October 25, 2025 • 41 mins
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Transformation by Mary Shelley. Forthwith, this frame of mine was
wrenched with a woeful agony, which forced me to begin
my tale, and then it set me free. Since then,
at an uncertain hour, that agony returns. Until my ghastly
tale is told, this heart within me burns. I have
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heard it said that when any strange, supernatural and necromantic
adventure has occurred to a human being, that being, however
desirous he may be to conceal the same feels at
certain periods, torn up as it were, in an intellectual earthquake,
and is forced to bear the inter depths of his
spirit to another. I am a witness to the truth
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of this. I have dearly sworn to myself never to
reveal to human ease the horrors to which I, once,
in excess of fiendly pride, delivered myself over. The Holy Man,
who heard my confession and reconciled me to the church,
is dead. None knows that once. Why should it not be? Thus?
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Why tell a tale of impious tempting of providence and
soul subduing humiliation? Why answer me, ye, who are wise?
And the secrets of human nature? I only know that
so it is and in spite of strong resolve, of
a pride that too much masters me of shame and
even of fear. So to render myself odious to my species,
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I must speak Genoa, my birthplace, proud city, looking upon
the blue waves of the Mediterranean Sea. Dost thou remember
me in my boyhood, when thy cliffs and promontories, thy
bright sky and gay vineyards were my world. Happy time
when to the young heart the narrow, bounded universe which leads,
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by its very limitation free scope to the imagination and
chains our physical energies and soul period in our lives,
innocence and enjoyment are united. Yet who could look back
to childhood and not remember its sorrows and its harrowing fears.
I was born with the most imperious, haughty, tameless spirit
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with which ever mortal was gifted. I quailed before my
father only, and he, generous and noble, but capricious and tyrannical,
at once fostered and checked the wild impetuosity of my character,
making obedience necessary but inspiring no respect for the motives
which guided his commands. To be a man free, independent,
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or in better words, insolent and domineering, was the hope
and prayer of my revel heart. My father had one friend,
a wealthy Genoese noble, who, in a political tumult, was
suddenly sentenced to banishment and his property confiscated. The Marchessterrella
went into exile alone. Like my father, he was a widower.
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He had one child, the almost infant Juliet, who was
left under my father's guardianship. I should certainly have been
an unkind master to the lovely girl, but that I
was forced by my position to become her protector. A
variety of childish incidents all tended to one point to
make Juliette see in me a rock of refuge. I
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and her one who must perish through the soft sensibility
of her nature too rudely visited. But for my guardian care,
we grew up together. The opening rose in May was
not more sweet than this dear girl, and a radiation
of beauty was spread over her face, her form, her step,
her voice. My heart weeps even now to think of
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all of relying, gentle, loving and pure that was enshrined
in that celestial tenement. When I was eleven and Juliet
eight years of age. A cousin of mine. Much older
than either, he seemed to us a man took great
notice of my playmate. He called her his bride and
asked her to marry him. She refused, and he insisted,
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drawing her unwillingly toward him with the countenance and emotions
of a maniac, I threw myself on him. I strove
to draw his sword. I clung to his neck with
the ferocious resolve to strangle him. He was obliged to
call for assistance to disengage himself from me. On that night,
I led Juliette to the chapel of our house. I
made her touch the sacred relics. I harried her child's
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heart and profaned her child's lips with an oath that
she would be mine and mine only. Well those days
passed away. Therella returned in a few years and became
wealthier and more prosperous than ever. When I was seventeen,
my father died. He had been magnificent to prodigality. Therella
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rejoiced that my minority would afford an opportunity for repairing
my fortunes. Juliet and I had been affianced. Beside my
father's death bed. Therella was to be a second parent
to me. I desired to see the world, and I
was indulged. I went to Florence, to Rome, to Naples, Thence,
I passed a Toulon, and at length reached what had
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long been the born of my wishes, Paris. There was
wild work in Paris then. The poor King Charles the sixth,
now sane, now mad, now monarch, now an abject slave,
was the very mockery of humanity. The Queen, the Dauphin,
the Duke of Burgundy, alternately friends and foes, now meeting
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in prodigal feasts, now shedding blood in rivalry, were blind
to the miserable state of their country and the dangers
that impended over it, and gave themselves wholly up to
the dissolute enjoyment or savage strife. My character still followed me.
I was arrogant and self willed. I loved display, and
above all I threw all control far from me. Who
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could control me? In Paris, my young friends were eager
to foster passions, which furnished them with pleasures. I was
deemed handsome. I was master of every nightly accomplishment. I
was discontented with any political party. I grew a favorite
with them. All my presumption and arrogance were pardoned in
one so young, I became a spoilt child who could
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control me, not the letters and advice of Tourella, only
strong necessity, visiting me in the abhorred shape of an
empty purse. But there were means to refill this void.
Acre after acre, estate after a state. I sold my dress,
my jewels, my horses, and their caparisons were almost unrivaled
in gorgeous Paris, while the lands of my inheritance passed
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into the possession of others. The Duke of Olyon was
waylaid and murdered by the Duke of Burgundy. Fear and
terror possessed all Paris. The Dauphin and the Queen shut
themselves up. Every pleasure was suspended. I grew weary of
this state of things, and my heart yearned for my
boyhood's haunts. I was nearly a beggar, yet still I
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would go there, claim my bride and rebuild my fortune.
A few happy ventures as a merchant would make me
rich again. Nevertheless, I would not return in humble guise.
My last act was to dispose of my remaining estate
near Alborough for half its worth for ready money. Then
I despatched all kinds of artifices, arraors, furniture of real
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splendor to fit up the last relic of my inheritance,
my palace in Genoa. I lingered a little longer, yet
ashamed at the part of the prodigal returned which I
feared I should play. I sent my horses one matchless
Spanish janet. I despatched my promised bride, its caparisons, flamed
with jewels and cloth of gold. In every part I
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caused to be entwined the initials of Juliette and her Guido.
My present found favor in hers and in her father's eyes. Still,
to return a proclaimed spendthrift, the mark of impertinent wonder
perhaps of scorn, and to encounter singly the reproaches or
taunts of my fellow citizens was not an alluring prospect.
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As a shield between me and censure, I invited some
few of my most reckless comrades to accompany me. Thus
I went armed against the world, hiding a rankling, feeling
half fear and half penitence by Bravado on an insolent
display of satisfied vanity. I arrived in Genoa, I trod
the pavement of my ancestral palace. My proud step was
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no interpreter of my heart, for I deeply felt that,
though surrounded by every luxury, I was a beggar. The
first step I took in claiming, juliet must widely declare
me as such, I read contempt or pity in the
looks of all I fancied, so apt his conscience to
imagine what it deserves, that rich and poor, young and
old all regarded me with Derisionterrella came not near me.
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No wonder that my second father should expect a son's
deference from me in waiting first on him. But galled
and stung by a sense of my follies and demerit,
I strove to throw the blame on others. We kept
nightly orgies in Palazzo Kariga, to sleepless righteous nights, followed listless,
supine mornings at the Ave Maria. We showed our dainty
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persons in the streets, scoffing at the sober citizens, casting
insolent glances at the shrinking women. Juliette was not among them. No, no,
if she had been there shame would have driven me
away if love had not brought me to her feet.
I grew tired of this. Suddenly I paid the Marchesse
a visit. He was at his villa, one among the
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many which decked the suburb of San Pietro Dierina. It
was the month of May, a month of May in
that garden of the world. The blossoms of the fruit
trees were fading among thick green foliage. The vines were
shooting forth. The ground strewed with the fallen olive blooms.
The fireflowers in the myrtle hedge. Heaven and earth wore
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a mantle of surpassing beauty. Terrella welcomed me kindly, though seriously,
and even his shade of displeasure soon wore away. Some
resemblance to my father, some look and tone of youthful
ingenuousness lurking still in spite of my misdeeds, softened the
good old man's heart. He sent for his daughter. He
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presented me to her as her betrothed. The chamber became
hallowed by a holy light. As she entered. Hers was
that cherub. Look those large soft eyes, full dimpled cheeks,
and a mouth of infinite sweetness that expresses the rare
union of happiness and love. Admiration first possessed me. She
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is mine was a second proud emotion, and my lips
curled with haughty triumph. I had not been the enfantete
of the beauties of France not to have learnt the
art of pleasing the soft heart of a woman. If
towards men I was overbearing, the deference I paid to
them was the more. In contrast, I commenced my courtship
by the display of a thousand gallantries to Juliet, who
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vowed to me from infancy, had never admitted the devotion
of others, and who, though accustomed to expressions of admiration,
was uninitiated in the language of lovers. For a few
days all went well. Torella never alluded to my extravagance.
