Chapter 2, Frankenstein audiobook

Chapter 2 of Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, read by Anna Butterworth

Episode Transcript

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Chapter two. We were brought uptogether. There was not quite a year
different in our ages. I neednot say that we were strangers to any
species of disunion or dispute. Harmonywas the soul of our companionship, and
the diversity and contrast that subsisted inour characters drew us nearer together. Elizabeth

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was of a calmer and more concentrateddisposition, but with all my ardor I
was capable of a more intense application, and was more deeply smitten with the
thirst for knowledge. She busied herselfwith following the aerial creatures of the poets,
and in the majestic and wondrous sceneswhich surrounded our Swiss home, the

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sublime shapes of the mountains, thechanges of the seasons, tempest and calm,
the silence of winter, and thelife and turbulence of our alpine summers,
she found ample scope for admiration anddelight. While my companion and contemplated
with a serious and satisfied spirit themagnificent appearance of things. I delighted in

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investigating their causes. The world wasto me a secret which I desired to
divine. Curiosity, earnest research tolearn the hidden laws of nature. Gladness
akin to rapture, as they wereunfolded to me, are among the earliest
sensations I can remember. On thebirth of a second son, my junior

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by seven years, my parents gaveup entirely their wandering life and fixed themselves
in their native country. We possesseda house in Geneva and a campagne on
Belrive, the eastern shore of thelake, at the distance of rather more
than a league from the city.We resided principally in the latter, and

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the lives of my parents were passingconsiderable seclusion. It was my temper to
avoid a crowd and to attach myselffervently to a few. I was indifferent
therefore to my schoolfellows 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 aboy of singular talent and fancy. He

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loved enterprise, hardship, and evendanger for its own sake. He was
deeply read in books of chivalry andromance. He composed heroic songs and began
to write many a tale of enchantmentand knightly adventure. He tried to make
us act plays and to enter intomasquerades in which the characters were drawn from

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the heroes of Ronces Vales, ofthe Round Table, of King Arthur,
and the Chivalroustrain, who shed theirblood to redeem the Holy Sepulcher from the
hands of the infidels. No humanbeing could have passed a happier childhood than
myself. My parents were possessed bythe very spirit of kindness and indulgence.

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We felt that they were were notthe tyrants to rule our lot according to
their caprice, but the agents andcreators of all the many delights which we
enjoyed. When I mingled with otherfamilies, I distinctly discerned how peculiarly fortunate
my lot was, and gratitude assistedthe development of felial love. My temper

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was sometimes violent, and my passion'svehement, but by some law in my
temperature, they were turned not towardschildish pursuits, but to an eager desire
to learn, and not to learnall things indiscriminately. I confess that neither
the structure of languages, nor thecode of governments, nor the politics of

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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 natureand the mysterious soul of man that occupied
me. Still my inquiries were directedto the metaphysical, or, in its

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highest sense, the physical secrets ofthe world. Meanwhile, Clerval occupied himself,
so to speak, with the moralrelations of things, the busy stage
of life, the virtue of heroes, and the actions of men were his
theme and his hope, and hisdream was to become one among those whose
names are recorded in story as thegallant and adventurous benefactors of our species.

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The saintly soul of Elizabeth shone likea shrine dedicated lamp in our peaceful home.
Her sympathy was ours. Her smile, her soft voice, the sweet
glance of her celestial eyes were everthere to bless and animate us. She
was the living spirit of love,to soften and attract. I might have

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become sullen in my study rough throughthe ardor of my nature, but that
she was there to subdue me toa semblance of her own gentleness and Clerval
could aught ill entrench on the noblespirit of Clerval. Yet he might not
have been so perfectly humane, sothoughtful in his generosity, so full of

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kindness and tenderness amidst his passion foradventurous exploit, had she not unfolded to
him the real loveliness of beneficence andmade the doing good the end and aim
of his soaring ambition. I feelexquisite pleasure in dwelling on the recollections of
childhood, before misfortune had tainted mymind and changed its bright visions of extensive

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usefulness into gloomy and narrow reflections uponself. Besides, in drawing the picture
of my early days, I alsorecord 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 whichafterwards ruled my destiny, I find it

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arise like a mountain river from ignobleand almost forgotten sources, but swelling as
it proceeded, it became the torrent, which in its course has swept away
all my hopes and joys. Naturalphilosophy is the genius that has regulated my
fate. I desire therefore in thisnarration to state those facts which led to

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my predilection for that science. WhenI was thirteen years of age, we
all went on a party of pleasureto the baths near Thonnon. The inclemency
of the weather obliged us to remaina day confined to the inn. In
this house I chanced to find avolume of the works of Cornelius Agrippa.

