18 - Chapter 20. Frankenstein by Mary W. Shelley.

18 - Chapter 20. Frankenstein by Mary W. Shelley.  
Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, Gothic horror novel by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley that was first published in 1818. The epistolary story follows a scientific genius who brings to life a terrifying monster that torments its creator. It is considered one of the first science-fiction novels. An international sensation, the story has been adapted hundreds of times in different media and has influenced pop culture at large.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
the public domain. For more information, please visit LibriVox dot
blogsom dot com. This reading by Meghen Jane Daniel Suiassu
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, Chapter twenty. I sat one evening

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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 labor
for the night or hasten its conclusion by an unremitting
attention to it. As I sat, a train of reflection

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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.

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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 neighborhood 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 the compact made

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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 might
also turn with disgust from him to the superior beauty
of man. She might quit him, and he being again

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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 results of those sympathies for which
the demon thirsted would be children, and a race of
devils would be propagated upon the earth. Who might make

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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 been moved by the sophisms of the being I
had created, I had been struck senseless by his fiendish threats.

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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,

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and my heart failed within me, when, on looking up,
I saw, by the light of the moon, the demon
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

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himself in caves, or taken refuge in wide and desert heaths.
And now he came to mark my progress and claim
the fulfillment 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

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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

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the door, made a solemn vow in my own heart
never to resume my labors, 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,

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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 fisherman called to one another. I felt the silence,

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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. If someone endeavored to open it softly, I
trembled from head to foot I felt a presentiment of

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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 endeavored
to fly from an impending danger, and was rooted to
the spot. Presently I heard the sound of footsteps along

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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. Was it that you intend? Do you dare

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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

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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

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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,

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and the period of your power is a rash. Your
threats cannot move me to do an act of wickedness,
but they confirm in me a determination of not creating
you a companion in vice? Shall I, in cold blood,
set loose upon the earth a demon whose delight is
in death? And wretchedness? Begone? I am firm, and your

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words 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

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I be alone. I had feelings of affection, and they
were acquieted by detestation and scorn. Man, you may hate,
but beware your hours will pass in dread and misery,
and soon who the bolt will fall which must ravage
you from your happiness. Forever are you to be happy

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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

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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

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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,

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before you sign my death warrant, be sure that you
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

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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 pertur herbed,
while my imagination conjured up a thousand images to torment

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and sting me. Why had I not followed him and
close 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

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thought again of his words, I will be with you
on your wedding night. That then was the period fixed
for the fulfillment 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

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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

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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 last night's contention,
and walked on the beach of the sea, which I

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almost regarded as an insurpable 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,

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it was to be sacrificed, or to see those whom
I loved most die under the grasp of a demon
whom I had myself created. I walked about the isle
like a restless specter, separated from all it loved, and
miserable in the separation. When it became noon and the

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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,

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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

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I sat still 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

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where he was, that the letters from the friends he
had formed in London desired his return to complete the
negotiation they had entered into for his Indian enterprise. I
could no 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

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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

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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,

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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 mingled with the
living flesh of a human being. I paused to collect myself,

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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

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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 gloomy despair, as a thing that,

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with whatever consequences, must be fulfilled. But now I felt
as if a film had been taken from before my eyes,
and that I saw for the first time clearly the
idea of renewing my labors did not, for one instant
occur to me. The threat I had weighed upon my thoughts,

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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

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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,

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any encounter with my fellow creature. At one time, the moon,
which had been before 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

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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.

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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

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wind was high, and the waves continually threatened the safety
of my little skiff. I found the wind was northeast
and must have driven me far from the coast from
which I had embarked. I endeavored to change my course,
but quickly found that if I again made the attempt,
the aboat would instantly filled with water. Thus situated, my

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only resource was to drive before the wind. I confessed
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 wild Atlantic and feel all the tortures

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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 upon the heavens,
which were covered by clouds that flew before the wind,
only to ruby replaced by others. I looked upon the sea.

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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

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me into a reverie so despairing and frightful that, even now,
when the scene is on the point of closing before
me forever, I shuddered 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 brea,

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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 had
endured for several hours, this sudden certainty of life rushed

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like a flood of warm joy to my heart, and
tears gushed from my eyes. How mutable are our feelings,
and how strange it is that the 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

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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
neighborhood of civilized man. I carefully traced the windings of
the land and hailed a steeple, at which I at

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length saw issuing from behind a small promontory. As I
was in a state of extreme debility, I resolved to
sail 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

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town and a good harbor, 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

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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.

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You will know that soon enough, replied a man with
a hoarse voice. May be you 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 the

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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

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of the Irish to hate villains. While this strange dialog 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,

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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 mister Kirwin's to give an account of yourself.

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Who is mister Kirwin? Why am I to give an
account of myself? Is this not a free country, ay, sir,
Free enough for honest folks. Mister Kirwin is a magistrate,
and you are to give an account of the death
of a gentleman who was found murdered here last night.

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This answers 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,

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I thought it politic to rouse all my strength so
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.

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I might 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.