He treated me as a favorite son. But the time came,
as we discussed the preliminaries to my union with his daughter,
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when this fair face of things should be overcast. A
contract had been drawn up in my father's lifetime. I
had rendered this, in fact void by having squandered the
whole of the wealth which was to have been shared
by Juliet and myself Therella, in consequence, chose to consider
this bond as canceled, and proposed another in which, though
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the wealthy bestowed was immeasurably increased. There were so many
restrictions as to the mode of spending it that I,
who saw independence only in free career being given to
my own imperious will, taunted him as taking advantage of
my situation, and refused utterly to subscribe to his conditions.
The old man mildly strove to recall me to reason.
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Roused pride became the tyrant of my thought. I listened
with indignation and repelled him with disdain. Juliet, thou art mine,
did we not interchange of ours in our innocent childhood?
Are we not one in the sight of God? And
shall thy cold hearted, cold blooded father divide us? Be
generous my love be just? Take not away a gift
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last treasure of thy guido, Retract not thy vows. Let
us defy the world and setting it nought. The calculations
of age find in our mutual affection a refuge from
every ill fiend. I must have been with such sophistry
to endeavor to poison that sanctuary of holy thought and
tender love. Juliet shrank from me, affrighted. Her father was
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the best and kindest of men, and she strove to
show me how in obeying him, every good would follow.
He would receive my tidy submission with warm affection, and
generous pardon would follow My repentance profitless words for a
young and gentle daughter to use to a man accustomed
to make his will law, and to feel in his
own heart at despots so terrible and stern that he
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could yield obedience to naught save his own imperious desires.
My resentment grew with my resistance. My wild companions were
ready to add fuel to the flame. We laid a
plan to carry off Juliet. At first it appeared to
be crowned with success. Midway on our return we were
overtaken by the agonized father and his attendants. A conflict
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ensued before the city guard came to a side the
victory in favor of our antagonists. Two of Terella's servitors
were dangerously wounded. This portion of my history weighs most
heavily with me changed man, as I am, I abhor
myself in the recollection, may none who hear this tale ever,
felt as I, a horse driven to fury by a
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rider armed with barbed spurs, was not more slave than
I to the violent tyranny of my temper. A fiend
possessed my soul, irritating it to madness. I felt the
voice of conscience within me, but if I yielded to
it for a brief in days, it was only to
be a moment after torn as by a whirlwind away,
borne along on the stream of desperate rage, the plaything
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of the storms engendered by pride, I was imprisoned, and
at the instance of Torella, set free again, I returned
to carry off both him and his child to France,
which hapless country then preyed on by free booters and
gangs of lawless soldiery offered a grateful refuge to a
criminal like me. Our plots were discovered. I was sentenced
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to banishment, and as my debts were already enormous, my
remaining property was put in the hands of commissioners for
their Paymentterrella again offered his mediation, were crying only my
promise not to renew my abortive attempts on himself and
his daughter. I spurned his offers and fancied that I triumphed.
When I was thrust out from Genoa, a solitary and
penniless exile, my companions were gone. They had been dismissed
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from the city some weeks before, and were already in France.
I was alone, friendless, with no sword at my side
nor duke at in my purse. I wandered along the
sea shore, a whirlwind of passion possessing and tearing my soul.
It was as if a live coal had been set
burning in my breast. At first I mediated on what
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I should do. I would join a band of free
booters revenge. The words seemed balm to me. I hugged it,
caressed it till like a serpent had stung me. Then
again I would abjure and despise Genoa, that little corner
of the world. I would return to Paris, where so
many of my friends swarmed, where my services would eagerly
be accepted, where I could carve out fortune with my sword,
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and might, through success make my poultry birthplace and the
false Turella drew the day when they drove me a
new Coriolanus from her walls. I would return to Paris.
Thus on foot a beggar, and present myself in my
poverty to those I had formerly entertained sumptuously. There was
gall in the mere thought of it. The reality of
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things began to dawn upon my mind, bringing despair in
its train. For several months I had been a prisoner.
The evils of my dungeon had whipped my soul to madness,
but they had subdued my corporeal frame. I was weak,
and Wanterrella had used a thousand artifices to administer to
my comfort. I had detected and scorned them all, and
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I reaped the harvest of my obduracy. What was to
be done? Should I crouch before my foe and sue
for forgiveness, die rather ten thousand deaths? Never should they
obtain that victory hate. I swore eternal hate, hate from
whom to whom, From a wandering outcast to a mighty noble.
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I and my feelings were nothing to them. Already had
they forgotten one so unworthy? And Juliet, her angel face
and silph like form gleamed among the clouds of my
despair with vain beauty, For I had lost her, the
glory and flower of the world. Another will call her his,
That smile of paradise will bless another. Even now my
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heart fails within me when I recur to this rout
of grim visaged ideas, now subdued almost to tears. Now
raving in my agony, still I wandered along the rocky shore,
which grew at each step wilder and more desolate. Hanging
rocks and hoary precipices overlooked the tideless ocean. Black caverns yawned,
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and forever among the sea, worn recesses murmured and dashed
the unfruitful waters. Now my way was almost barred by
an abrupt promontory, now rendered nearly impracticable by fragments fallen
from the cliff. Evening was at hand when seaward arose,
as if on the waving of a wizard's wand a
murky web of clouds, blotting the laate a zoa sky
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and darkening and disturbing with the till now placid deep.
The clouds had strange, fantastic shapes, and they changed and mingled,
and seemed to be driven about by a mighty spell.
The waves raised their white crests. The thunder first muttered,
then roared from across the waste of waters, which took
a deep purple dye flecked with foam. The spot where
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I stood looked on one side to the wide spread ocean.
On the other, it was barred by a rugged promontory.
Round this cape suddenly came, driven by the wind, a
vessel in vain. The mariners tried to force a path
for her to the open sea. The gale drove her
on the rocks. It will perish, All on board will perish.
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Would I were among them? And to my young heart
the idea of death came for the first time, blended
with that of joy. It was an awful sight to
behold that vessel struggling with her fate. Hardly could I
discern the sailors, but I heard them. It was soon
all over A rock, just covered by the tossing waves,
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and so unperceived lay in wait for its prey. A
crash of thunder broke over my head, and the moment that,
with a frightful shock, the skiff dashed upon her unseen enemy.
In a brief space of time she went to pieces.
There I stood in safety, and there all my fellow
creatures battling now hopelessly with annihilation. Methought, I saw them
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struggling too truly? Did I hear their shrieks conquering the
barking surges In their shrill agony, the dark breakers throw
hither and thither the fragments of the wreck. Soon it disappeared.
I had been fascinated to gaze till the end. At last,
I sank on my knees. I covered my face with
my hands. I again looked up. Something was floating on
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the billows towards the shore. It kneered and neared. Was
that a human form? It grew more distinct, and at
last a mighty wave, lifting the whole freight, lodged it
upon a rock, A human being bestriding a sea chest.
A human being? Was it one? Surely? Never such it
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existed before? A misshapen dwarf with squinting eyes, distorted features,
and body deformed till it became a horror to behold.
My blood lately warming towards a fellow being so snatched
from a watery tomb, froze in my heart. The dwarf
got off his chest. He tossed his straight, straggling hair
from his odious visage. Bison beezelbub, he exclaimed, I have
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been well bested. He looked round and saw me. Oh,
by the fiend, here is another ally of the mighty One.
To what saint? Did you offer prayers? Friend? If not
to mine? Yet? I remember you not on board. I
shrank from the monster in his blasphemy. Again, he questioned me,
and I muttered some inaudible reply. He continued, your voice
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is drowned by this dissonant roar. What a noise the
big ocean makes. Schoolboys bursting from their prisoner not louder
than these waves set free to play. They disturbed me.
I were no more of their ill timed brawling silence.
Hoary one, winds avant to your homes. Clouds, fly to
the antipodies, and leave our heaven clear. As he spoke,
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he stretched out his two long, lank arms that looked
like spider's claws, and seemed to embrace with them the
expanse before him. Was it a miracle? The clouds became
broken and fled. The azure sky first peeped out, and
then was spread a calm field of blue above us.