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I opened it with apathy. Thetheory which he attempts to demonstrate and the
wonderful facts which he relates, soonchanged 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,

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do not waste your time upon this. It is sad trash if instead of
this remark my father had taken thepains 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 powersthan the ancient. Because of the powers

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of the latter were chimerical, whilethose of the former were real and practical.
Under such circumstances, I should certainlyhave thrown Agrippa aside and have contended
my imagination, warmed as it was, by returning with greater ardor to my
former studies. It is even possiblethat the train of my ideas would never

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have received the fatal impulse that ledto my ruin. But the cursory glanced
my father had taken of my volumeby no means assured me that he was
acquainted with its contents, and Icontinued to read with the greatest avidity.
When I returned home, my firstcare was to procure the whole works of
this author, and afterwards a Paraclsusan Albertus Magnus. I read and studied

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the wild fancies of these writers withdelight. They appeared to me treasures known
to few beside myself. I havedescribed myself as always having been imbued with
a fervent longing to penetrate the secretsof nature. In spite of the intense
labor and wonderful discoveries of modern philosophers, I always came from my studies discontented

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and unsatisfied. Sir Isaac Newton issaid to have avowed that he felt like
a child picking up shells beside thegreat and unexplored ocean of truth. Those
of his successors, in each brandof natural philosophy, with whom I was
acquainted, appeared, even to myboy's apprehensions, as tyros engaged in the

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same pursuit. The untaught peasant beheldthe elements around him, and was acquired
with their practical uses. The mostlearned 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, animize, and give names, but

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not to speak of a final cause. Causes in their secondary and tertiary grades
were utterly unknown to him. Ihad gazed upon the fortifications and impediments that
seemed to keep human beings from enteringthe citadel of nature, and rashly and
ignorantly I had repined. But herewere books, and here were men who

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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. Butwhile I followed the routine of education in
the schools of Geneva, I wasto a great degree self taught with regard

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to my favorite studies. My fatherwas not scientific, and I was left
to struggle with a child's blindness addedto 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 theelixir of life. But the latter soon
obtained my undivided attention. Wealth wasan inferior object. But what glory would

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attend the discovery if I could banishdisease 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 wasa promise liberally accorded to my faith for
authors, the fulfillment of which Imost eagerly sought. And if my incantations

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were always unsuccessful, I attributed thefailure rather to my own inexperience and mistake,
than to want of skill or fidelityin my instructors. And thus for
a time I was occupied by explodedsystems, mingling like an unadept a thousand
contradictory theories, and floundering desperately ina very slough of multifarious knowledge, guided

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by my ardent imagination and childish reasoning, till an accident again changed the current
of my ideas. When I wasabout fifteen years old, we'd retired to
our house near Belrive, where wewitnessed a most violent and terrible thunderstorm.
It advanced from behind the mountains ofJura, and the thunder burst at once

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with frightful loudness from various quarters ofthe heavens. I remained while the storm
lasted, watching its progress with curiosityand delight. As I stood at the
door on a sudden I beheld astream of fire issue from an old and
beautiful oak, which stood about twentyyards from our house. And so soon

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as the dazzling light vanished, theoak had disappeared, and nothing remained but
a blasted stump. When we visitedthe next morning, we found the tree
shattered in a singular manner. Itwas not splintered by the shock, but
entirely reduced to thin ribbons of wood. I never beheld anything so utterly destroyed

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before this. I was not unacquaintedwith the more obvious laws of electricity.
On this occasion, a man ofgreat research in natural philosophy was with us,
and excited by this catastrophe, heentered on the explanation of a theory
which he had formed on the subjectof electricity and galvanism, which was at
once knew and astonishing to me.All that he said threw greatly into the

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shade. Cornelius, Agrippa, Albertus, Magnus, and Paracelsus, the lords
of my imagination. But by somefatality the overthrow of these men disinclined me
to pursue my accustomed studies. Itseemed to me as if nothing would or
could ever be known. All thathad so long engaged my attention suddenly grew

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despicable. By one of those capricesof the mind, those we are perhaps
more subject to an early youth,I at once gave up my former occupations,
set down natural history and all itsprogeny as a deformed and abortive creation,
and entertained the greatest disdain for awould be science which could never even

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step within the threshold of real knowledge. In this mood of mind, I
betook myself to the mathematics, andthe 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

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bound to prosperity or ruin. WhenI look back, it seems to me
as if this almost miraculous change ofinclination 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 waseven then hanging in the stars and ready

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to envelop me. Her victory wasannounced by an unusual tranquility and gladness of
soul, which followed the relinquishing ofmy ancient and latterly tormenting studies. It
was thus that I was taught toassociate evil with their prosecution, happiness with
their disregard. It was a strongeffort of the spirit of good, but

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it was in effection. Destiny wastoo potent, and her immutable laws had
decreed my utter and terrible destruction.