Daniel Nugent  when  about ten
o clock  they observed a strong northerly blast rising  and they
accordingly put in for port   It was a very dark night  as the moon had
not yet risen  they did not land at the harbour  but  as they had been
accustomed  at a creek about two miles below   He walked on first 
carrying a part of the fishing tackle  and his companions followed him
at some distance 

As he was proceeding along the sands  he struck his foot against
something and fell at his length on the ground  His companions came up
to assist him  and by the light of their lantern they found that he had
fallen on the body of a man  who was to all appearance dead   Their
first supposition was that it was the corpse of some person who had
been drowned and was thrown on shore by the waves  but on examination
they found that the clothes were not wet and even that the body was not
then cold   They instantly carried it to the cottage of an old woman
near the spot and endeavoured  but in vain  to restore it to life   It
appeared to be a handsome young man  about five and twenty years of
age   He had apparently been strangled  for there was no sign of any
violence except the black mark of fingers on his neck 

The first part of this deposition did not in the least interest me  but
when the mark of the fingers was mentioned I remembered the murder of
my brother and felt myself extremely agitated  my limbs trembled  and a
mist came over my eyes  which obliged me to lean on a chair for
support   The magistrate observed me with a keen eye and of course drew
an unfavourable augury from my manner 

The son confirmed his father s account  but when Daniel Nugent was
called he swore positively that just before the fall of his companion 
he saw a boat  with a single man in it  at a short distance from the
shore  and as far as he could judge by the light of a few stars  it was
the same boat in which I had just landed   A woman deposed that she
lived near the beach and was standing at the door of her cottage 
waiting for the return of the fishermen  about an hour before she heard
of the discovery of the body  when she saw a boat with only one man in
it push off from that part of the shore where the corpse was afterwards
found 

Another woman confirmed the account of the fishermen having brought the
body into her house  it was not cold   They put it into a bed and
rubbed it  and Daniel went to the town for an apothecary  but life was
quite gone 

Several other men were examined concerning my landing  and they agreed
that  with the strong north wind that had arisen during the night  it
was very probable that I had beaten about for many hours and had been
obliged to return nearly to the same spot from which I had departed 
Besides  they observed that it appeared that I had brought the body
from another place  and it was likely that as I did not appear to know
the shore  I might have put into the harbour ignorant of the distance
of the town of      from the place where I had deposited the corpse 

Mr  Kirwin  on hearing this evidence  desired that I should be taken
into the room where the body lay for interment  that it might be
observed what effect the sight of it would produce upon me   This idea
was probably suggested by the extreme agitation I had exhibited when
the mode of the murder had been described   I was accordingly
conducted  by the magistrate and several other persons  to the inn   I
could not help being struck by the strange coincidences that had taken
place during this eventful night  but  knowing that I had been
conversing with several persons in the island I had inhabited about the
time that the body had been found  I was perfectly tranquil as to the
consequences of the affair   I entered the room where the corpse lay
and was led up to the coffin   How can I describe my sensations on
beholding it   I feel yet parched with horror  nor can I reflect on
that terrible moment without shuddering and agony   The examination 
the presence of the magistrate and witnesses  passed like a dream from
my memory when I saw the lifeless form of Henry Clerval stretched
before me   I gasped for breath  and throwing myself on the body  I
exclaimed   Have my murderous machinations deprived you also  my
dearest Henry  of life   Two I have already destroyed  other victims
await their destiny  but you  Clerval  my friend  my benefactor   

The human frame could no longer support the agonies that I endured  and
I was carried out of the room in strong convulsions   A fever succeeded
to this   I lay for two months on the point of death  my ravings  as I
afterwards heard  were frightful  I called myself the murderer of
William  of Justine  and of Clerval   Sometimes I entreated my
attendants to assist me in the destruction of the fiend by whom I was
tormented  and at others I felt the fingers of the monster already
grasping my neck  and screamed aloud with agony and terror 
Fortunately  as I spoke my native language  Mr  Kirwin alone understood
me  but my gestures and bitter cries were sufficient to affright the
other witnesses   Why did I not die   More miserable than man ever was
before  why did I not sink into forgetfulness and rest   Death snatches
away many blooming children  the only hopes of their doting parents 
how many brides and youthful lovers have been one day in the bloom of
health and hope  and the next a prey for worms and the decay of the
tomb   Of what materials was I made that I could thus resist so many
shocks  which  like the turning of the wheel  continually renewed the
torture 

But I was doomed to live and in two months found myself as awaking from
a dream  in a prison  stretched on a wretched bed  surrounded by
jailers  turnkeys  bolts  and all the miserable apparatus of a dungeon 
It was morning  I remember  when I thus awoke to understanding  I had
forgotten the particulars of what had happened and only felt as if some
great misfortune had suddenly overwhelmed me  but when I looked around
and saw the barred windows and the squalidness of the room in which I
was  all flashed across my memory and I groaned bitterly 

This sound disturbed an old woman who was sleeping in a chair beside
me   She was a hired nurse  the wife of one of the turnkeys  and her
countenance expressed all those bad qualities which often characterize
that class   The lines of her face were hard and rude  like that of
persons accustomed to see without sympathizing in sights of misery  Her
tone expressed her entire indifference  she addressed me in English 
and the voice struck me as one that I had heard during my sufferings 
 Are you better now  sir   said she 

I replied in the same language  with a feeble voice   I believe I am 
but if it be all true  if indeed I did not dream  I am sorry that I am
still alive to feel this misery and horror  

 For that matter   replied the old woman   if you mean about the
gentleman you murdered  I believe that it were better for you if you
were dead  for I fancy it will go hard with you   However  that s none
of my business  I am sent to nurse you and get you well  I do my duty
with a safe conscience  it were well if everybody did the same  

I turned with loathing from the woman who could utter so unfeeling a
speech to a person just saved  on the very edge of death  but I felt
languid and unable to reflect on all that had passed   The whole series
of my life appeared to me as a dream  I sometimes doubted if indeed it
were all true  for it never presented itself to my mind with the force
of reality 

As the images that floated before me became more distinct  I grew
feverish  a darkness pressed around me  no one was near me who soothed
me with the gentle voice of love  no dear hand supported me   The
physician came and prescribed medicines  and the old woman prepared
them for me  but utter carelessness was visible in the first  and the
expression of brutality was strongly marked in the visage of the
second   Who could be interested in the fate of a murderer but the
hangman who would gain his fee 

These were my first reflections  but I soon learned that Mr  Kirwin had
shown me extreme kindness   He had caused the best room in the prison
to be prepared for me  wretched indeed was the best   and it was he who
had provided a physician and a nurse   It is true  he seldom came to
see me  for although he ardently desired to relieve the sufferings of
every human creature  he did not wish to be present at the agonies and
miserable ravings of a murderer   He came  therefore  sometimes to see
that I was not neglected  but his visits were short and with long
intervals   One day  while I was gradually recovering  I was seated in
a chair  my eyes half open and my cheeks livid like those in death   I
was overcome by gloom and misery and often reflected I had better seek
death than desire to remain in a world which to me was replete with
wretchedness   At one time I considered whether I should not declare
myself guilty and suffer the penalty of the law  less innocent than
poor Justine had been   Such were my thoughts when the door of my
apartment was opened and Mr  Kirwin entered   His countenance expressed
sympathy and compassion  he drew a chair close to mine and addressed me
in French   I fear that this place is very shocking to you  can I do
anything to make you more comfortable  

 I thank you  but all that you mention is nothing to me  on the whole
earth there is no comfort which I am capable of receiving  

 I know that the sympathy of a stranger can be but of little relief to
one borne down as you are by so strange a misfortune   But you will  I
hope  soon quit this melancholy abode  for doubtless evidence can
easily be brought to free you from the criminal charge  

 That is my least concern  I am  by a course of strange events  become
the most miserable of mortals   Persecuted and tortured as I am and
have been  can death be any evil to me  

 Nothing indeed could be more unfortunate and agonizing than the
strange chances that have lately occurred   You were thrown  by some
surprising accident  on this shore  renowned for its hospitality 
seized immediately  and charged with murder   The first sight that was
presented to your eyes was the body of your friend  murdered in so
unaccountable a manner and placed  as it were  by some fiend across
your path  

As Mr  Kirwin said this  notwithstanding the agitation I endured on
this retrospect of my sufferings  I also felt considerable surprise at
the knowledge he seemed to possess concerning me   I suppose some
astonishment was exhibited in my countenance  for Mr  Kirwin hastened
to say   Immediately upon your being taken ill  all the papers that
were on your person were brought me  and I examined them that I might
discover some trace by which I could send to your relations an account
of your misfortune and illness  I found several letters  and  among
others  one which I discovered from its commencement to be from your
father   I instantly wrote to Geneva  nearly two months have elapsed
since the departure of my letter   But you are ill  even now you
tremble  you are unfit for agitation of any kind  

 This suspense is a thousand times worse than the most horrible event 
tell me what new scene of death has been acted  and whose murder I am
now to lament  

 Your family is perfectly well   said Mr  Kirwin with gentleness   and
someone  a friend  is come to visit you  

I know not by what chain of thought the idea presented itself  but it
instantly darted into my mind that the murderer had come to mock at my
misery and taunt me with the death of Clerval  as a new incitement for
me to comply with his hellish desires   I put my hand before my eyes 
and cried out in agony   Oh  Take him away   I cannot see him  for
God s sake  do not let him enter  

Mr  Kirwin regarded me with a troubled countenance   He could not help
regarding my exclamation as a presumption of my guilt and said in
rather a severe tone   I should have thought  young man  that the
presence of your father would have been welcome instead of inspiring
such violent repugnance  

 My father   cried I  while every feature and every muscle was relaxed
from anguish to pleasure    Is my father indeed come   How kind  how
very kind   But where is he  why does he not hasten to me  

My change of manner surprised and pleased the magistrate  perhaps he
thought that my former exclamation was a momentary return of delirium 
and now he instantly resumed his former benevolence   He rose and
quitted the room with my nurse  and in a moment my father entered it 