The stormy gale was exchanged to the softly breathing west.
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The sea grew calm, the waves dwindled to riplets. I
like obedience even in these stupid elements, said the dwarf.
How much more in the tameless mind of man. It
was a well got up storm you must allow, and
all of my own making. It was tempting providence to
interchange talk with this magician. But power, in all its
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shapes is venerable to man or Curiosity, a clinging fascination,
drew me towards him. Come, don't be frightened, friend, said
the wretch. I am good humored when pleased, and something
does please me in your well proportioned body and handsome face.
Though you look a little wobegone, you have suffered a
land ay, a sea wreck. Perhaps I can allay the
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tempest of your fortunes as I did my own. Shall
we be friends? And he held out his hand I
could not touch it. Well, then companions that will do
as well. And now while I rest after the buffeting
I underwent, Just now tell me why, young and gallant
as you seem, you wander thus alone and downcast on
this wild sea shore. The voice of the wretch was
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screeching and horrid, and his contortions he spoke were frightful
to behold. Yet he did gain a kind of influence
over me which I could not master. And I told
him my tale. When it was ended, he laughed long
and loud. The rocks echoed back, the sound hell seemed
yelling around me. Hold, a cousin of Lucifer, said he, So,
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thou too hast fallen through thy pride, And though bright
as the sun of morning, thou art ready to give
up thy good looks, thy bride, and thy well being,
rather than submit thee to the tyranny of God. I
honor thy choice by my soul. So thou hast fled
and yield the day and me to starve on these rocks,
and to let the birds peck out thy dead eyes,
while thy enemy and thy betrothed rejoice in thy ruin.
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Thy pride is strangely akin to humility, methinks. As he spoke,
a thousand fang thoughts stung me to the heart. What
would you that I should do? I cried, aye, Oh,
nothing but lie down and say your prayers before you die.
But where are you? I know the deed that should
be done? I drew near him. His supernatural powers made
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him an oracle in my eyes. Yet a strangely unearthly
thrill quivered through my frame as I said, speak, teach
me what act ye advise? Revenge thyself, man, humble thy enemies,
set thy foot on the old man's neck, and possess
thyself of his daughter to the cast and west, I turned, cried,
I and I see no means had I gold? Much
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could I achieve? But poor and single, I am powerless.
The dwarf had been seated on his chest as he
listened to my story. Now he got off. He touched
a spring. It flew open. What a mine of gold,
wealth of blazing jewels beaming in pale silver, was displayed
Therein A mad desire to possess his treasure was borne
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within me. Doubtless, I said, one so powerful as you
could do all things? Nay, said the monster humbly, I
am less omnipotent than I seem. Some things I possess
which you may covet, But I would give them all
for a small share, or even for a loan of
what is yours. My possessions are at your service, I replied, bitterly.
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My poverty, my exile, my disgrace. I make a free
gift of them all good. I thank you. Add one
other thing to your gift, and my treasure is yours,
as nothing is my soul inheritance. What besides nothing? Would
you have your comely face and well made limbs? I shivered?
Would this all powerful monster murder me? I had no dagger.
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I forgot to pray, but I grew pale. I ask
for a loan, not a gift, said the frightful thing.
Lend me your body for three days. You shall have
mine to cage your soul the while, and in payment
my chest. What say you to the bargain? Three short days?
We are told that it is dangerous to hold unlawful talk,
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and well do I prove the same tamely written down?
It may seem incredible that I should lend any ear
to this proposition. But in spite of his unnatural ugliness,
there was something fascinating in a being whose voice could
govern earth, air and sea. I felt a keen desire
to comply, for with that chest I could command the world.
My only hesitation resulted from a fear that he would
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not be true to his bargain. Then I thought I
shall soon die here on these lones sands. And the
limsy covets will be mine no more. It is worth
the chance. And besides, I knew that by all the
rules of art magic there were formula and odes which
none of its practices dared break. I hesitated to reply,
and he went on, now displaying his wealth. Now speaking
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of the petty price he demanded, till it seemed madness
to refuse. Thus it is place our bark in the
current of the stream, and down overfall and cataract. At
as hurried, give up our conduct to the wild torrent
of passion, and we are away. We know not whither.
He swore many an oath, and I adjured him with
many a sacred name, till I saw this wonder of power,
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this ruler of the elements, shiver like an autumn leaf
before my words, and as if the spirits spake unwillingly
and perforce within him. At last, he, with broken voice,
revealed the spell whereby he might be obliged. Did he
wish to play me false? To render up the unlawful spoil?
Our warm life blood must mingle to make and to
mar the sho charm. Enough of this unholy theme, I
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was persuaded. The thing was done. The morrow dawned upon
me as I lay upon the shingles, and I knew
not my own shadow. As it fell from me, I
felt myself changed to a shape of horror, and cursed
my easy faith in blind credulity. The chest was there there,
the gold and precious stones for which I had sold,
the frame of flesh which nature had given me. The
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sight a little stilled my emotions. Three days would soon
be gone. They did pass. The dwarf had supplied me
with a plenteous store of food. At first I could
hardly walk, so strange and out of joint were all
my limbs, and my voice it was that of the fiend.
But I kept silent and turned my face to the
sun that I might not see my shadow. And counted
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the hours, and ruminated on my future conduct, to bring
Torella to my feet, to possess my Juliette in spite
of him. All this my wealth could easily achieve. During
dark night, I slept and dreamt of the aarccomplishment of
my desires. Two suns had set, the third dawned. I
was agitated, fearful o expectation. What a frightful thing art
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thou when kindled more by fear than hope. How dost
thou twist thyself round the heart, torturing its pulsations. How
dost thou dart unknown pangs all through our fearble mechanism
now seeming to shiver us like broken glass to nothingness,
now giving us a fresh strength which can do nothing,
and so torments us by sensation, such as the strong
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man must feel, who cannot break his fetters, though they
bend in his grasp. Slowly paced the bright bright orb
up the eastern sky. Long it lingered in the zenith,
and still more slowly wandered down the west. It touched
the horizon's verge. It was lost. Its glories were on
the summits of the cliff. They grew dun and gray.
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The evening star shone bright. He will soon be here.
He came not by the living heavens. He came not.
And night dragged out its weary length, and in its
decaying age, day began to grizzle its dark hair, and
the sun rose again on the most miserable wretch that
ever upbraided its light. Three days thus I passed the
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jewels and the gold, Oh, how I bhored them well well,
I will not blacken these pages with dominiic ravings. All
too terrible were the thoughts, the raging tumult of ideas
that filled my soul. At the end of that time,
I slept, I had not before since the third sunset,
and I dreamt that I was at Juliette's feet. And
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she smiled, and then she shrieked, for she saw my transformation.
And again she smiled, for still her beautiful lover knelt
before her. But it was not I. It was he,
the fiend, arrayed in my limbs, speaking with my voice,
winning her with my looks of love. I strove to
warn her, but my tongue refused its office. I strove
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to tear him from her, but I was rooted to
the ground. I awoke with agony. There were the solitary,
hoary precipices, there, the plushing sea, the quiet strand, and
the blue sky over all. What did it mean? Was
my dream? But a mirror of the truth. Was he
wooing and winning my betrothed. I would on the instant
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back to Genoa. But I was banished. I laughed, The
dwarf's yell burst from my lips. I banished, Oh no,
they had not exiled the foul limbs. I wore I might,
with these enter without fear of incurring the threatened penalty
of death my own, my native city. I began to
walk towards Genoa. I was somewhat accustomed to my distorted limbs.
(30:47):
None were ever so ill adapted for a straightforward movement.
It was with infinite difficulty that I proceeded. Then, too,
I desired to avoid all the hamlets strewed here and
there on the sea beach, for I was unwilling to
make a display of my hittiousness. I was not quite
sure that, if seen, the mere boys would not stone
me to death as I passed for a monster. Some
(31:08):
ungentle salutations I did receive from the few peasants and
fishermen I chanced to meet. But it was dark before
I approached Genoa. The weather was so balmy and sweet
that it struck me that the Marchess and his daughter
would very probably have quitted the city for their country retreat.
It was from the Villa Torella that I had attempted
to carry off Juliet. I had spent many an hour
(31:29):
reconnoitering the spot, and knew every inch of the ground
in its vicinity. It was beautifully situated, embosomed in trees
on the margin of a stream. As I drew near,
it became evident that my conjecture was right, nay moreover,
that the hours were being then devoted to feasting and merriment.
