Chapter 3, Frankenstein audiobook

Chapter 3 of Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, read by Anna Butterworth

Episode Transcript

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Chapter three. When I had attainedthe age of seventeen, my parents resolved
that I should become a student atthe University of Ingolstadt. I had hitherto
attended the schools of Geneva, butmy father thought it necessary for the completion
of my education that I should bemade acquainted with other customs than those of

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my native country. My departure wastherefore 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, ofmy future misery. Elizabeth had caught
the scarlet fever. Her illness wassevere, and she was in the greatest

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danger. During her illness, manyarguments 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 lifeof her favorite was menaced, she
could no longer control her anxiety.She attended her sick bed. Her watchful

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attentions triumphed over the malignity of thedistemper. Elizabeth was saved, but the
consequences of this imprudence were fatal toher preserver. On the third day,
my mother sickened. Her fever wasaccompanied by the most alarming symptoms, and
the looks of her medical attendants prognosticatedthe worst event. On her death bed,

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the fortitude and benignity of this bestof women did not desert her.
She joined the hands of Elizabeth andmyself my children. She said, My
firmest hopes of future happiness were placedon the prospect of your union. This
expectation will now be the consolation ofyour father. Elizabeth, my love,

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you must supply my place to myyounger children. Alas I regret that I
am taken from you, and happyand beloved as I have been, is
it not hard to quit you all? But these are not thoughts befitting me.
I will endeavor to redesign myself cheerfullyto death, and will indulge a

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hope of meeting you in another world. She died calmly, and her countenance
expressed affection even in death. Ineed not describe the feelings of those whose
dearest ties are rent by that mostirreparable evil, the void that presents itself

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to the soul, and the despairthat is exhibited on the countenance. It
is so long before the mind canpersuade itself, that she whom we saw
every day, and whose very existenceappeared a part of our own, can
have departed forever, that the brightnessof a beloved eye can have been extinguished,

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and the sound of a voice sofamiliar and dear to the ear can
be hushed, never more to beheard. These are the reflections of the
first days. But when the lapseof time proves the reality of the evil,
then the actual bitterness of grief commences. Yet from whom has not that

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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 deemeda sacrilege, is not banished. My

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mother was dead, but we hadstill duties which we ought to perform.
We must continue our course with therest, and learn to think ourselves fortunate
whilst one remains whom the spoiler hasnot seized. My departure for Ingolstadt,
which had been deferred by these events, was now again determined upon I obtain

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from my father a respite of someweeks. It appeared to me sacrilege as
soon to leave the repose, akinto death of the house of mourning,
and to rush into the thick oflife. I was new to sorrow,
but it did not the less alarmme. I was unwilling to quit the
sight of those that remained to me, and above all, I desired to

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see my sweet Elizabeth in some degreeconsoled. She indeed veiled her grief and
strove to act the comforter to usall. 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 uncleand cousins. Never was she so enchanting

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as at this time, when sherecalled the sunshine of her smiles and spent
them upon us. She forgot evenher own regret in her endeavors to make
us forget. The day of mydeparture at length arrived Clerval spent the last
evening with us. He had endeavoredpersuade his father to permit him to accompany
me and to become my fellow student. But in vain his father was a

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narrow minded traitor, and saw idlenessand ruin in the aspirations and ambition of
his son. Henry deeply felt themisfortune of being debarred from a liberal education.
He said little, but when hespoke I read in his kindling eye
and in his animated glance, arestrained but firm resolve not to be chained

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to the miserable details of commerce.We sat late. We could not tear
ourselves away from each other, norpersuade ourselves to say the word farewell.
It was said, and we retiredunder the pretense of seeking repose, each
fancying that the other was deceived.But when at morning's dawn I descended to

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the carriage which was to convey meaway, they were all there, my
father again to bless me Clerval,to press my hand once more, by
Elizabeth, to renew her entreaties thatI would write often, and to bestow
the last feminine attentions on her playmateand friend. I threw myself into the

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chaise that was to convey me away, and indulged in the most melancholy reflections.
I, who had ever been surroundedby amiable companions, continually engaged in
endeavoring to bestow mutual pleasure. Iwas now alone in the university. Whither
I was going. I must formmy own friends and be my own protector.