Nothing  at this moment  could have given me greater pleasure than the
arrival of my father   I stretched out my hand to him and cried   Are
you  then  safe  and Elizabeth  and Ernest   My father calmed me with
assurances of their welfare and endeavoured  by dwelling on these
subjects so interesting to my heart  to raise my desponding spirits 
but he soon felt that a prison cannot be the abode of cheerfulness 

 What a place is this that you inhabit  my son   said he  looking
mournfully at the barred windows and wretched appearance of the room 
 You travelled to seek happiness  but a fatality seems to pursue you 
And poor Clerval   

The name of my unfortunate and murdered friend was an agitation too
great to be endured in my weak state  I shed tears    Alas   Yes  my
father   replied I   some destiny of the most horrible kind hangs over
me  and I must live to fulfil it  or surely I should have died on the
coffin of Henry  

We were not allowed to converse for any length of time  for the
precarious state of my health rendered every precaution necessary that
could ensure tranquillity   Mr  Kirwin came in and insisted that my
strength should not be exhausted by too much exertion   But the
appearance of my father was to me like that of my good angel  and I
gradually recovered my health 

As my sickness quitted me  I was absorbed by a gloomy and black
melancholy that nothing could dissipate   The image of Clerval was
forever before me  ghastly and murdered   More than once the agitation
into which these reflections threw me made my friends dread a dangerous
relapse   Alas   Why did they preserve so miserable and detested a
life   It was surely that I might fulfil my destiny  which is now
drawing to a close   Soon  oh  very soon  will death extinguish these
throbbings and relieve me from the mighty weight of anguish that bears
me to the dust  and  in executing the award of justice  I shall also
sink to rest   Then the appearance of death was distant  although the
wish was ever present to my thoughts  and I often sat for hours
motionless and speechless  wishing for some mighty revolution that
might bury me and my destroyer in its ruins 

The season of the assizes approached   I had already been three months
in prison  and although I was still weak and in continual danger of a
relapse  I was obliged to travel nearly a hundred miles to the country
town where the court was held   Mr  Kirwin charged himself with every
care of collecting witnesses and arranging my defence   I was spared
the disgrace of appearing publicly as a criminal  as the case was not
brought before the court that decides on life and death   The grand
jury rejected the bill  on its being proved that I was on the Orkney
Islands at the hour the body of my friend was found  and a fortnight
after my removal I was liberated from prison 

My father was enraptured on finding me freed from the vexations of a
criminal charge  that I was again allowed to breathe the fresh
atmosphere and permitted to return to my native country   I did not
participate in these feelings  for to me the walls of a dungeon or a
palace were alike hateful   The cup of life was poisoned forever  and
although the sun shone upon me  as upon the happy and gay of heart  I
saw around me nothing but a dense and frightful darkness  penetrated by
no light but the glimmer of two eyes that glared upon me   Sometimes
they were the expressive eyes of Henry  languishing in death  the dark
orbs nearly covered by the lids and the long black lashes that fringed
them  sometimes it was the watery  clouded eyes of the monster  as I
first saw them in my chamber at Ingolstadt 

My father tried to awaken in me the feelings of affection   He talked
of Geneva  which I should soon visit  of Elizabeth and Ernest  but
these words only drew deep groans from me   Sometimes  indeed  I felt a
wish for happiness and thought with melancholy delight of my beloved
cousin or longed  with a devouring maladie du pays  to see once more
the blue lake and rapid Rhone  that had been so dear to me in early
childhood  but my general state of feeling was a torpor in which a
prison was as welcome a residence as the divinest scene in nature  and
these fits were seldom interrupted but by paroxysms of anguish and
despair   At these moments I often endeavoured to put an end to the
existence I loathed  and it required unceasing attendance and vigilance
to restrain me from committing some dreadful act of violence 

Yet one duty remained to me  the recollection of which finally
triumphed over my selfish despair   It was necessary that I should
return without delay to Geneva  there to watch over the lives of those
I so fondly loved and to lie in wait for the murderer  that if any
chance led me to the place of his concealment  or if he dared again to
blast me by his presence  I might  with unfailing aim  put an end to
the existence of the monstrous image which  I had endued with the
mockery of a soul still more monstrous   My father still desired to
delay our departure  fearful that I could not sustain the fatigues of a
journey  for I was a shattered wreck  the shadow of a human being   My
strength was gone   I was a mere skeleton  and fever night and day
preyed upon my wasted frame   Still  as I urged our leaving Ireland
with such inquietude and impatience  my father thought it best to
yield   We took our passage on board a vessel bound for Havre de Grace
and sailed with a fair wind from the Irish shores   It was midnight   I
lay on the deck looking at the stars and listening to the dashing of
the waves   I hailed the darkness that shut Ireland from my sight  and
my pulse beat with a feverish joy when I reflected that I should soon
see Geneva   The past appeared to me in the light of a frightful dream 
yet the vessel in which I was  the wind that blew me from the detested
shore of Ireland  and the sea which surrounded me told me too forcibly
that I was deceived by no vision and that Clerval  my friend and
dearest companion  had fallen a victim to me and the monster of my
creation   I repassed  in my memory  my whole life  my quiet happiness
while residing with my family in Geneva  the death of my mother  and my
departure for Ingolstadt   I remembered  shuddering  the mad enthusiasm
that hurried me on to the creation of my hideous enemy  and I called to
mind the night in which he first lived   I was unable to pursue the
train of thought  a thousand feelings pressed upon me  and I wept
bitterly   Ever since my recovery from the fever I had been in the
custom of taking every night a small quantity of laudanum  for it was
by means of this drug only that I was enabled to gain the rest
necessary for the preservation of life   Oppressed by the recollection
of my various misfortunes  I now swallowed double my usual quantity and
soon slept profoundly   But sleep did not afford me respite from
thought and misery  my dreams presented a thousand objects that scared
me   Towards morning I was possessed by a kind of nightmare  I felt the
fiend s grasp in my neck and could not free myself from it  groans and
cries rang in my ears   My father  who was watching over me  perceiving
my restlessness  awoke me  the dashing waves were around  the cloudy
sky above  the fiend was not here  a sense of security  a feeling that
a truce was established between the present hour and the irresistible 
disastrous future imparted to me a kind of calm forgetfulness  of which
the human mind is by its structure peculiarly susceptible 



Chapter 22

The voyage came to an end   We landed  and proceeded to Paris   I soon
found that I had overtaxed my strength and that I must repose before I
could continue my journey   My father s care and attentions were
indefatigable  but he did not know the origin of my sufferings and
sought erroneous methods to remedy the incurable ill   He wished me to
seek amusement in society   I abhorred the face of man   Oh  not
abhorred   They were my brethren  my fellow beings  and I felt
attracted even to the most repulsive among them  as to creatures of an
angelic nature and celestial mechanism   But I felt that I had no right
to share their intercourse   I had unchained an enemy among them whose
joy it was to shed their blood and to revel in their groans   How they
would  each and all  abhor me and hunt me from the world did they know
my unhallowed acts and the crimes which had their source in me 

My father yielded at length to my desire to avoid society and strove by
various arguments to banish my despair   Sometimes he thought that I
felt deeply the degradation of being obliged to answer a charge of
murder  and he endeavoured to prove to me the futility of pride 

 Alas   My father   said I   how little do you know me   Human beings 
their feelings and passions  would indeed be degraded if such a wretch
as I felt pride   Justine  poor unhappy Justine  was as innocent as I 
and she suffered the same charge  she died for it  and I am the cause
of this  I murdered her   William  Justine  and Henry  they all died by
my hands  

My father had often  during my imprisonment  heard me make the same
assertion  when I thus accused myself  he sometimes seemed to desire an
explanation  and at others he appeared to consider it as the offspring
of delirium  and that  during my illness  some idea of this kind had
presented itself to my imagination  the remembrance of which I
preserved in my convalescence 

I avoided explanation and maintained a continual silence concerning the
wretch I had created   I had a persuasion that I should be supposed
mad  and this in itself would forever have chained my tongue   But 
besides  I could not bring myself to disclose a secret which would fill
my hearer with consternation and make fear and unnatural horror the
inmates of his breast   I checked  therefore  my impatient thirst for
sympathy and was silent when I would have given the world to have
confided the fatal secret   Yet  still  words like those I have
recorded would burst uncontrollably from me   I could offer no
explanation of them  but their truth in part relieved the burden of my
mysterious woe   Upon this occasion my father said  with an expression
of unbounded wonder   My dearest Victor  what infatuation is this   My
dear son  I entreat you never to make such an assertion again  

 I am not mad   I cried energetically   the sun and the heavens  who
have viewed my operations  can bear witness of my truth   I am the
assassin of those most innocent victims  they died by my machinations 
A thousand times would I have shed my own blood  drop by drop  to have
saved their lives  but I could not  my father  indeed I could not
sacrifice the whole human race  

The conclusion of this speech convinced my father that my ideas were
deranged  and he instantly changed the subject of our conversation and
endeavoured to alter the course of my thoughts   He wished as much as
possible to obliterate the memory of the scenes that had taken place in
Ireland and never alluded to them or suffered me to speak of my
misfortunes 

As time passed away I became more calm  misery had her dwelling in my
heart  but I no longer talked in the same incoherent manner of my own
crimes  sufficient for me was the consciousness of them   By the utmost
self violence I curbed the imperious voice of wretchedness  which
sometimes desired to declare itself to the whole world  and my manners
were calmer and more composed than they had ever been since my journey
to the sea of ice   A few days before we left Paris on our way to
Switzerland  I received the following letter from Elizabeth 


 My dear Friend 

 It gave me the greatest pleasure to receive a letter from my uncle
dated at Paris  you are no longer at a formidable distance  and I may
hope to see you in less than a fortnight   My poor cousin  how much you
must have suffered   I expect to see you looking even more ill than
when you quitted Geneva   This winter has been passed most miserably 
tortured as I have been by anxious suspense  yet I hope to see peace in
your countenance and to find that your heart is not totally void of
comfort and tranquillity 