For the house was lighted up, strains of soft and
(31:51):
gay music were wafted towards me by the breeze. My
heart sank within me. Such was the generous kindness of
Torella's heart that I felt sure that he would not
have indulged in public manifestations of rejoicing just after my
unfortunate banishment. But for a cause I dared not dwell
upon the country. People were all alive and flocking about.
(32:12):
It became necessary that I should study to conceal myself,
and yet I longed to address some one, or to
hear other's discourse, or in any way to gain intelligence
of what was really going on. At length, entering the
walks that were in the immediate vicinity of the mansion,
I found one dark enough to veil my excessive frightfulness,
And yet others as well as I were loitering in
(32:33):
its shade. I soon gathered all I wanted to know,
all that first made my very heart die with horror
and then boil with indignation. To morrow, Juliet was to
be given to the penitent, reformed, beloved Guido. To morrow
my bride was to pledge her vows to a fiend
from Hell. I did this. My cursed pride, my demoniac violence,
(32:56):
and wicked self idolatry had caused this act. For if
I had acted as the wretch who had stolen my
form had acted, if with a man at once yielding
and dignified, I had presented myself to Turella, saying I
have done wrong. Forgive me. I am unworthy of your
angel child, But permit me to claim her hereafter, when
my altered conduct shall manifest that I abdure my vices
(33:19):
and endeavor to become in some sort worthy of her.
I go to serve against the infidels. And when my
zeal for religion and my true penitence for the past
shall appear to you to cancel my crimes, permit me
again to call myself your son. Thus had he spoken,
and the penitent was welcomed, even as the prodigal son
of the scripture, the fatted calf was killed for him,
(33:39):
and he, still pursuing the same path, displayed such open
hearted regret for his follies, so humble a concession of
all his rights, and so ardent a resolved to reacquire
them by a life of contrition and virtue that he
quickly conquered the kind old man, and full pardon and
the gift of his lovely child followed in swift succession.
Oh had an angel from Paradise whispered to me to
(34:01):
act thus. But now what would be the innocent Juliet's fate?
Would God permit the foul union or some prodigy destroying it,
link the dishonored name of Corrigire with the worst of crimes.
To morrow, at dawn they were to be married. There
was but one way to prevent this, to meet mine
enemy and to enforce the ratification of our agreement. I
(34:24):
felt that this could only be done by a mortal struggle.
I had no sword, if indeed my distorted arms could
wield a soldier's weapon. But I had a dagger, and
in that lay my every hope. There was no time
for pondering or balancing nicely the question. I might die
in the attempt but besides the burning jealousy and despair
(34:44):
of my own heart, honor mere humanity demanded that I
should fall, rather than not destroy the machinations of the fiend.
The guests departed, the lights began to disappear. It was
evident that the inhabitants of the villa were seeking repose.
I hid myself amongst the trees. The garden grew desert.
(35:04):
The gates were closed. I wandered round and came under
a window. Ah, well, did I know the same? A
soft twilight glimmered in the room. The curtains were half withdrawn.
It was the temple of innocence and beauty. Its magnificence
was tempered, as it were, by the slight disarrangements occasioned
by its being dwelt in, and all the objects scattered
(35:24):
around displayed the taste of her, who hallowed it by
her presence. I saw her enter with a quick light step.
I saw her approach the window. She drew back the
curtain yet further and looked out into the night. Its
breezy freshness played among her ringlets and wafted them from
the transparent marble of her brow. She clasped her hands
(35:45):
she raised her eyes to heaven. I heard her voice Gweido.
She softly murmured mine own guido, And then, as if
overcome by the fullness of her own heart, she sank
on her knees, her upraised eyes, her negligent but graceful attitude,
the beaming thankfulness that lighted up her face. All these
(36:05):
attame words, Heart of mine, Thou imaginest, ever, though thou
cannot betray the celestial beauty of that child of light
and love. I heard a step, a quick, firm step,
along the shady avenue. Soon I saw a cavalier, richly
dressed and young, and methought, grateful to look on advance.
(36:26):
I hid myself, yet closer the youth approached. He paused
beneath the window. She arose, and again, looking out, she
saw him, and she said, I cannot know at this
distant time, I cannot record her terms of soft, silver
tenderness to me. They were spoken, but they were replied
to by him. I will not go, he cried, here
(36:49):
where you have been. Here, your memory glides like some
heaven visiting ghost. I will pass the long hours till
we meet, never my Juliette again, day or night, depart,
But do thou, my love retire? The cold, morn and
fitful breeze will make thy cheek pale and fill with
languor thy love lighted eyes, Ah, sweetest? Could I press
(37:10):
one kiss upon them? I could, methinks repose. And then
he approached, still nearer and methought he was about to
clamber into her chamber. I had hesitated not to terrify her.
Now I was no longer master of myself. I rushed forward.
I threw myself on him. I tore him away. I
cried old, loathsome and foul shaped wretch. I need not
(37:34):
repeat epithets, all tending as it appeared to rail at
a person. I at present feel some partiality. For a
shriek rose from Juliette's lips. I neither heard nor saw.
I felt only mine enemy, whose throat I grasped, and
my daggers hilt. He struggled, but could not escape. At length.
Hoarsely he breathed, these words, do strike home, destroy this body.
(37:57):
You will still live. May your life be long and merry.
The descending dagger was arrested at the word, and he,
feeling my whole relax, extricated himself and drew his sword,
while the uproar in the house and the flying of
tortures from one room to the other showed that soon
we should be separated, and I oh far better die
(38:17):
so that he did not survive. I cared not. In
the midst of my frenzy. There was much calculation full
I might and so that he did not survive. I
cared not for the death blow I might deal against myself.
While still therefore he thought, I paused, and while I
saw the villainous resolved to take advantage of my hesitation.
(38:38):
In the sudden thrust he made at me, I threw
myself on his sword, and at the same moment plunged
my dagger with a true desperate aim in his side.
We fell together, rolling over each other, and the tide
of blood that flowed from the gaping wound of each
mingled on the grass. More I know not, I fainted again.
(38:59):
I returned to life, weak, almost to death. I found
myself stretched upon a bed. Juliette was kneeling beside it.
Strange my first broken request was for a mirror. I
was so wan and ghastly that my poor girl hesitated,
as she told me afterwards, But by the mass. I
thought myself a right proper youth when I saw the
(39:19):
dear reflection of my own well known features. I confess
it is a weakness, but I avow it. I do
entertain a considerable affection for the countenance and limbs I
behold whenever I look at a glass, and have more
mirrors in my house, and consult them oftener than any
beauty in venice. Before you too much condemn me, permit
(39:40):
me to say that no one better knows than I
the value of his own body, no one probably except myself,
ever having had it stolen from him. Incoherently, I at
first talked of the dwarf and his crimes, and reproached
Juliet for her too easy admission of his love. She
thought me raving, as well she might. And yet it
was some time before I could prevail on myself to
(40:01):
admit that the guido whose penitence had won her back
for me was myself. And while I cursed bitterly the
monstrous dwarf and blessed the well directed blow that had
deprived him of life, I suddenly checked myself when I
heard her say, amen, knowing that him whom she reviled
was my very self. A little reflection taught me silence.
(40:22):
A little practice enabled me to speak of that frightful
night without any very excessive blunder. The wound I had
given myself was no mockery of one. It was long
before I recovered. And as the benevolent and generous Turella
sat beside me, talking such wisdom as might win friends
to repentance, and mine own, dear Juliet hovered near me,
administering to my wants and cheering me by her smiles,
(40:44):
the work of my bodily cure and mental reform went
on together. I have never indeed wholly recovered my strength.
My cheek is paler, since my person a little bent.
Juliet sometimes ventures to allude bitterly to the malice that
caused this check. But I kiss her on the moment
and tell her all is for the best. I am
(41:04):
a fonder and more faithful husband and true as this,
But for that wound, never had I called her mine.