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My life had hitherto been remarkably secludedand 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 weremy reflections as I commenced my journey.

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But as I preceded, my spiritsand hope rose. I ardently desired the
acquisition of knowledge. I had often, when at home, thought it hard
to remain during my youth cooped upin one place, and had longed to
enter the world and take my stationamong other human beings. Now my desires
were complied with, and it wouldindeed have been folly to repent. I

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had sufficient leisure for these and manyother reflections during my journey to Ingolstadt,
which was long and fatiguing. Atlength, the high white steeple of the
town met my eyes. I alightedand was conducted to my solitary apartment to
spend the evening as I pleased.The next morning, I delivered my letters

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of introduction and paid a visit tosome of the principal professors. Chance,
or rather the evil influence, theangel of destruction, which asserted omnipotent sway
over me. From the moment Iturned. My reluctant steps from my father's
door led me first to M.Kremp, professor of natural philosophy. He

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was an uncouth man, but deeplyimbued in the secrets of his science.
He asked me several questions concerning myprogress in the different branches of science.
Appertaining to natural philosophy. I replied, carelessly, and partly in contempt,
mentioned the names of my alchemists asthe principal authors I had studied. The

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professor stared, Have you, hesaid, really spent your time in studying
such nonsense? I replied in theaffirmative. Every minute, continued M.
Kremp, with warmth. Every instantthat you have wasted on those books is

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utterly and entirely lost. You haveburdened your memory with exploded systems and useless
names. Good God, in whatdesert land have you lived where no one
was kind enough to inform you thatthese fancies which if you have so greedily
imbibed are a thousand years old,and as musty as they are ancient.

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I little expected, in this enlightenedand scientific age to find a disciple of
Albertus Magnus and Paracelsus. My dearsir, you must begin your studies entirely
anew so saying, he stepped asideand wrote down a list of several books

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treating of natural philosophy, which hedesired me to procure, and dismissed me,
after mentioning that in the beginning ofthe following week he intended to commence
a course of lectures upon natural philosophyin its general relations, and that M.
Waldman, fellow professor, would lectureupon chemistry the alternate days that he

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omitted. I returned home not disappointed, for I have said that I had
long considered those authors useless, whomthe professor reprobated. But I returned not
at all the more inclined to recureto these studies in any shape. M.
Kremp was a little squat man witha gruff voice and a repulsive countenance.

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The teacher therefore did not prepossess mein favor 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 concerningthem in my early years as a child.
I had not been content with theresults promised by the modern professors of

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natural science, with the confusion ofideas only to be accounted for by my
extreme youth and my want of aguide on such manners, I had retrod
the steps of knowledge along the pathsof time, and exchanged the discoveries of
recent inquirers for the dreams of forgottenalchemists. Besides, I had a contempt

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for the uses of modern natural philosophy. It was very different when the mass
of the science sought immortality and power. Such views, although futile, were
grand. But now the scene waschanged. The ambition of the inquirer seemed
to limit itself to the annihilation ofthose visions on which my interest in science

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was chiefly founded. I was requiredto exchange chimeras of boundless grandeur for realities
of little worth. Such were myreflections during the first two or three days
of my residence at Ingolstadt, whichwere chiefly spent in becoming acquainted with the
localities and the principal residence in mynew abode. But as the ensuing week

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commenced, I thought of the informationwhich M. Cremp had given me concerning
the lectures. And although I couldnot consent to go and hear that little
conceited fellow deliver sentences out of apulpit, I recollected what he had said
of M. Waldman, whom Ihad never seen, as he had hitherto
been out of town. Partly fromcuriosity and partly from idleness, I went