 Yet I fear that the same feelings now exist that made you so miserable
a year ago  even perhaps augmented by time   I would not disturb you at
this period  when so many misfortunes weigh upon you  but a
conversation that I had with my uncle previous to his departure renders
some explanation necessary before we meet    Explanation   You may
possibly say  What can Elizabeth have to explain   If you really say
this  my questions are answered and all my doubts satisfied   But you
are distant from me  and it is possible that you may dread and yet be
pleased with this explanation  and in a probability of this being the
case  I dare not any longer postpone writing what  during your absence 
I have often wished to express to you but have never had the courage to
begin 

 You well know  Victor  that our union had been the favourite plan of
your parents ever since our infancy   We were told this when young  and
taught to look forward to it as an event that would certainly take
place   We were affectionate playfellows during childhood  and  I
believe  dear and valued friends to one another as we grew older  But
as brother and sister often entertain a lively affection towards each
other without desiring a more intimate union  may not such also be our
case   Tell me  dearest Victor   Answer me  I conjure you by our mutual
happiness  with simple truth  Do you not love another 

 You have travelled  you have spent several years of your life at
Ingolstadt  and I confess to you  my friend  that when I saw you last
autumn so unhappy  flying to solitude from the society of every
creature  I could not help supposing that you might regret our
connection and believe yourself bound in honour to fulfil the wishes of
your parents  although they opposed themselves to your inclinations 
But this is false reasoning   I confess to you  my friend  that I love
you and that in my airy dreams of futurity you have been my constant
friend and companion    But it is your happiness I desire as well as my
own when I declare to you that our marriage would render me eternally
miserable unless it were the dictate of your own free choice   Even now
I weep to think that  borne down as you are by the cruellest
misfortunes  you may stifle  by the word  honour   all hope of that
love and happiness which would alone restore you to yourself   I  who
have so disinterested an affection for you  may increase your miseries
tenfold by being an obstacle to your wishes   Ah  Victor  be assured
that your cousin and playmate has too sincere a love for you not to be
made miserable by this supposition   Be happy  my friend  and if you
obey me in this one request  remain satisfied that nothing on earth
will have the power to interrupt my tranquillity 

 Do not let this letter disturb you  do not answer tomorrow  or the
next day  or even until you come  if it will give you pain   My uncle
will send me news of your health  and if I see but one smile on your
lips when we meet  occasioned by this or any other exertion of mine  I
shall need no other happiness 

                                                 Elizabeth Lavenza


     Geneva  May 18th  17   


This letter revived in my memory what I had before forgotten  the
threat of the fiend   I WILL BE WITH YOU ON YOUR WEDDING NIGHT   Such
was my sentence  and on that night would the daemon employ every art to
destroy me and tear me from the glimpse of happiness which promised
partly to console my sufferings   On that night he had determined to
consummate his crimes by my death   Well  be it so  a deadly struggle
would then assuredly take place  in which if he were victorious I
should be at peace and his power over me be at an end   If he were
vanquished  I should be a free man   Alas   What freedom   Such as the
peasant enjoys when his family have been massacred before his eyes  his
cottage burnt  his lands laid waste  and he is turned adrift  homeless 
penniless  and alone  but free  Such would be my liberty except that in
my Elizabeth I possessed a treasure  alas  balanced by those horrors of
remorse and guilt which would pursue me until death 

Sweet and beloved Elizabeth   I read and reread her letter  and some
softened feelings stole into my heart and dared to whisper paradisiacal
dreams of love and joy  but the apple was already eaten  and the
angel s arm bared to drive me from all hope   Yet I would die to make
her happy   If the monster executed his threat  death was inevitable 
yet  again  I considered whether my marriage would hasten my fate   My
destruction might indeed arrive a few months sooner  but if my torturer
should suspect that I postponed it  influenced by his menaces  he would
surely find other and perhaps more dreadful means of revenge 

He had vowed TO BE WITH ME ON MY WEDDING NIGHT  yet he did not consider
that threat as binding him to peace in the meantime  for as if to show
me that he was not yet satiated with blood  he had murdered Clerval
immediately after the enunciation of his threats   I resolved 
therefore  that if my immediate union with my cousin would conduce
either to hers or my father s happiness  my adversary s designs against
my life should not retard it a single hour 

In this state of mind I wrote to Elizabeth   My letter was calm and
affectionate    I fear  my beloved girl   I said   little happiness
remains for us on earth  yet all that I may one day enjoy is centred in
you   Chase away your idle fears  to you alone do I consecrate my life
and my endeavours for contentment   I have one secret  Elizabeth  a
dreadful one  when revealed to you  it will chill your frame with
horror  and then  far from being surprised at my misery  you will only
wonder that I survive what I have endured   I will confide this tale of
misery and terror to you the day after our marriage shall take place 
for  my sweet cousin  there must be perfect confidence between us   But
until then  I conjure you  do not mention or allude to it   This I most
earnestly entreat  and I know you will comply  

In about a week after the arrival of Elizabeth s letter we returned to
Geneva   The sweet girl welcomed me with warm affection  yet tears were
in her eyes as she beheld my emaciated frame and feverish  cheeks   I
saw a change in her also   She was thinner and had lost much of that
heavenly vivacity that had before charmed me  but her gentleness and
soft looks of compassion made her a more fit companion for one blasted
and miserable as I was   The tranquillity which I now enjoyed did not
endure   Memory brought madness with it  and when I thought of what had
passed  a real insanity possessed me  sometimes I was furious and burnt
with rage  sometimes low and despondent   I neither spoke nor looked at
anyone  but sat motionless  bewildered by the multitude of miseries
that overcame me 

Elizabeth alone had the power to draw me from these fits  her gentle
voice would soothe me when transported by passion and inspire me with
human feelings when sunk in torpor   She wept with me and for me   When
reason returned  she would remonstrate and endeavour to inspire me with
resignation   Ah   It is well for the unfortunate to be resigned  but
for the guilty there is no peace   The agonies of remorse poison the
luxury there is otherwise sometimes found in indulging the excess of
grief   Soon after my arrival my father spoke of my immediate marriage
with Elizabeth   I remained silent 

 Have you  then  some other attachment  

 None on earth   I love Elizabeth and look forward to our union with
delight   Let the day therefore be fixed  and on it I will consecrate
myself  in life or death  to the happiness of my cousin  

 My dear Victor  do not speak thus   Heavy misfortunes have befallen
us  but let us only cling closer to what remains and transfer our love
for those whom we have lost to those who yet live   Our circle will be
small but bound close by the ties of affection and mutual misfortune 
And when time shall have softened your despair  new and dear objects of
care will be born to replace those of whom we have been so cruelly
deprived  

Such were the lessons of my father   But to me the remembrance of the
threat returned  nor can you wonder that  omnipotent as the fiend had
yet been in his deeds of blood  I should almost regard him as
invincible  and that when he had pronounced the words  I SHALL BE WITH
YOU ON YOUR WEDDING NIGHT   I should regard the threatened fate as
unavoidable   But death was no evil to me if the loss of Elizabeth were
balanced with it  and I therefore  with a contented and even cheerful
countenance  agreed with my father that if my cousin would consent  the
ceremony should take place in ten days  and thus put  as I imagined 
the seal to my fate 

Great God   If for one instant I had thought what might be the hellish
intention of my fiendish adversary  I would rather have banished myself
forever from my native country and wandered a friendless outcast over
the earth than have consented to this miserable marriage   But  as if
possessed of magic powers  the monster had blinded me to his real
intentions  and when I thought that I had prepared only my own death  I
hastened that of a far dearer victim 

As the period fixed for our marriage drew nearer  whether from
cowardice or a prophetic feeling  I felt my heart sink within me   But
I concealed my feelings by an appearance of hilarity that brought
smiles and joy to the countenance of my father  but hardly deceived the
ever watchful and nicer eye of Elizabeth   She looked forward to our
union with placid contentment  not unmingled with a little fear  which
past misfortunes had impressed  that what now appeared certain and
tangible happiness might soon dissipate into an airy dream and leave no
trace but deep and everlasting regret   Preparations were made for the
event  congratulatory visits were received  and all wore a smiling
appearance   I shut up  as well as I could  in my own heart the anxiety
that preyed there and entered with seeming earnestness into the plans
of my father  although they might only serve as the decorations of my
tragedy   Through my father s exertions a part of the inheritance of
Elizabeth had been restored to her by the Austrian government   A small
possession on the shores of Como belonged to her   It was agreed that 
immediately after our union  we should proceed to Villa Lavenza and
spend our first days of happiness beside the beautiful lake near which
it stood 

In the meantime I took every precaution to defend my person in case the
fiend should openly attack me   I carried pistols and a dagger
constantly about me and was ever on the watch to prevent artifice  and
by these means gained a greater degree of tranquillity   Indeed  as the
period approached  the threat appeared more as a delusion  not to be
regarded as worthy to disturb my peace  while the happiness I hoped for
in my marriage wore a greater appearance of certainty as the day fixed
for its solemnization drew nearer and I heard it continually spoken of
as an occurrence which no accident could possibly prevent 

Elizabeth seemed happy  my tranquil demeanour contributed greatly to
calm her mind   But on the day that was to fulfil my wishes and my
destiny  she was melancholy  and a presentiment of evil pervaded her 
and perhaps also she thought of the dreadful secret which I had
promised to reveal to her on the following day   My father was in the
meantime overjoyed and in the bustle of preparation only recognized in
the melancholy of his niece the diffidence of a bride 

After the ceremony was performed a large party assembled at my
father s  but it was agreed that Elizabeth and I should commence our
journey by water  sleeping that night at Evian and continuing our
voyage on the following day   The day was fair  the wind favourable 
all smiled on our nuptial embarkation 

Those were the last moments of my life during which I enjoyed the
feeling of happiness   We passed rapidly along  the sun was hot  but we
were sheltered from its rays by a kind of canopy while we enjoyed the
beauty of the scene  sometimes on one side of the lake  where we saw
Mont Saleve  the pleasant banks of Montalegre  and at a distance 
surmounting all  the beautiful Mont Blanc and the assemblage of snowy
mountains that in vain endeavour to emulate her  sometimes coasting the
opposite banks  we saw the mighty Jura opposing its dark side to the
ambition that would quit its native country  and an almost
insurmountable barrier to the invader who should wish to enslave it 