I did not revisit the sea shore, nor seek for
the fiend's treasure. Yet, while I ponder on the past,
I often think and my confessor was not backward in
favoring the idea that it might be a good rather
than an evil spirit sent by my guardian angel to
(41:26):
show me the folly and misery of pride. So well
at least did I learn this lesson, roughly taught as
it was, that I am known, but now by all
my friends and fellow citizens by the name of Guido
Ilcotis End of Transformation by Mary Shelley
Transformation by Mary Shelley. Forthwith, this frame of mine was
wrenched with a woeful agony, which forced me to begin
my tale, and then it set me free. Since then,
at an uncertain hour, that agony returns. Until my ghastly
tale is told, this heart within me burns. I have
(00:24):
heard it said that when any strange, supernatural and necromantic
adventure has occurred to a human being, that being, however
desirous he may be to conceal the same feels at
certain periods, torn up as it were, in an intellectual earthquake,
and is forced to bear the inter depths of his
spirit to another. I am a witness to the truth
(00:45):
of this. I have dearly sworn to myself never to
reveal to human ease the horrors to which I, once,
in excess of fiendly pride, delivered myself over. The Holy Man,
who heard my confession and reconciled me to the church,
is dead. None knows that once. Why should it not be? Thus?
(01:06):
Why tell a tale of impious tempting of providence and
soul subduing humiliation? Why answer me, ye, who are wise?
And the secrets of human nature? I only know that
so it is and in spite of strong resolve, of
a pride that too much masters me of shame and
even of fear. So to render myself odious to my species,
(01:28):
I must speak Genoa, my birthplace, proud city, looking upon
the blue waves of the Mediterranean Sea. Dost thou remember
me in my boyhood, when thy cliffs and promontories, thy
bright sky and gay vineyards were my world. Happy time
when to the young heart the narrow, bounded universe which leads,
(01:49):
by its very limitation free scope to the imagination and
chains our physical energies and soul period in our lives,
innocence and enjoyment are united. Yet who could look back
to childhood and not remember its sorrows and its harrowing fears.
I was born with the most imperious, haughty, tameless spirit
(02:10):
with which ever mortal was gifted. I quailed before my
father only, and he, generous and noble, but capricious and tyrannical,
at once fostered and checked the wild impetuosity of my character,
making obedience necessary but inspiring no respect for the motives
which guided his commands. To be a man free, independent,
(02:32):
or in better words, insolent and domineering, was the hope
and prayer of my revel heart. My father had one friend,
a wealthy Genoese noble, who, in a political tumult, was
suddenly sentenced to banishment and his property confiscated. The Marchessterrella
went into exile alone. Like my father, he was a widower.
(02:54):
He had one child, the almost infant Juliet, who was
left under my father's guardianship. I should certainly have been
an unkind master to the lovely girl, but that I
was forced by my position to become her protector. A
variety of childish incidents all tended to one point to
make Juliette see in me a rock of refuge. I
(03:16):
and her one who must perish through the soft sensibility
of her nature too rudely visited. But for my guardian care,
we grew up together. The opening rose in May was
not more sweet than this dear girl, and a radiation
of beauty was spread over her face, her form, her step,
her voice. My heart weeps even now to think of
(03:37):
all of relying, gentle, loving and pure that was enshrined
in that celestial tenement. When I was eleven and Juliet
eight years of age. A cousin of mine. Much older
than either, he seemed to us a man took great
notice of my playmate. He called her his bride and
asked her to marry him. She refused, and he insisted,
(03:58):
drawing her unwillingly toward him with the countenance and emotions
of a maniac, I threw myself on him. I strove
to draw his sword. I clung to his neck with
the ferocious resolve to strangle him. He was obliged to
call for assistance to disengage himself from me. On that night,
I led Juliette to the chapel of our house. I
made her touch the sacred relics. I harried her child's
(04:21):
heart and profaned her child's lips with an oath that
she would be mine and mine only. Well those days
passed away. Therella returned in a few years and became
wealthier and more prosperous than ever. When I was seventeen,
my father died. He had been magnificent to prodigality. Therella
(04:41):
rejoiced that my minority would afford an opportunity for repairing
my fortunes. Juliet and I had been affianced. Beside my
father's death bed. Therella was to be a second parent
to me. I desired to see the world, and I
was indulged. I went to Florence, to Rome, to Naples, Thence,
I passed a Toulon, and at length reached what had
(05:04):
long been the born of my wishes, Paris. There was
wild work in Paris then. The poor King Charles the sixth,
now sane, now mad, now monarch, now an abject slave,
was the very mockery of humanity. The Queen, the Dauphin,
the Duke of Burgundy, alternately friends and foes, now meeting
(05:27):
in prodigal feasts, now shedding blood in rivalry, were blind
to the miserable state of their country and the dangers
that impended over it, and gave themselves wholly up to
the dissolute enjoyment or savage strife. My character still followed me.
I was arrogant and self willed. I loved display, and
above all I threw all control far from me. Who
(05:51):
could control me? In Paris, my young friends were eager
to foster passions, which furnished them with pleasures. I was
deemed handsome. I was master of every nightly accomplishment. I
was discontented with any political party. I grew a favorite
with them. All my presumption and arrogance were pardoned in
one so young, I became a spoilt child who could
(06:13):
control me, not the letters and advice of Tourella, only
strong necessity, visiting me in the abhorred shape of an
empty purse. But there were means to refill this void.
Acre after acre, estate after a state. I sold my dress,
my jewels, my horses, and their caparisons were almost unrivaled
in gorgeous Paris, while the lands of my inheritance passed
(06:36):
into the possession of others. The Duke of Olyon was
waylaid and murdered by the Duke of Burgundy. Fear and
terror possessed all Paris. The Dauphin and the Queen shut
themselves up. Every pleasure was suspended. I grew weary of
this state of things, and my heart yearned for my
boyhood's haunts. I was nearly a beggar, yet still I
(06:57):
would go there, claim my bride and rebuild my fortune.
A few happy ventures as a merchant would make me
rich again. Nevertheless, I would not return in humble guise.
My last act was to dispose of my remaining estate
near Alborough for half its worth for ready money. Then
I despatched all kinds of artifices, arraors, furniture of real
(07:18):
splendor to fit up the last relic of my inheritance,
my palace in Genoa. I lingered a little longer, yet
ashamed at the part of the prodigal returned which I
feared I should play. I sent my horses one matchless
Spanish janet. I despatched my promised bride, its caparisons, flamed
with jewels and cloth of gold. In every part I
(07:40):
caused to be entwined the initials of Juliette and her Guido.
My present found favor in hers and in her father's eyes. Still,
to return a proclaimed spendthrift, the mark of impertinent wonder
perhaps of scorn, and to encounter singly the reproaches or
taunts of my fellow citizens was not an alluring prospect.
(08:00):
As a shield between me and censure, I invited some
few of my most reckless comrades to accompany me. Thus
I went armed against the world, hiding a rankling, feeling
half fear and half penitence by Bravado on an insolent
display of satisfied vanity. I arrived in Genoa, I trod
the pavement of my ancestral palace. My proud step was
(08:23):
no interpreter of my heart, for I deeply felt that,
though surrounded by every luxury, I was a beggar. The
first step I took in claiming, juliet must widely declare
me as such, I read contempt or pity in the
looks of all I fancied, so apt his conscience to
imagine what it deserves, that rich and poor, young and
old all regarded me with Derisionterrella came not near me.
(08:48):
No wonder that my second father should expect a son's
deference from me in waiting first on him. But galled
and stung by a sense of my follies and demerit,
I strove to throw the blame on others. We kept
nightly orgies in Palazzo Kariga, to sleepless righteous nights, followed listless,
supine mornings at the Ave Maria. We showed our dainty
(09:10):
persons in the streets, scoffing at the sober citizens, casting
insolent glances at the shrinking women. Juliette was not among them. No, no,
if she had been there shame would have driven me
away if love had not brought me to her feet.
I grew tired of this. Suddenly I paid the Marchesse
a visit. He was at his villa, one among the
(09:32):
many which decked the suburb of San Pietro Dierina. It
was the month of May, a month of May in
that garden of the world. The blossoms of the fruit
trees were fading among thick green foliage. The vines were
shooting forth. The ground strewed with the fallen olive blooms.