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into the lecturing room, which M. Waldman entered shortly after. This professor
was very unlike his colleague. Heappeared about fifty years of age, but
with an aspect expressive of the greatestbenevolence. A few gray hairs covered his
temples, but those at the backfasthead were nearly black. His person was

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short but remarkably erect, and hisvoice the sweetest I have ever heard.
He began his lecture by a recapitulationof the history of chemistry and the various
improvements made by different men of learning, pronouncing with fervor the names of the
most distinguished discoverers. He then tooka cursory view of the present state of

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the science and explained many of itselementary terms. After having made a few
preparatory experiments, he concluded with apanegyric upon modern chemistry, the terms of
which which I shall never forget.The ancient teachers of this science said he
promised impossibilities and performed nothing. Themodern masters promise very little. They know

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that metals cannot be transmuted, andthat the elixir of life is a chimera.
But these philosophers, whose hands seemonly made to dabble in dirt and
their eyes to pore over the microscopeor crucible, have indeed performed miracles.
They penetrate into the recesses of natureand show how she works in her hiding

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places. They ascend into the heavens. They have discovered how the blood circulates,
and the nature of the air webreathe. They have acquired new and
almost unlimited powers. They can commandthe thunders of heaven, mimic the earthquake,
and even mock the invisible world withits own shadows. Such were the

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professor's words. Rather, let mesay such the words of fate enounced to
destroy me. As he went on, I felt as if my soul were
grappling with a palpable enemy. Oneby one, the various keys were touched,
which formed the mechanism of my being. Chord after chord was sounded,

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and soon my mind was filled withone thought, one conception, one purpose.
So much has been done, exclaimedthe soul of Frankenstein. More,
far more will I achieve, treadingin the steps already marked. I will
pioneer a new way, explore unknownpowers, and unfold to the world the

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deepest mysteries of creation. I closednot my eyes that night. My internal
being was in a state of insurrectionand turmoil. I felt that order would
thence arise, but I had nopower to produce it. By degrees.
After the morning's dawn sleep came,I awoke, and my yesternight's thoughts were

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as a dream. There only remaineda resolution to return to my ancient studies
and to devote myself to a sciencefor 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 moremild and attractive than in public, for

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there was a certain dignity in hismien during his lecture, which in his
own house was replaced by the greatestaffability and kindness. I gave him pretty
nearly the same account of my formerpursuits as I had given to his fellow
professor. He heard with attention thelittle narration concerning my studies, and smiled
at the names of Cornelius, Agrippaand Paracelsus. But without the contempt that

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M. Cremp had exhibited, hesaid that these were men to whose indefatigable
zeal. Modern philosophers were indebted formost of the foundations of their knowledge.
They had left to us as aneasier task to give new names and arrange
in connected classifications the facts which they, in a great degree had been the

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instruments of bringing to light. Thelabors of men of genius, however erroneously
directed, scarcely, ever fail inultimately turning to the solid advantage of mankind.
I listened to his statement, whichwas delivered without any presumption or affection,
and then added that his lecture hadremoved my prejudices against modern chemists.

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I expressed myself in measured terms withthe modesty and deference due from a youth
to his instructor, without letting escapeinexperience in life would have made me ashamed
any of the enthusiasm which stimulated myintended labors. I requested his advice concerning
the books I ought to procure.I am happy, said m. Waldman,

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to have gained a disciple, andif 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 beenand may be made. It is on
that account that I have made itmy peculiar study. But at the same

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time I have not neglected the otherbranches of science. A man would make
but a very sorry chemist if heattended to that department of human knowledge alone.
If your wish is to become reallya man of science, and not
merely a petty experimentalist, I shouldadvise you to apply to every branch of
natural philosophy, including mathematics. Hethen took me into his laboratory and explained

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to me the uses of his variousmachines, instructing me as to what I
ought to procure, and promising methe use of his own. When I
should have advanced far enough in thescience not to derange their mechanism, He
also gave me the list of bookswhich I had requested, and I took
my leave. Thus ended a daymemorable to me. It decided my future destiny.