I took the hand of Elizabeth    You are sorrowful  my love   Ah   If
you knew what I have suffered and what I may yet endure  you would
endeavour to let me taste the quiet and freedom from despair that this
one day at least permits me to enjoy  

 Be happy  my dear Victor   replied Elizabeth   there is  I hope 
nothing to distress you  and be assured that if a lively joy is not
painted in my face  my heart is contented   Something whispers to me
not to depend too much on the prospect that is opened before us  but I
will not listen to such a sinister voice   Observe how fast we move
along and how the clouds  which sometimes obscure and sometimes rise
above the dome of Mont Blanc  render this scene of beauty still more
interesting   Look also at the innumerable fish that are swimming in
the clear waters  where we can distinguish every pebble that lies at
the bottom   What a divine day   How happy and serene all nature
appears  

Thus Elizabeth endeavoured to divert her thoughts and mine from all
reflection upon melancholy subjects   But her temper was fluctuating 
joy for a few instants shone in her eyes  but it continually gave place
to distraction and reverie 

The sun sank lower in the heavens  we passed the river Drance and
observed its path through the chasms of the higher and the glens of the
lower hills   The Alps here come closer to the lake  and we approached
the amphitheatre of mountains which forms its eastern boundary   The
spire of Evian shone under the woods that surrounded it and the range
of mountain above mountain by which it was overhung 

The wind  which had hitherto carried us along with amazing rapidity 
sank at sunset to a light breeze  the soft air just ruffled the water
and caused a pleasant motion among the trees as we approached the
shore  from which it wafted the most delightful scent of flowers and
hay   The sun sank beneath the horizon as we landed  and as I touched
the shore I felt those cares and fears revive which soon were to clasp
me and cling to me forever 



Chapter 23

It was eight o clock when we landed  we walked for a short time on the
shore  enjoying the transitory light  and then retired to the inn and
contemplated the lovely scene of waters  woods  and mountains  obscured
in darkness  yet still displaying their black outlines 

The wind  which had fallen in the south  now rose with great violence
in the west   The moon had reached her summit in the heavens and was
beginning to descend  the clouds swept across it swifter than the
flight of the vulture and dimmed her rays  while the lake reflected the
scene of the busy heavens  rendered still busier by the restless waves
that were beginning to rise   Suddenly a heavy storm of rain descended 

I had been calm during the day  but so soon as night obscured the
shapes of objects  a thousand fears arose in my mind   I was anxious
and watchful  while my right hand grasped a pistol which was hidden in
my bosom  every sound terrified me  but I resolved that I would sell my
life dearly and not shrink from the conflict until my own life or that
of my adversary was extinguished   Elizabeth observed my agitation for
some time in timid and fearful silence  but there was something in my
glance which communicated terror to her  and trembling  she asked 
 What is it that agitates you  my dear Victor   What is it you fear  

 Oh   Peace  peace  my love   replied I   this night  and all will be
safe  but this night is dreadful  very dreadful  

I passed an hour in this state of mind  when suddenly I reflected how
fearful the combat which I momentarily expected would be to my wife 
and I earnestly entreated her to retire  resolving not to join her
until I had obtained some knowledge as to the situation of my enemy 

She left me  and I continued some time walking up and down the passages
of the house and inspecting every corner that might afford a retreat to
my adversary   But I discovered no trace of him and was beginning to
conjecture that some fortunate chance had intervened to prevent the
execution of his menaces when suddenly I heard a shrill and dreadful
scream   It came from the room into which Elizabeth had retired   As I
heard it  the whole truth rushed into my mind  my arms dropped  the
motion of every muscle and fibre was suspended  I could feel the blood
trickling in my veins and tingling in the extremities of my limbs  This
state lasted but for an instant  the scream was repeated  and I rushed
into the room   Great God   Why did I not then expire   Why am I here
to relate the destruction of the best hope and the purest creature on
earth   She was there  lifeless and inanimate  thrown across the bed 
her head hanging down and her pale and distorted features half covered
by her hair   Everywhere I turn I see the same figure  her bloodless
arms and relaxed form flung by the murderer on its bridal bier   Could
I behold this and live   Alas   Life is obstinate and clings closest
where it is most hated   For a moment only did I lose recollection  I
fell senseless on the ground 

When I recovered I found myself surrounded by the people of the inn 
their countenances expressed a breathless terror  but the horror of
others appeared only as a mockery  a shadow of the feelings that
oppressed me   I escaped from them to the room where lay the body of
Elizabeth  my love  my wife  so lately living  so dear  so worthy   She
had been moved from the posture in which I had first beheld her  and
now  as she lay  her head upon her arm and a handkerchief thrown across
her face and neck  I might have supposed her asleep  I rushed towards
her and embraced her with ardour  but the deadly languor and coldness
of the limbs told me that what I now held in my arms had ceased to be
the Elizabeth whom I had loved and cherished   The murderous mark of
the fiend s grasp was on her neck  and the breath had ceased to issue
from her lips   While I still hung over her in the agony of despair  I
happened to look up   The windows of the room had before been darkened 
and I felt a kind of panic on seeing the pale yellow light of the moon
illuminate the chamber   The shutters had been thrown back  and with a
sensation of horror not to be described  I saw at the open window a
figure the most hideous and abhorred   A grin was on the face of the
monster  he seemed to jeer  as with his fiendish finger he pointed
towards the corpse of my wife   I rushed towards the window  and
drawing a pistol from my bosom  fired  but he eluded me  leaped from
his station  and running with the swiftness of lightning  plunged into
the lake 

The report of the pistol brought a crowd into the room  I pointed to
the spot where he had disappeared  and we followed the track with
boats  nets were cast  but in vain   After passing several hours  we
returned hopeless  most of my companions believing it to have been a
form conjured up by my fancy   After having landed  they proceeded to
search the country  parties going in different directions among the
woods and vines 

I attempted to accompany them and proceeded a short distance from the
house  but my head whirled round  my steps were like those of a drunken
man  I fell at last in a state of utter exhaustion  a film covered my
eyes  and my skin was parched with the heat of fever   In this state I
was carried back and placed on a bed  hardly conscious of what had
happened  my eyes wandered round the room as if to seek something that
I had lost 

After an interval I arose  and as if by instinct  crawled into the room
where the corpse of my beloved lay   There were women weeping around  I
hung over it and joined my sad tears to theirs  all this time no
distinct idea presented itself to my mind  but my thoughts rambled to
various subjects  reflecting confusedly on my misfortunes and their
cause   I was bewildered  in a cloud of wonder and horror   The death
of William  the execution of Justine  the murder of Clerval  and lastly
of my wife  even at that moment I knew not that my only remaining
friends were safe from the malignity of the fiend  my father even now
might be writhing under his grasp  and Ernest might be dead at his
feet   This idea made me shudder and recalled me to action   I started
up and resolved to return to Geneva with all possible speed 

There were no horses to be procured  and I must return by the lake  but
the wind was unfavourable  and the rain fell in torrents   However  it
was hardly morning  and I might reasonably hope to arrive by night   I
hired men to row and took an oar myself  for I had always experienced
relief from mental torment in bodily exercise   But the overflowing
misery I now felt  and the excess of agitation that I endured rendered
me incapable of any exertion   I threw down the oar  and leaning my
head upon my hands  gave way to every gloomy idea that arose   If I
looked up  I saw scenes which were familiar to me in my happier time
and which I had contemplated but the day before in the company of her
who was now but a shadow and a recollection   Tears streamed from my
eyes   The rain had ceased for a moment  and I saw the fish play in the
waters as they had done a few hours before  they had then been observed
by Elizabeth   Nothing is so painful to the human mind as a great and
sudden change   The sun might shine or the clouds might lower  but
nothing could appear to me as it had done the day before   A fiend had
snatched from me every hope of future happiness  no creature had ever
been so miserable as I was  so frightful an event is single in the
history of man  But why should I dwell upon the incidents that followed
this last overwhelming event   Mine has been a tale of horrors  I have
reached their acme  and what I must now relate can but be tedious to
you   Know that  one by one  my friends were snatched away  I was left
desolate   My own strength is exhausted  and I must tell  in a few
words  what remains of my hideous narration  I arrived at Geneva   My
father and Ernest yet lived  but the former sunk under the tidings that
I bore   I see him now  excellent and venerable old man   His eyes
wandered in vacancy  for they had lost their charm and their
delight  his Elizabeth  his more than daughter  whom he doted on with
all that affection which a man feels  who in the decline of life 
having few affections  clings more earnestly to those that remain 
Cursed  cursed be the fiend that brought misery on his grey hairs and
doomed him to waste in wretchedness   He could not live under the
horrors that were accumulated around him  the springs of existence
suddenly gave way  he was unable to rise from his bed  and in a few
days he died in my arms 

What then became of me   I know not  I lost sensation  and chains and
darkness were the only objects that pressed upon me   Sometimes 
indeed  I dreamt that I wandered in flowery meadows and pleasant vales
with the friends of my youth  but I awoke and found myself in a
dungeon   Melancholy followed  but by degrees I gained a clear
conception of my miseries and situation and was then released from my
prison   For they had called me mad  and during many months  as I
understood  a solitary cell had been my habitation 

Liberty  however  had been a useless gift to me  had I not  as I
awakened to reason  at the same time awakened to revenge   As the
memory of past misfortunes pressed upon me  I began to reflect on their
cause  the monster whom I had created  the miserable daemon whom I had
sent abroad into the world for my destruction   I was possessed by a
maddening rage when I thought of him  and desired and ardently prayed
that I might have him within my grasp to wreak a great and signal
revenge on his cursed head 

Nor did my hate long confine itself to useless wishes  I began to
reflect on the best means of securing him  and for this purpose  about
a month after my release  I repaired to a criminal judge in the town
and told him that I had an accusation to make  that I knew the
destroyer of my family  and that I required him to exert his whole
authority for the apprehension of the murderer   The magistrate
listened to me with attention and kindness 

 Be assured  sir   said he   no pains or exertions on my part shall be
spared to discover the villain  