The fireflowers in the myrtle hedge. Heaven and earth wore
(09:52):
a mantle of surpassing beauty. Terrella welcomed me kindly, though seriously,
and even his shade of displeasure soon wore away. Some
resemblance to my father, some look and tone of youthful
ingenuousness lurking still in spite of my misdeeds, softened the
good old man's heart. He sent for his daughter. He
(10:13):
presented me to her as her betrothed. The chamber became
hallowed by a holy light. As she entered. Hers was
that cherub. Look those large soft eyes, full dimpled cheeks,
and a mouth of infinite sweetness that expresses the rare
union of happiness and love. Admiration first possessed me. She
(10:33):
is mine was a second proud emotion, and my lips
curled with haughty triumph. I had not been the enfantete
of the beauties of France not to have learnt the
art of pleasing the soft heart of a woman. If
towards men I was overbearing, the deference I paid to
them was the more. In contrast, I commenced my courtship
by the display of a thousand gallantries to Juliet, who
(10:56):
vowed to me from infancy, had never admitted the devotion
of others, and who, though accustomed to expressions of admiration,
was uninitiated in the language of lovers. For a few
days all went well. Torella never alluded to my extravagance.
He treated me as a favorite son. But the time came,
as we discussed the preliminaries to my union with his daughter,
(11:18):
when this fair face of things should be overcast. A
contract had been drawn up in my father's lifetime. I
had rendered this, in fact void by having squandered the
whole of the wealth which was to have been shared
by Juliet and myself Therella, in consequence, chose to consider
this bond as canceled, and proposed another in which, though
(11:39):
the wealthy bestowed was immeasurably increased. There were so many
restrictions as to the mode of spending it that I,
who saw independence only in free career being given to
my own imperious will, taunted him as taking advantage of
my situation, and refused utterly to subscribe to his conditions.
The old man mildly strove to recall me to reason.
(12:00):
Roused pride became the tyrant of my thought. I listened
with indignation and repelled him with disdain. Juliet, thou art mine,
did we not interchange of ours in our innocent childhood?
Are we not one in the sight of God? And
shall thy cold hearted, cold blooded father divide us? Be
generous my love be just? Take not away a gift
(12:21):
last treasure of thy guido, Retract not thy vows. Let
us defy the world and setting it nought. The calculations
of age find in our mutual affection a refuge from
every ill fiend. I must have been with such sophistry
to endeavor to poison that sanctuary of holy thought and
tender love. Juliet shrank from me, affrighted. Her father was
(12:42):
the best and kindest of men, and she strove to
show me how in obeying him, every good would follow.
He would receive my tidy submission with warm affection, and
generous pardon would follow My repentance profitless words for a
young and gentle daughter to use to a man accustomed
to make his will law, and to feel in his
own heart at despots so terrible and stern that he
(13:03):
could yield obedience to naught save his own imperious desires.
My resentment grew with my resistance. My wild companions were
ready to add fuel to the flame. We laid a
plan to carry off Juliet. At first it appeared to
be crowned with success. Midway on our return we were
overtaken by the agonized father and his attendants. A conflict
(13:25):
ensued before the city guard came to a side the
victory in favor of our antagonists. Two of Terella's servitors
were dangerously wounded. This portion of my history weighs most
heavily with me changed man, as I am, I abhor
myself in the recollection, may none who hear this tale ever,
felt as I, a horse driven to fury by a
(13:46):
rider armed with barbed spurs, was not more slave than
I to the violent tyranny of my temper. A fiend
possessed my soul, irritating it to madness. I felt the
voice of conscience within me, but if I yielded to
it for a brief in days, it was only to
be a moment after torn as by a whirlwind away,
borne along on the stream of desperate rage, the plaything
(14:07):
of the storms engendered by pride, I was imprisoned, and
at the instance of Torella, set free again, I returned
to carry off both him and his child to France,
which hapless country then preyed on by free booters and
gangs of lawless soldiery offered a grateful refuge to a
criminal like me. Our plots were discovered. I was sentenced
(14:29):
to banishment, and as my debts were already enormous, my
remaining property was put in the hands of commissioners for
their Paymentterrella again offered his mediation, were crying only my
promise not to renew my abortive attempts on himself and
his daughter. I spurned his offers and fancied that I triumphed.
When I was thrust out from Genoa, a solitary and
penniless exile, my companions were gone. They had been dismissed
(14:54):
from the city some weeks before, and were already in France.
I was alone, friendless, with no sword at my side
nor duke at in my purse. I wandered along the
sea shore, a whirlwind of passion possessing and tearing my soul.
It was as if a live coal had been set
burning in my breast. At first I mediated on what
(15:14):
I should do. I would join a band of free
booters revenge. The words seemed balm to me. I hugged it,
caressed it till like a serpent had stung me. Then
again I would abjure and despise Genoa, that little corner
of the world. I would return to Paris, where so
many of my friends swarmed, where my services would eagerly
be accepted, where I could carve out fortune with my sword,
(15:36):
and might, through success make my poultry birthplace and the
false Turella drew the day when they drove me a
new Coriolanus from her walls. I would return to Paris.
Thus on foot a beggar, and present myself in my
poverty to those I had formerly entertained sumptuously. There was
gall in the mere thought of it. The reality of
(15:59):
things began to dawn upon my mind, bringing despair in
its train. For several months I had been a prisoner.
The evils of my dungeon had whipped my soul to madness,
but they had subdued my corporeal frame. I was weak,
and Wanterrella had used a thousand artifices to administer to
my comfort. I had detected and scorned them all, and
(16:21):
I reaped the harvest of my obduracy. What was to
be done? Should I crouch before my foe and sue
for forgiveness, die rather ten thousand deaths? Never should they
obtain that victory hate. I swore eternal hate, hate from
whom to whom, From a wandering outcast to a mighty noble.
(16:44):
I and my feelings were nothing to them. Already had
they forgotten one so unworthy? And Juliet, her angel face
and silph like form gleamed among the clouds of my
despair with vain beauty, For I had lost her, the
glory and flower of the world. Another will call her his,
That smile of paradise will bless another. Even now my
(17:06):
heart fails within me when I recur to this rout
of grim visaged ideas, now subdued almost to tears. Now
raving in my agony, still I wandered along the rocky shore,
which grew at each step wilder and more desolate. Hanging
rocks and hoary precipices overlooked the tideless ocean. Black caverns yawned,
(17:27):
and forever among the sea, worn recesses murmured and dashed
the unfruitful waters. Now my way was almost barred by
an abrupt promontory, now rendered nearly impracticable by fragments fallen
from the cliff. Evening was at hand when seaward arose,
as if on the waving of a wizard's wand a
murky web of clouds, blotting the laate a zoa sky
(17:50):
and darkening and disturbing with the till now placid deep.
The clouds had strange, fantastic shapes, and they changed and mingled,
and seemed to be driven about by a mighty spell.
The waves raised their white crests. The thunder first muttered,
then roared from across the waste of waters, which took
a deep purple dye flecked with foam. The spot where
(18:13):
I stood looked on one side to the wide spread ocean.
On the other, it was barred by a rugged promontory.
Round this cape suddenly came, driven by the wind, a
vessel in vain. The mariners tried to force a path
for her to the open sea. The gale drove her
on the rocks. It will perish, All on board will perish.
(18:34):
Would I were among them? And to my young heart
the idea of death came for the first time, blended
with that of joy. It was an awful sight to
behold that vessel struggling with her fate. Hardly could I
discern the sailors, but I heard them. It was soon
all over A rock, just covered by the tossing waves,
(18:55):
and so unperceived lay in wait for its prey. A
crash of thunder broke over my head, and the moment that,
with a frightful shock, the skiff dashed upon her unseen enemy.
In a brief space of time she went to pieces.
There I stood in safety, and there all my fellow
creatures battling now hopelessly with annihilation. Methought, I saw them
(19:20):
struggling too truly? Did I hear their shrieks conquering the
barking surges In their shrill agony, the dark breakers throw
hither and thither the fragments of the wreck. Soon it disappeared.
I had been fascinated to gaze till the end. At last,
I sank on my knees. I covered my face with
my hands. I again looked up. Something was floating on
(19:42):
the billows towards the shore. It kneered and neared. Was
that a human form? It grew more distinct, and at
last a mighty wave, lifting the whole freight, lodged it
upon a rock, A human being bestriding a sea chest.
A human being? Was it one? Surely? Never such it
(20:02):
existed before? A misshapen dwarf with squinting eyes, distorted features,
and body deformed till it became a horror to behold.
My blood lately warming towards a fellow being so snatched
from a watery tomb, froze in my heart. The dwarf
got off his chest. He tossed his straight, straggling hair
from his odious visage. Bison beezelbub, he exclaimed, I have
(20:27):
been well bested. He looked round and saw me. Oh,
by the fiend, here is another ally of the mighty One.