 I thank you   replied I   listen  therefore  to the deposition that I
have to make   It is indeed a tale so strange that I should fear you
would not credit it were there not something in truth which  however
wonderful  forces conviction   The story is too connected to be
mistaken for a dream  and I have no motive for falsehood   My manner as
I thus addressed him was impressive but calm  I had formed in my own
heart a resolution to pursue my destroyer to death  and this purpose
quieted my agony and for an interval reconciled me to life   I now
related my history briefly but with firmness and precision  marking the
dates with accuracy and never deviating into invective or exclamation 

The magistrate appeared at first perfectly incredulous  but as I
continued he became more attentive and interested  I saw him sometimes
shudder with horror  at others a lively surprise  unmingled with
disbelief  was painted on his countenance   When I had concluded my
narration I said   This is the being whom I accuse and for whose
seizure and punishment I call upon you to exert your whole power   It
is your duty as a magistrate  and I believe and hope that your feelings
as a man will not revolt from the execution of those functions on this
occasion    This address caused a considerable change in the
physiognomy of my own auditor   He had heard my story with that half
kind of belief that is given to a tale of spirits and supernatural
events  but when he was called upon to act officially in consequence 
the whole tide of his incredulity returned   He  however  answered
mildly   I would willingly afford you every aid in your pursuit  but
the creature of whom you speak appears to have powers which would put
all my exertions to defiance   Who can follow an animal which can
traverse the sea of ice and inhabit caves and dens where no man would
venture to intrude   Besides  some months have elapsed since the
commission of his crimes  and no one can conjecture to what place he
has wandered or what region he may now inhabit  

 I do not doubt that he hovers near the spot which I inhabit  and if he
has indeed taken refuge in the Alps  he may be hunted like the chamois
and destroyed as a beast of prey   But I perceive your thoughts  you do
not credit my narrative and do not intend to pursue my enemy with the
punishment which is his desert   As I spoke  rage sparkled in my eyes 
the magistrate was intimidated    You are mistaken   said he    I will
exert myself  and if it is in my power to seize the monster  be assured
that he shall suffer punishment proportionate to his crimes   But I
fear  from what you have yourself described to be his properties  that
this will prove impracticable  and thus  while every proper measure is
pursued  you should make up your mind to disappointment  

 That cannot be  but all that I can say will be of little avail   My
revenge is of no moment to you  yet  while I allow it to be a vice  I
confess that it is the devouring and only passion of my soul   My rage
is unspeakable when I reflect that the murderer  whom I have turned
loose upon society  still exists   You refuse my just demand  I have
but one resource  and I devote myself  either in my life or death  to
his destruction  

I trembled with excess of agitation as I said this  there was a frenzy
in my manner  and something  I doubt not  of that haughty fierceness
which the martyrs of old are said to have possessed   But to a Genevan
magistrate  whose mind was occupied by far other ideas than those of
devotion and heroism  this elevation of mind had much the appearance of
madness   He endeavoured to soothe me as a nurse does a child and
reverted to my tale as the effects of delirium 

 Man   I cried   how ignorant art thou in thy pride of wisdom   Cease 
you know not what it is you say  

I broke from the house angry and disturbed and retired to meditate on
some other mode of action 



Chapter 24

My present situation was one in which all voluntary thought was
swallowed up and lost   I was hurried away by fury  revenge alone
endowed me with strength and composure  it moulded my feelings and
allowed me to be calculating and calm at periods when otherwise
delirium or death would have been my portion 

My first resolution was to quit Geneva forever  my country  which  when
I was happy and beloved  was dear to me  now  in my adversity  became
hateful   I provided myself with a sum of money  together with a few
jewels which had belonged to my mother  and departed   And now my
wanderings began which are to cease but with life   I have traversed a
vast portion of the earth and have endured all the hardships which
travellers in deserts and barbarous countries are wont to meet   How I
have lived I hardly know  many times have I stretched my failing limbs
upon the sandy plain and prayed for death   But revenge kept me alive 
I dared not die and leave my adversary in being 

When I quitted Geneva my first labour was to gain some clue by which I
might trace the steps of my fiendish enemy   But my plan was unsettled 
and I wandered many hours round the confines of the town  uncertain
what path I should pursue   As night approached I found myself at the
entrance of the cemetery where William  Elizabeth  and my father
reposed   I entered it and approached the tomb which marked their
graves   Everything was silent except the leaves of the trees  which
were gently agitated by the wind  the night was nearly dark  and the
scene would have been solemn and affecting even to an uninterested
observer   The spirits of the departed seemed to flit around and to
cast a shadow  which was felt but not seen  around the head of the
mourner 

The deep grief which this scene had at first excited quickly gave way
to rage and despair   They were dead  and I lived  their murderer also
lived  and to destroy him I must drag out my weary existence   I knelt
on the grass and kissed the earth and with quivering lips exclaimed 
 By the sacred earth on which I kneel  by the shades that wander near
me  by the deep and eternal grief that I feel  I swear  and by thee  O
Night  and the spirits that preside over thee  to pursue the daemon who
caused this misery  until he or I shall perish in mortal conflict   For
this purpose I will preserve my life  to execute this dear revenge will
I again behold the sun and tread the green herbage of earth  which
otherwise should vanish from my eyes forever   And I call on you 
spirits of the dead  and on you  wandering ministers of vengeance  to
aid and conduct me in my work   Let the cursed and hellish monster
drink deep of agony  let him feel the despair that now torments me    I
had begun my adjuration with solemnity and an awe which almost assured
me that the shades of my murdered friends heard and approved my
devotion  but the furies possessed me as I concluded  and rage choked
my utterance 

I was answered through the stillness of night by a loud and fiendish
laugh   It rang on my ears long and heavily  the mountains re echoed
it  and I felt as if all hell surrounded me with mockery and laughter 
Surely in that moment I should have been possessed by frenzy and have
destroyed my miserable existence but that my vow was heard and that I
was reserved for vengeance   The laughter died away  when a well known
and abhorred voice  apparently close to my ear  addressed me in an
audible whisper   I am satisfied  miserable wretch   You have
determined to live  and I am satisfied  

I darted towards the spot from which the sound proceeded  but the devil
eluded my grasp   Suddenly the broad disk of the moon arose and shone
full upon his ghastly and distorted shape as he fled with more than
mortal speed 

I pursued him  and for many months this has been my task   Guided by a
slight clue  I followed the windings of the Rhone  but vainly   The
blue Mediterranean appeared  and by a strange chance  I saw the fiend
enter by night and hide himself in a vessel bound for the Black Sea   I
took my passage in the same ship  but he escaped  I know not how 

Amidst the wilds of Tartary and Russia  although he still evaded me  I
have ever followed in his track   Sometimes the peasants  scared by
this horrid apparition  informed me of his path  sometimes he himself 
who feared that if I lost all trace of him I should despair and die 
left some mark to guide me   The snows descended on my head  and I saw
the print of his huge step on the white plain   To you first entering
on life  to whom care is new and agony unknown  how can you understand
what I have felt and still feel   Cold  want  and fatigue were the
least pains which I was destined to endure  I was cursed by some devil
and carried about with me my eternal hell  yet still a spirit of good
followed and directed my steps and when I most murmured would suddenly
extricate me from seemingly insurmountable difficulties   Sometimes 
when nature  overcome by hunger  sank under the exhaustion  a repast
was prepared for me in the desert that restored and inspirited me   The
fare was  indeed  coarse  such as the peasants of the country ate  but
I will not doubt that it was set there by the spirits that I had
invoked to aid me   Often  when all was dry  the heavens cloudless  and
I was parched by thirst  a slight cloud would bedim the sky  shed the
few drops that revived me  and vanish 

I followed  when I could  the courses of the rivers  but the daemon
generally avoided these  as it was here that the population of the
country chiefly collected   In other places human beings were seldom
seen  and I generally subsisted on the wild animals that crossed my
path   I had money with me and gained the friendship of the villagers
by distributing it  or I brought with me some food that I had killed 
which  after taking a small part  I always presented to those who had
provided me with fire and utensils for cooking 

My life  as it passed thus  was indeed hateful to me  and it was during
sleep alone that I could taste joy   O blessed sleep   Often  when most
miserable  I sank to repose  and my dreams lulled me even to rapture 
The spirits that guarded me had provided these moments  or rather
hours  of happiness that I might retain strength to fulfil my
pilgrimage   Deprived of this respite  I should have sunk under my
hardships   During the day I was sustained and inspirited by the hope
of night  for in sleep I saw my friends  my wife  and my beloved
country  again I saw the benevolent countenance of my father  heard the
silver tones of my Elizabeth s voice  and beheld Clerval enjoying
health and youth   Often  when wearied by a toilsome march  I persuaded
myself that I was dreaming until night should come and that I should
then enjoy reality in the arms of my dearest friends   What agonizing
fondness did I feel for them   How did I cling to their dear forms  as
sometimes they haunted even my waking hours  and persuade myself that
they still lived   At such moments vengeance  that burned within me 
died in my heart  and I pursued my path towards the destruction of the
daemon more as a task enjoined by heaven  as the mechanical impulse of
some power of which I was unconscious  than as the ardent desire of my
soul   What his feelings were whom I pursued I cannot know   Sometimes 
indeed  he left marks in writing on the barks of the trees or cut in
stone that guided me and instigated my fury    My reign is not yet
over   these words were legible in one of these inscriptions   you
live  and my power is complete   Follow me  I seek the everlasting ices
of the north  where you will feel the misery of cold and frost  to
which I am impassive   You will find near this place  if you follow not
too tardily  a dead hare  eat and be refreshed   Come on  my enemy  we
have yet to wrestle for our lives  but many hard and miserable hours
must you endure until that period shall arrive  

Scoffing devil   Again do I vow vengeance  again do I devote thee 
miserable fiend  to torture and death   Never will I give up my search
until he or I perish  and then with what ecstasy shall I join my
Elizabeth and my departed friends  who even now prepare for me the
reward of my tedious toil and horrible pilgrimage 

As I still pursued my journey to the northward  the snows thickened and
the cold increased in a degree almost too severe to support   The
peasants were shut up in their hovels  and only a few of the most hardy
ventured forth to seize the animals whom starvation had forced from
their hiding places to seek for prey   The rivers were covered with
ice  and no fish could be procured  and thus I was cut off from my
chief article of maintenance   The triumph of my enemy increased with
the difficulty of my labours   One inscription that he left was in
these words    Prepare   Your toils only begin  wrap yourself in furs
and provide food  for we shall soon enter upon a journey where your
sufferings will satisfy my everlasting hatred  

My courage and perseverance were invigorated by these scoffing words  I
resolved not to fail in my purpose  and calling on heaven to support
me  I continued with unabated fervour to traverse immense deserts 
until the ocean appeared at a distance and formed the utmost boundary
of the horizon   Oh   How unlike it was to the blue seasons of the
south   Covered with ice  it was only to be distinguished from land by
its superior wildness and ruggedness   The Greeks wept for joy when
they beheld the Mediterranean from the hills of Asia  and hailed with
rapture the boundary of their toils   I did not weep  but I knelt down
and with a full heart thanked my guiding spirit for conducting me in
safety to the place where I hoped  notwithstanding my adversary s gibe 
to meet and grapple with him 

Some weeks before this period I had procured a sledge and dogs and thus
traversed the snows with inconceivable speed   I know not whether the
fiend possessed the same advantages  but I found that  as before I had
daily lost ground in the pursuit  I now gained on him  so much so that
when I first saw the ocean he was but one day s journey in advance  and
I hoped to intercept him before he should reach the beach   With new
courage  therefore  I pressed on  and in two days arrived at a wretched
hamlet on the seashore   I inquired of the inhabitants concerning the
fiend and gained accurate information   A gigantic monster  they said 
had arrived the night before  armed with a gun and many pistols 
putting to flight the inhabitants of a solitary cottage through fear of
his terrific appearance   He had carried off their store of winter
food  and placing it in a sledge  to draw which he had seized on a
numerous drove of trained dogs  he had harnessed them  and the same
night  to the joy of the horror struck villagers  had pursued his
journey across the sea in a direction that led to no land  and they
conjectured that he must speedily be destroyed by the breaking of the
ice or frozen by the eternal  frosts 

On hearing this information I suffered a temporary access of despair 
He had escaped me  and I must commence a destructive and almost endless
journey across the mountainous ices of the ocean  amidst cold that few
of the inhabitants could long endure and which I  the native of a
genial and sunny climate  could not hope to survive   Yet at the idea
that the fiend should live and be triumphant  my rage and vengeance
returned  and like a mighty tide  overwhelmed every other feeling 
After a slight repose  during which the spirits of the dead hovered
round and instigated me to toil and revenge  I prepared for my journey 
I exchanged my land sledge for one fashioned for the inequalities of
the frozen ocean  and purchasing a plentiful stock of provisions  I
departed from land 

I cannot guess how many days have passed since then  but I have endured
misery which nothing but the eternal sentiment of a just retribution
burning within my heart could have enabled me to support   Immense and
rugged mountains of ice often barred up my passage  and I often heard
the thunder of the ground sea  which threatened my destruction   But
again the frost came and made the paths of the sea secure 

By the quantity of provision which I had consumed  I should guess that
I had passed three weeks in this journey  and the continual protraction
of hope  returning back upon the heart  often wrung bitter drops of
despondency and grief from my eyes   Despair had indeed almost secured
her prey  and I should soon have sunk beneath this misery   Once  after
the poor animals that conveyed me had with incredible toil gained the
summit of a sloping ice mountain  and one  sinking under his fatigue 
died  I viewed the expanse before me with anguish  when suddenly my eye
caught a dark speck upon the dusky plain   I strained my sight to
discover what it could be and uttered a wild cry of ecstasy when I
distinguished a sledge and the distorted proportions of a well known
form within   Oh   With what a burning gush did hope revisit my heart 
Warm tears filled my eyes  which I hastily wiped away  that they might
not intercept the view I had of the daemon  but still my sight was
dimmed by the burning drops  until  giving way to the emotions that
oppressed me  I wept aloud 

But this was not the time for delay  I disencumbered the dogs of their
dead companion  gave them a plentiful portion of food  and after an
hour s rest  which was absolutely necessary  and yet which was bitterly
irksome to me  I continued my route   The sledge was still visible  nor
did I again lose sight of it except at the moments when for a short
time some ice rock concealed it with its intervening crags   I indeed
perceptibly gained on it  and when  after nearly two days  journey  I
beheld my enemy at no more than a mile distant  my heart bounded within
me 

But now  when I appeared almost within grasp of my foe  my hopes were
suddenly extinguished  and I lost all trace of him more utterly than I
had ever done before   A ground sea was heard  the thunder of its
progress  as the waters rolled and swelled beneath me  became every
moment more ominous and terrific   I pressed on  but in vain   The wind
arose  the sea roared  and  as with the mighty shock of an earthquake 
it split and cracked with a tremendous and overwhelming sound   The
work was soon finished  in a few minutes a tumultuous sea rolled
between me and my enemy  and I was left drifting on a scattered piece
of ice that was continually lessening and thus preparing for me a
hideous death   In this manner many appalling hours passed  several of
my dogs died  and I myself was about to sink under the accumulation of
distress when I saw your vessel riding at anchor and holding forth to
me hopes of succour and life   I had no conception that vessels ever
came so far north and was astounded at the sight   I quickly destroyed
part of my sledge to construct oars  and by these means was enabled 
with infinite fatigue  to move my ice raft in the direction of your
ship   I had determined  if you were going southwards  still to trust
myself to the mercy of the seas rather than abandon my purpose   I
hoped to induce you to grant me a boat with which I could pursue my
enemy   But your direction was northwards   You took me on board when
my vigour was exhausted  and I should soon have sunk under my
multiplied hardships into a death which I still dread  for my task is
unfulfilled 

Oh   When will my guiding spirit  in conducting me to the daemon  allow
me the rest I so much desire  or must I die  and he yet live   If I do 
swear to me  Walton  that he shall not escape  that you will seek him
and satisfy my vengeance in his death   And do I dare to ask of you to
undertake my pilgrimage  to endure the hardships that I have undergone 
No  I am not so selfish   Yet  when I am dead  if he should appear  if
the ministers of vengeance should conduct him to you  swear that he
shall not live  swear that he shall not triumph over my accumulated
woes and survive to add to the list of his dark crimes   He is eloquent
and persuasive  and once his words had even power over my heart  but
trust him not   His soul is as hellish as his form  full of treachery
and fiend like malice   Hear him not  call on the names of William 
Justine  Clerval  Elizabeth  my father  and of the wretched Victor  and
thrust your sword into his heart   I will hover near and direct the
steel aright 


               Walton  in continuation 



                                                August 26th  17  


You have read this strange and terrific story  Margaret  and do you not
feel your blood congeal with horror  like that which even now curdles
mine   Sometimes  seized with sudden agony  he could not continue his
tale  at others  his voice broken  yet piercing  uttered with
difficulty the words so replete with anguish   His fine and lovely eyes
were now lighted up with indignation  now subdued to downcast sorrow
and quenched in infinite wretchedness   Sometimes he commanded his
countenance and tones and related the most horrible incidents with a
tranquil voice  suppressing every mark of agitation  then  like a
volcano bursting forth  his face would suddenly change to an expression
of the wildest rage as he shrieked out imprecations on his persecutor 

His tale is connected and told with an appearance of the simplest
truth  yet I own to you that the letters of Felix and Safie  which he
showed me  and the apparition of the monster seen from our ship 
brought to me a greater conviction of the truth of his narrative than
his asseverations  however earnest and connected   Such a monster has 
then  really existence   I cannot doubt it  yet I am lost in surprise
and admiration   Sometimes I endeavoured to gain from Frankenstein the
particulars of his creature s formation  but on this point he was
impenetrable   Are you mad  my friend   said he    Or whither does your
senseless curiosity lead you   Would you also create for yourself and
the world a demoniacal enemy   Peace  peace   Learn my miseries and do
not seek to increase your own    Frankenstein discovered that I made
notes concerning his history  he asked to see them and then himself
corrected and augmented them in many places  but principally in giving
the life and spirit to the conversations he held with his enemy   Since
you have preserved my narration   said he   I would not that a
mutilated one should go down to posterity  

Thus has a week passed away  while I have listened to the strangest
tale that ever imagination formed   My thoughts and every feeling of my
soul have been drunk up by the interest for my guest which this tale
and his own elevated and gentle manners have created   I wish to soothe
him  yet can I counsel one so infinitely miserable  so destitute of
every hope of consolation  to live   Oh  no   The only joy that he can
now know will be when he composes his shattered spirit to peace and
death   Yet he enjoys one comfort  the offspring of solitude and
delirium  he believes that when in dreams he holds converse with his
friends and derives from that communion consolation for his miseries or
excitements to his vengeance  that they are not the creations of his
fancy  but the beings themselves who visit him from the regions of a
remote world   This faith gives a solemnity to his reveries that render
them to me almost as imposing and interesting as truth 

Our conversations are not always confined to his own history and
misfortunes   On every point of general literature he displays
unbounded knowledge and a quick and piercing apprehension   His
eloquence is forcible and touching  nor can I hear him  when he relates
a pathetic incident or endeavours to move the passions of pity or love 
without tears   What a glorious creature must he have been in the days
of his prosperity  when he is thus noble and godlike in ruin   He seems
to feel his own worth and the greatness of his fall 

 When younger   said he   I believed myself destined for some great
enterprise   My feelings are profound  but I possessed a  coolness of
judgment that fitted me for illustrious achievements   This sentiment
of the worth of my nature supported me when others would have been
oppressed  for I deemed it criminal to throw away in useless grief
those talents that might be useful to my fellow creatures   When I
reflected on the work I had completed  no less a one than the creation
of a sensitive and rational animal  I could not rank myself with the
herd of common projectors   But this thought  which supported me in the
commencement of my career  now serves only to plunge me lower in the
dust   All my speculations and hopes are as nothing  and like the
archangel who aspired to omnipotence  I am chained in an eternal hell 
My imagination was vivid  yet my powers of analysis and application
were intense  by the union of these qualities I conceived the idea and
executed the creation of a man   Even now I cannot recollect without
passion my reveries while the work was incomplete   I trod heaven in my
thoughts  now exulting in my powers  now burning with the idea of their
effects   From my infancy I was imbued with high hopes and a lofty
ambition  but how am I sunk   Oh   My friend  if you had known me as I
once was  you would not recognize me in this state of degradation 
Despondency rarely visited my heart  a high destiny seemed to bear me
on  until I fell  never  never again to rise    Must I then lose this
admirable being   I have longed for a friend  I have sought one who
would sympathize with and love me   Behold  on these desert seas I have
found such a one  but I fear I have gained him only to know his value
and lose him   I would reconcile him to life  but he repulses the idea 