To what saint? Did you offer prayers? Friend? If not
to mine? Yet? I remember you not on board. I
shrank from the monster in his blasphemy. Again, he questioned me,
and I muttered some inaudible reply. He continued, your voice
(20:50):
is drowned by this dissonant roar. What a noise the
big ocean makes. Schoolboys bursting from their prisoner not louder
than these waves set free to play. They disturbed me.
I were no more of their ill timed brawling silence.
Hoary one, winds avant to your homes. Clouds, fly to
the antipodies, and leave our heaven clear. As he spoke,
(21:11):
he stretched out his two long, lank arms that looked
like spider's claws, and seemed to embrace with them the
expanse before him. Was it a miracle? The clouds became
broken and fled. The azure sky first peeped out, and
then was spread a calm field of blue above us.
The stormy gale was exchanged to the softly breathing west.
(21:33):
The sea grew calm, the waves dwindled to riplets. I
like obedience even in these stupid elements, said the dwarf.
How much more in the tameless mind of man. It
was a well got up storm you must allow, and
all of my own making. It was tempting providence to
interchange talk with this magician. But power, in all its
(21:54):
shapes is venerable to man or Curiosity, a clinging fascination,
drew me towards him. Come, don't be frightened, friend, said
the wretch. I am good humored when pleased, and something
does please me in your well proportioned body and handsome face.
Though you look a little wobegone, you have suffered a
land ay, a sea wreck. Perhaps I can allay the
(22:17):
tempest of your fortunes as I did my own. Shall
we be friends? And he held out his hand I
could not touch it. Well, then companions that will do
as well. And now while I rest after the buffeting
I underwent, Just now tell me why, young and gallant
as you seem, you wander thus alone and downcast on
this wild sea shore. The voice of the wretch was
(22:40):
screeching and horrid, and his contortions he spoke were frightful
to behold. Yet he did gain a kind of influence
over me which I could not master. And I told
him my tale. When it was ended, he laughed long
and loud. The rocks echoed back, the sound hell seemed
yelling around me. Hold, a cousin of Lucifer, said he, So,
(23:02):
thou too hast fallen through thy pride, And though bright
as the sun of morning, thou art ready to give
up thy good looks, thy bride, and thy well being,
rather than submit thee to the tyranny of God. I
honor thy choice by my soul. So thou hast fled
and yield the day and me to starve on these rocks,
and to let the birds peck out thy dead eyes,
while thy enemy and thy betrothed rejoice in thy ruin.
(23:26):
Thy pride is strangely akin to humility, methinks. As he spoke,
a thousand fang thoughts stung me to the heart. What
would you that I should do? I cried, aye, Oh,
nothing but lie down and say your prayers before you die.
But where are you? I know the deed that should
be done? I drew near him. His supernatural powers made
(23:47):
him an oracle in my eyes. Yet a strangely unearthly
thrill quivered through my frame as I said, speak, teach
me what act ye advise? Revenge thyself, man, humble thy enemies,
set thy foot on the old man's neck, and possess
thyself of his daughter to the cast and west, I turned, cried,
I and I see no means had I gold? Much
(24:10):
could I achieve? But poor and single, I am powerless.
The dwarf had been seated on his chest as he
listened to my story. Now he got off. He touched
a spring. It flew open. What a mine of gold,
wealth of blazing jewels beaming in pale silver, was displayed
Therein A mad desire to possess his treasure was borne
(24:30):
within me. Doubtless, I said, one so powerful as you
could do all things? Nay, said the monster humbly, I
am less omnipotent than I seem. Some things I possess
which you may covet, But I would give them all
for a small share, or even for a loan of
what is yours. My possessions are at your service, I replied, bitterly.
(24:50):
My poverty, my exile, my disgrace. I make a free
gift of them all good. I thank you. Add one
other thing to your gift, and my treasure is yours,
as nothing is my soul inheritance. What besides nothing? Would
you have your comely face and well made limbs? I shivered?
Would this all powerful monster murder me? I had no dagger.
(25:12):
I forgot to pray, but I grew pale. I ask
for a loan, not a gift, said the frightful thing.
Lend me your body for three days. You shall have
mine to cage your soul the while, and in payment
my chest. What say you to the bargain? Three short days?
We are told that it is dangerous to hold unlawful talk,
(25:33):
and well do I prove the same tamely written down?
It may seem incredible that I should lend any ear
to this proposition. But in spite of his unnatural ugliness,
there was something fascinating in a being whose voice could
govern earth, air and sea. I felt a keen desire
to comply, for with that chest I could command the world.
My only hesitation resulted from a fear that he would
(25:55):
not be true to his bargain. Then I thought I
shall soon die here on these lones sands. And the
limsy covets will be mine no more. It is worth
the chance. And besides, I knew that by all the
rules of art magic there were formula and odes which
none of its practices dared break. I hesitated to reply,
and he went on, now displaying his wealth. Now speaking
(26:17):
of the petty price he demanded, till it seemed madness
to refuse. Thus it is place our bark in the
current of the stream, and down overfall and cataract. At
as hurried, give up our conduct to the wild torrent
of passion, and we are away. We know not whither.
He swore many an oath, and I adjured him with
many a sacred name, till I saw this wonder of power,
(26:40):
this ruler of the elements, shiver like an autumn leaf
before my words, and as if the spirits spake unwillingly
and perforce within him. At last, he, with broken voice,
revealed the spell whereby he might be obliged. Did he
wish to play me false? To render up the unlawful spoil?
Our warm life blood must mingle to make and to
mar the sho charm. Enough of this unholy theme, I
(27:04):
was persuaded. The thing was done. The morrow dawned upon
me as I lay upon the shingles, and I knew
not my own shadow. As it fell from me, I
felt myself changed to a shape of horror, and cursed
my easy faith in blind credulity. The chest was there there,
the gold and precious stones for which I had sold,
the frame of flesh which nature had given me. The
(27:25):
sight a little stilled my emotions. Three days would soon
be gone. They did pass. The dwarf had supplied me
with a plenteous store of food. At first I could
hardly walk, so strange and out of joint were all
my limbs, and my voice it was that of the fiend.
But I kept silent and turned my face to the
sun that I might not see my shadow. And counted
(27:46):
the hours, and ruminated on my future conduct, to bring
Torella to my feet, to possess my Juliette in spite
of him. All this my wealth could easily achieve. During
dark night, I slept and dreamt of the aarccomplishment of
my desires. Two suns had set, the third dawned. I
was agitated, fearful o expectation. What a frightful thing art
(28:11):
thou when kindled more by fear than hope. How dost
thou twist thyself round the heart, torturing its pulsations. How
dost thou dart unknown pangs all through our fearble mechanism
now seeming to shiver us like broken glass to nothingness,
now giving us a fresh strength which can do nothing,
and so torments us by sensation, such as the strong
(28:32):
man must feel, who cannot break his fetters, though they
bend in his grasp. Slowly paced the bright bright orb
up the eastern sky. Long it lingered in the zenith,
and still more slowly wandered down the west. It touched
the horizon's verge. It was lost. Its glories were on
the summits of the cliff. They grew dun and gray.
(28:55):
The evening star shone bright. He will soon be here.
He came not by the living heavens. He came not.
And night dragged out its weary length, and in its
decaying age, day began to grizzle its dark hair, and
the sun rose again on the most miserable wretch that
ever upbraided its light. Three days thus I passed the
(29:18):
jewels and the gold, Oh, how I bhored them well well,
I will not blacken these pages with dominiic ravings. All
too terrible were the thoughts, the raging tumult of ideas
that filled my soul. At the end of that time,
I slept, I had not before since the third sunset,
and I dreamt that I was at Juliette's feet. And
(29:39):
she smiled, and then she shrieked, for she saw my transformation.
And again she smiled, for still her beautiful lover knelt
before her. But it was not I. It was he,
the fiend, arrayed in my limbs, speaking with my voice,
winning her with my looks of love. I strove to
warn her, but my tongue refused its office. I strove
(30:01):
to tear him from her, but I was rooted to
the ground. I awoke with agony. There were the solitary,
hoary precipices, there, the plushing sea, the quiet strand, and
the blue sky over all. What did it mean? Was
my dream? But a mirror of the truth. Was he
wooing and winning my betrothed. I would on the instant
(30:22):
back to Genoa. But I was banished. I laughed, The
dwarf's yell burst from my lips. I banished, Oh no,
they had not exiled the foul limbs. I wore I might,
with these enter without fear of incurring the threatened penalty
of death my own, my native city. I began to
walk towards Genoa. I was somewhat accustomed to my distorted limbs.