 I thank you  Walton   he said   for your kind intentions towards so
miserable a wretch  but when you speak of new ties and fresh
affections  think you that any can replace those who are gone   Can any
man be to me as Clerval was  or any woman another Elizabeth   Even
where the affections are not strongly moved by any superior excellence 
the companions of our childhood always possess a certain power over our
minds which hardly any later friend can obtain   They know our
infantine dispositions  which  however they may be afterwards modified 
are never eradicated  and they can judge of our actions with more
certain conclusions as to the integrity of our motives   A sister or a
brother can never  unless indeed such symptoms have been shown early 
suspect the other of fraud or false dealing  when another friend 
however strongly he may be attached  may  in spite of himself  be
contemplated with suspicion   But I enjoyed friends  dear not only
through habit and association  but from their own merits  and wherever
I am  the soothing voice of my Elizabeth and the conversation of
Clerval will be ever whispered in my ear  They are dead  and but one
feeling in such a solitude can persuade me to preserve my life   If I
were engaged in any high undertaking or design  fraught with extensive
utility to my fellow creatures  then could I live to fulfil it   But
such is not my destiny  I must pursue and destroy the being to whom I
gave existence  then my lot on earth will be fulfilled and I may die  




September 2nd

My beloved Sister 

I write to you  encompassed by peril and ignorant whether I am ever
doomed to see again dear England and the dearer friends that inhabit
it   I am surrounded by mountains of ice which admit of no escape and
threaten every moment to crush my vessel   The brave fellows whom I
have persuaded to be my companions look towards me for aid  but I have
none to bestow   There is something terribly appalling in our
situation  yet my courage and hopes do not desert me   Yet it is
terrible to reflect that the lives of all these men are endangered
through me   If we are lost  my mad schemes are the cause 

And what  Margaret  will be the state of your mind   You will not hear
of my destruction  and you will anxiously await my return   Years will
pass  and you will have visitings of despair and yet be tortured by
hope   Oh   My beloved sister  the sickening failing of your heart felt
expectations is  in prospect  more terrible to me than my own death 

But you have a husband and lovely children  you may be happy   Heaven
bless you and make you so 

My unfortunate guest regards me with the tenderest compassion   He
endeavours to fill me with hope and talks as if life were a possession
which he valued   He reminds me how often the same accidents have
happened to other navigators who have attempted this sea  and in spite
of myself  he fills me with cheerful auguries   Even the sailors feel
the power of his eloquence  when he speaks  they no longer despair  he
rouses their energies  and while they hear his voice they believe these
vast mountains of ice are mole hills which will vanish before the
resolutions of man   These feelings are transitory  each day of
expectation delayed fills them with fear  and I almost dread a mutiny
caused by this despair 



September 5th


A scene has just passed of such uncommon interest that  although it is
highly probable that these papers may never reach you  yet I cannot
forbear recording it 

We are still surrounded by mountains of ice  still in imminent danger
of being crushed in their conflict   The cold is excessive  and many of
my unfortunate comrades have already found a grave amidst this scene of
desolation   Frankenstein has daily declined in health  a feverish fire
still glimmers in his eyes  but he is exhausted  and when suddenly
roused to any exertion  he speedily sinks again into apparent
lifelessness 

I mentioned in my last letter the fears I entertained of a mutiny 
This morning  as I sat watching the wan countenance of my friend  his
eyes half closed and his limbs hanging listlessly  I was roused by half
a dozen of the sailors  who demanded admission into the cabin   They
entered  and their leader addressed me   He told me that he and his
companions had been chosen by the other sailors to come in deputation
to me to make me a requisition which  in justice  I could not refuse 
We were immured in ice and should probably never escape  but they
feared that if  as was possible  the ice should dissipate and a free
passage be opened  I should be rash enough to continue my voyage and
lead them into fresh dangers  after they might happily have surmounted
this   They insisted  therefore  that I should engage with a solemn
promise that if the vessel should be freed I would instantly direct my
course southwards 

This speech troubled me   I had not despaired  nor had I yet conceived
the idea of returning if set free   Yet could I  in justice  or even in
possibility  refuse this demand   I hesitated before I answered  when
Frankenstein  who had at first been silent  and indeed appeared hardly
to have force enough to attend  now roused himself  his eyes sparkled 
and his cheeks flushed with momentary vigour   Turning towards the men 
he said   What do you mean   What do you demand of your captain   Are
you  then  so easily turned from your design   Did you not call this a
glorious expedition 

 And wherefore was it glorious   Not because the way was smooth and
placid as a southern sea  but because it was full of dangers and
terror  because at every new incident your fortitude was to be called
forth and your courage exhibited  because danger and death surrounded
it  and these you were to brave and overcome   For this was it a
glorious  for this was it an honourable undertaking   You were
hereafter to be hailed as the benefactors of your species  your names
adored as belonging to brave men who encountered death for honour and
the benefit of mankind  And now  behold  with the first imagination of
danger  or  if you will  the first mighty and terrific trial of your
courage  you shrink away and are content to be handed down as men who
had not strength enough to endure cold and peril  and so  poor souls 
they were chilly and returned to their warm firesides   Why  that
requires not this preparation  ye need not have come thus far and
dragged your captain to the shame of a defeat merely to prove
yourselves cowards   Oh   Be men  or be more than men   Be steady to
your purposes and firm as a rock  This ice is not made of such stuff as
your hearts may be  it is mutable and cannot withstand you if you say
that it shall not   Do not return to your families with the stigma of
disgrace marked on your brows   Return as heroes who have fought and
conquered and who know not what it is to turn their backs on the foe  
He spoke this with a voice so modulated to the different feelings
expressed in his speech  with an eye so full of lofty design and
heroism  that can you wonder that these men were moved   They looked at
one another and were unable to reply   I spoke  I told them to retire
and consider of what had been said  that I would not lead them farther
north if they strenuously desired the contrary  but that I hoped that 
with reflection  their courage would return   They retired and I turned
towards my friend  but he was sunk in languor and almost deprived of
life 

How all this will terminate  I know not  but I had rather die than
return shamefully  my purpose unfulfilled   Yet I fear such will be my
fate  the men  unsupported by ideas of glory and honour  can never
willingly continue to endure their present hardships 



September 7th


The die is cast  I have consented to return if we are not destroyed 
Thus are my hopes blasted by cowardice and indecision  I come back
ignorant and disappointed   It requires more philosophy than I possess
to bear this injustice with patience 



September 12th


It is past  I am returning to England   I have lost my hopes of utility
and glory  I have lost my friend   But I will endeavour to detail these
bitter circumstances to you  my dear sister  and while I am wafted
towards England and towards you  I will not despond 

September 9th  the ice began to move  and roarings like thunder were
heard at a distance as the islands split and cracked in every
direction   We were in the most imminent peril  but as we could only
remain passive  my chief attention was occupied by my unfortunate guest
whose illness increased in such a degree that he was entirely confined
to his bed   The ice cracked behind us and was driven with force
towards the north  a breeze sprang from the west  and on the 11th the
passage towards the south became perfectly free   When the sailors saw
this and that their return to their native country was apparently
assured  a shout of tumultuous joy broke from them  loud and
long continued   Frankenstein  who was dozing  awoke and asked the
cause of the tumult    They shout   I said   because they will soon
return to England  

 Do you  then  really return  

 Alas   Yes  I cannot withstand their demands   I cannot lead them
unwillingly to danger  and I must return  

 Do so  if you will  but I will not   You may give up your purpose  but
mine is assigned to me by heaven  and I dare not   I am weak  but
surely the spirits who assist my vengeance will endow me with
sufficient strength    Saying this  he endeavoured to spring from the
bed  but the exertion was too great for him  he fell back and fainted 

It was long before he was restored  and I often thought that life was
entirely extinct   At length he opened his eyes  he breathed with
difficulty and was unable to speak   The surgeon gave him a composing
draught and ordered us to leave him undisturbed  In the meantime he
told me that my friend had certainly not many hours to live 

His sentence was pronounced  and I could only grieve and be patient   I
sat by his bed  watching him  his eyes were closed  and I thought he
slept  but presently he called to me in a feeble voice  and bidding me
come near  said   Alas   The strength I relied on is gone  I feel that
I shall soon die  and he  my enemy and persecutor  may still be in
being   Think not  Walton  that in the last moments of my existence I
feel that burning hatred and ardent desire of revenge I once expressed 
but I feel myself justified in desiring the death of my adversary 
During these last days I have been occupied in examining my past
conduct  nor do I find it blamable   In a fit of enthusiastic madness I
created a rational creature and was bound towards him to assure  as far
as was in my power  his happiness and well being 

 This was my duty  but there was another still paramount to that   My
duties towards the beings of my own species had greater claims to my
attention because they included a greater proportion of happiness or
misery   Urged by this view  I refused  and I did right in refusing  to
create a companion for the first creature   He showed unparalleled
malignity and selfishness in evil  he destroyed my friends  he devoted
to destruction beings who possessed exquisite sensations  happiness 
and wisdom  nor do I know where this thirst for vengeance may end 
Miserable himself that he may render no other wretched  he ought to
die   The task of his destruction was mine  but I have failed   When
actuated by selfish and vicious motives  I asked you to undertake my
unfinished work  and I renew this request now  when I am only induced
by reason and virtue 

 Yet I cannot ask you to renounce your country and friends to fulfil
this task  and now that you are returning to England  you will have
little chance of meeting with him   But the consideration of these
points  and the well balancing of what you may esteem your duties  I
leave to you  my judgment and ideas are already disturbed by the near
approach of death   I dare not ask you to do what I think right  for I
may still be misled by passion 

 That he should live to be an instrument of mischief disturbs me  in
other respects  this hour  when I momentarily expect my release  is the
only happy one which I have enjoyed for several years   The forms of
the beloved dead flit before me  and I hasten to their arms   Farewell 
Walton   Seek happiness in tranquillity and avoid ambition  even if it
be only the apparently innocent one of distinguishing yourself in
science and discoveries   Yet why do I say this   I have myself been
blasted in these hopes  yet another may succeed  

His voice became fainter as he spoke  and at length  exhausted by his
effort  he sank into silence   About half an hour afterwards he
attempted again to speak but was unable  he pressed my hand feebly  and
his eyes closed forever  while the irradiation of a gentle smile passed
away from his lips 

Margaret  what comment can I make on the untimely extinction of this
glorious spirit   What can I say that will enable you to understand the
depth of my sorrow   All that I should express would be inadequate and
feeble   My tears flow  my mind is overshadowed by a cloud of
disappointment   But I journey towards England  and I may there find
consolation 

I am interrupted   What do these sounds portend   It is midnight  the
breeze blows fairly  and the watch on deck scarcely stir   Again there
is a sound as of a human voice  but hoarser  it comes from the cabin
where the remains of Frankenstein still lie   I must arise and examine 
Good night  my sister 

Great God  what a scene has just taken place   I am yet dizzy with the
remembrance of it   I hardly know whether I shall have the power to
detail it  yet the tale which I have recorded would be incomplete
without this final and wonderful catastrophe  I entered the cabin where
lay the remains of my ill fated and admirable friend   Over him hung a
form which I cannot find words to describe  gigantic in stature  yet
uncouth and distorted in its proportions   As he hung over the coffin 
his face was concealed by long locks of ragged hair  but one vast hand
was extended  in colour and apparent texture like that of a mummy  When
he heard the sound of my approach  he ceased to utter exclamations of
grief and horror and sprung towards the window   Never did I behold a
vision so horrible as his face  of such loathsome yet appalling
hideousness   I shut my eyes involuntarily and endeavoured to recollect
what were my duties with regard to this destroyer   I called on him to
stay 

He paused  looking on me with wonder  and again turning towards the
lifeless form of his creator  he seemed to forget my presence  and
every feature and gesture seemed instigated by the wildest rage of some
uncontrollable passion 

 That is also my victim   he exclaimed    In his murder my crimes are
consummated  the miserable series of my being is wound to its close 
Oh  Frankenstein   Generous and self devoted being   What does it avail
that I now ask thee to pardon me   I  who irretrievably destroyed thee
by destroying all thou lovedst   Alas   He is cold  he cannot answer
me   His voice seemed suffocated  and my first impulses  which had
suggested to me the duty of obeying the dying request of my friend in
destroying his enemy  were now suspended by a mixture of curiosity and
compassion   I approached this tremendous being  I dared not again
raise my eyes to his face  there was something so scaring and unearthly
in his ugliness   I attempted to speak  but the words died away on my
lips   The monster continued to utter wild and incoherent
self reproaches   At length I gathered resolution to address him in a
pause of the tempest of his passion 

 Your repentance   I said   is now superfluous  If you had listened to
the voice of conscience and heeded the stings of remorse before you had
urged your diabolical vengeance to this extremity  Frankenstein would
yet have lived  

 And do you dream   said the daemon    Do you think that I was then
dead to agony and remorse   He   he continued  pointing to the corpse 
 he suffered not in the consummation of the deed  Oh   Not the
ten thousandth portion of the anguish that was mine during the
lingering detail of its execution   A frightful selfishness hurried me
on  while my heart was poisoned with remorse   Think you that the
groans of Clerval were music to my ears   My heart was fashioned to be
susceptible of love and sympathy  and when wrenched by misery to vice
and hatred  it did not endure the violence of the change without
torture such as you cannot even imagine 

 After the murder of Clerval I returned to Switzerland  heart broken
and overcome   I pitied Frankenstein  my pity amounted to horror  I
abhorred myself   But when I discovered that he  the author at once of
my existence and of its unspeakable torments  dared to hope for
happiness  that while he accumulated wretchedness and despair upon me
he sought his own enjoyment in feelings and passions from the
indulgence of which I was forever barred  then impotent envy and bitter
indignation filled me with an insatiable thirst for vengeance   I
recollected my threat and resolved that it should be accomplished   I
knew that I was preparing for myself a deadly torture  but I was the
slave  not the master  of an impulse which I detested yet could not
disobey   Yet when she died   Nay  then I was not miserable   I had
cast off all feeling  subdued all anguish  to riot in the excess of my
despair   Evil thenceforth became my good   Urged thus far  I had no
choice but to adapt my nature to an element which I had willingly
chosen   The completion of my demoniacal design became an insatiable
passion   And now it is ended  there is my last victim  

I was at first touched by the expressions of his misery  yet  when I
called to mind what Frankenstein had said of his powers of eloquence
and persuasion  and when I again cast my eyes on the lifeless form of
my friend  indignation was rekindled within me    Wretch   I said    It
is well that you come here to whine over the desolation that you have
made   You throw a torch into a pile of buildings  and when they are
consumed  you sit among the ruins and lament the fall   Hypocritical
fiend   If he whom you mourn still lived  still would he be the object 
again would he become the prey  of your accursed vengeance   It is not
pity that you feel  you lament only because the victim of your
malignity is withdrawn from your power  

 Oh  it is not thus  not thus   interrupted the being    Yet such must
be the impression conveyed to you by what appears to be the purport of
my actions   Yet I seek not a fellow feeling in my misery   No sympathy
may I ever find   When I first sought it  it was the love of virtue 
the feelings of happiness and affection with which my whole being
overflowed  that I wished to be participated   But now that virtue has
become to me a shadow  and that happiness and affection are turned into
bitter and loathing despair  in what should I seek for sympathy   I am
content to suffer alone while my sufferings shall endure  when I die  I
am well satisfied that abhorrence and opprobrium should load my memory 
Once my fancy was soothed with dreams of virtue  of fame  and of
enjoyment   Once I falsely hoped to meet with beings who  pardoning my
outward form  would love me for the excellent qualities which I was
capable of unfolding   I was nourished with high thoughts of honour and
devotion   But now crime has degraded me beneath the meanest animal  No
guilt  no mischief  no malignity  no misery  can be found comparable to
mine   When I run over the frightful catalogue of my sins  I cannot
believe that I am the same creature whose thoughts were once filled
with sublime and transcendent visions of the beauty and the majesty of
goodness   But it is even so  the fallen angel becomes a malignant
devil   Yet even that enemy of God and man had friends and associates
in his desolation  I am alone 

 You  who call Frankenstein your friend  seem to have a knowledge of my
crimes and his misfortunes  But in the detail which he gave you of them
he could not sum up the hours and months of misery which I endured
wasting in impotent passions  For while I destroyed his hopes  I did
not satisfy my own desires  They were forever ardent and craving  still
I desired love and fellowship  and I was still spurned   Was there no
injustice in this  Am I to be thought the only criminal  when all
humankind sinned against me  Why do you not hate Felix  who drove his
friend from his door with contumely  Why do you not execrate the rustic
who sought to destroy the saviour of his child  Nay  these are virtuous
and immaculate beings  I  the miserable and the abandoned  am an
abortion  to be spurned at  and kicked  and trampled on  Even now my
blood boils at the recollection of this injustice 

 But it is true that I am a wretch   I have murdered the lovely and the
helpless  I have strangled the innocent as they slept and grasped to
death his throat who never injured me or any other living thing   I
have devoted my creator  the select specimen of all that is worthy of
love and admiration among men  to misery  I have pursued him even to
that irremediable ruin 

 There he lies  white and cold in death   You hate me  but your
abhorrence cannot equal that with which I regard myself   I look on the
hands which executed the deed  I think on the heart in which the
imagination of it was conceived and long for the moment when these
hands will meet my eyes  when that imagination will haunt my thoughts
no more 

 Fear not that I shall be the instrument of future mischief   My work
is nearly complete   Neither yours nor any man s death is needed to
consummate the series of my being and accomplish that which must be
done  but it requires my own   Do not think that I shall be slow to
perform this sacrifice   I shall quit your vessel on the ice raft which
brought me thither and shall seek the most northern extremity of the
globe  I shall collect my funeral pile and consume to ashes this
miserable frame  that its remains may afford no light to any curious
and unhallowed wretch who would create such another as I have been   I
shall die   I shall no longer feel the agonies which now consume me or
be the prey of feelings unsatisfied  yet unquenched   He is dead who
called me into being  and when I shall be no more  the very remembrance
of us both will speedily vanish   I shall no longer see the sun or
stars or feel the winds play on my cheeks 

 Light  feeling  and sense will pass away  and in this condition must I
find my happiness   Some years ago  when the images which this world
affords first opened upon me  when I felt the cheering warmth of summer
and heard the rustling of the leaves and the warbling of the birds  and
these were all to me  I should have wept to die  now it is my only
consolation   Polluted by crimes and torn by the bitterest remorse 
where can I find rest but in death 

 Farewell   I leave you  and in you the last of humankind whom these
eyes will ever behold  Farewell  Frankenstein  If thou wert yet alive
and yet cherished a desire of revenge against me  it would be better
satiated in my life than in my destruction  But it was not so  thou
didst seek my extinction  that I might not cause greater wretchedness 
and if yet  in some mode unknown to me  thou hadst not ceased to think
and feel  thou wouldst not desire against me a vengeance greater than
that which I feel  Blasted as thou wert  my agony was still superior to
thine  for the bitter sting of remorse will not cease to rankle in my
wounds until death shall close them forever 

 But soon   he cried with sad and solemn enthusiasm   I shall die  and
what I now feel be no longer felt   Soon these burning miseries will be
extinct   I shall ascend my funeral pile triumphantly and exult in the
agony of the torturing flames  The light of that conflagration will
fade away  my ashes will be swept into the sea by the winds   My spirit
will sleep in peace  or if it thinks  it will not surely think thus 
Farewell  

He sprang from the cabin window as he said this  upon the ice raft
which lay close to the vessel   He was soon borne away by the waves and
lost in darkness and distance 










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