(30:47):
None were ever so ill adapted for a straightforward movement.
It was with infinite difficulty that I proceeded. Then, too,
I desired to avoid all the hamlets strewed here and
there on the sea beach, for I was unwilling to
make a display of my hittiousness. I was not quite
sure that, if seen, the mere boys would not stone
me to death as I passed for a monster. Some
(31:08):
ungentle salutations I did receive from the few peasants and
fishermen I chanced to meet. But it was dark before
I approached Genoa. The weather was so balmy and sweet
that it struck me that the Marchess and his daughter
would very probably have quitted the city for their country retreat.
It was from the Villa Torella that I had attempted
to carry off Juliet. I had spent many an hour
(31:29):
reconnoitering the spot, and knew every inch of the ground
in its vicinity. It was beautifully situated, embosomed in trees
on the margin of a stream. As I drew near,
it became evident that my conjecture was right, nay moreover,
that the hours were being then devoted to feasting and merriment.
For the house was lighted up, strains of soft and
(31:51):
gay music were wafted towards me by the breeze. My
heart sank within me. Such was the generous kindness of
Torella's heart that I felt sure that he would not
have indulged in public manifestations of rejoicing just after my
unfortunate banishment. But for a cause I dared not dwell
upon the country. People were all alive and flocking about.
(32:12):
It became necessary that I should study to conceal myself,
and yet I longed to address some one, or to
hear other's discourse, or in any way to gain intelligence
of what was really going on. At length, entering the
walks that were in the immediate vicinity of the mansion,
I found one dark enough to veil my excessive frightfulness,
And yet others as well as I were loitering in
(32:33):
its shade. I soon gathered all I wanted to know,
all that first made my very heart die with horror
and then boil with indignation. To morrow, Juliet was to
be given to the penitent, reformed, beloved Guido. To morrow
my bride was to pledge her vows to a fiend
from Hell. I did this. My cursed pride, my demoniac violence,
(32:56):
and wicked self idolatry had caused this act. For if
I had acted as the wretch who had stolen my
form had acted, if with a man at once yielding
and dignified, I had presented myself to Turella, saying I
have done wrong. Forgive me. I am unworthy of your
angel child, But permit me to claim her hereafter, when
my altered conduct shall manifest that I abdure my vices
(33:19):
and endeavor to become in some sort worthy of her.
I go to serve against the infidels. And when my
zeal for religion and my true penitence for the past
shall appear to you to cancel my crimes, permit me
again to call myself your son. Thus had he spoken,
and the penitent was welcomed, even as the prodigal son
of the scripture, the fatted calf was killed for him,
(33:39):
and he, still pursuing the same path, displayed such open
hearted regret for his follies, so humble a concession of
all his rights, and so ardent a resolved to reacquire
them by a life of contrition and virtue that he
quickly conquered the kind old man, and full pardon and
the gift of his lovely child followed in swift succession.
Oh had an angel from Paradise whispered to me to
(34:01):
act thus. But now what would be the innocent Juliet's fate?
Would God permit the foul union or some prodigy destroying it,
link the dishonored name of Corrigire with the worst of crimes.
To morrow, at dawn they were to be married. There
was but one way to prevent this, to meet mine
enemy and to enforce the ratification of our agreement. I
(34:24):
felt that this could only be done by a mortal struggle.
I had no sword, if indeed my distorted arms could
wield a soldier's weapon. But I had a dagger, and
in that lay my every hope. There was no time
for pondering or balancing nicely the question. I might die
in the attempt but besides the burning jealousy and despair
(34:44):
of my own heart, honor mere humanity demanded that I
should fall, rather than not destroy the machinations of the fiend.
The guests departed, the lights began to disappear. It was
evident that the inhabitants of the villa were seeking repose.
I hid myself amongst the trees. The garden grew desert.
(35:04):
The gates were closed. I wandered round and came under
a window. Ah, well, did I know the same? A
soft twilight glimmered in the room. The curtains were half withdrawn.
It was the temple of innocence and beauty. Its magnificence
was tempered, as it were, by the slight disarrangements occasioned
by its being dwelt in, and all the objects scattered
(35:24):
around displayed the taste of her, who hallowed it by
her presence. I saw her enter with a quick light step.
I saw her approach the window. She drew back the
curtain yet further and looked out into the night. Its
breezy freshness played among her ringlets and wafted them from
the transparent marble of her brow. She clasped her hands
(35:45):
she raised her eyes to heaven. I heard her voice Gweido.
She softly murmured mine own guido, And then, as if
overcome by the fullness of her own heart, she sank
on her knees, her upraised eyes, her negligent but graceful attitude,
the beaming thankfulness that lighted up her face. All these
(36:05):
attame words, Heart of mine, Thou imaginest, ever, though thou
cannot betray the celestial beauty of that child of light
and love. I heard a step, a quick, firm step,
along the shady avenue. Soon I saw a cavalier, richly
dressed and young, and methought, grateful to look on advance.
(36:26):
I hid myself, yet closer the youth approached. He paused
beneath the window. She arose, and again, looking out, she
saw him, and she said, I cannot know at this
distant time, I cannot record her terms of soft, silver
tenderness to me. They were spoken, but they were replied
to by him. I will not go, he cried, here
(36:49):
where you have been. Here, your memory glides like some
heaven visiting ghost. I will pass the long hours till
we meet, never my Juliette again, day or night, depart,
But do thou, my love retire? The cold, morn and
fitful breeze will make thy cheek pale and fill with
languor thy love lighted eyes, Ah, sweetest? Could I press
(37:10):
one kiss upon them? I could, methinks repose. And then
he approached, still nearer and methought he was about to
clamber into her chamber. I had hesitated not to terrify her.
Now I was no longer master of myself. I rushed forward.
I threw myself on him. I tore him away. I
cried old, loathsome and foul shaped wretch. I need not
(37:34):
repeat epithets, all tending as it appeared to rail at
a person. I at present feel some partiality. For a
shriek rose from Juliette's lips. I neither heard nor saw.
I felt only mine enemy, whose throat I grasped, and
my daggers hilt. He struggled, but could not escape. At length.
Hoarsely he breathed, these words, do strike home, destroy this body.
(37:57):
You will still live. May your life be long and merry.
The descending dagger was arrested at the word, and he,
feeling my whole relax, extricated himself and drew his sword,
while the uproar in the house and the flying of
tortures from one room to the other showed that soon
we should be separated, and I oh far better die
(38:17):
so that he did not survive. I cared not. In
the midst of my frenzy. There was much calculation full
I might and so that he did not survive. I
cared not for the death blow I might deal against myself.
While still therefore he thought, I paused, and while I
saw the villainous resolved to take advantage of my hesitation.
(38:38):
In the sudden thrust he made at me, I threw
myself on his sword, and at the same moment plunged
my dagger with a true desperate aim in his side.
We fell together, rolling over each other, and the tide
of blood that flowed from the gaping wound of each
mingled on the grass. More I know not, I fainted again.
(38:59):
I returned to life, weak, almost to death. I found
myself stretched upon a bed. Juliette was kneeling beside it.
Strange my first broken request was for a mirror. I
was so wan and ghastly that my poor girl hesitated,
as she told me afterwards, But by the mass. I
thought myself a right proper youth when I saw the
(39:19):
dear reflection of my own well known features. I confess
it is a weakness, but I avow it. I do
entertain a considerable affection for the countenance and limbs I
behold whenever I look at a glass, and have more
mirrors in my house, and consult them oftener than any
beauty in venice. Before you too much condemn me, permit
(39:40):
me to say that no one better knows than I
the value of his own body, no one probably except myself,
ever having had it stolen from him. Incoherently, I at
first talked of the dwarf and his crimes, and reproached
Juliet for her too easy admission of his love. She
thought me raving, as well she might. And yet it
was some time before I could prevail on myself to
(40:01):
admit that the guido whose penitence had won her back
for me was myself. And while I cursed bitterly the
monstrous dwarf and blessed the well directed blow that had
deprived him of life, I suddenly checked myself when I
heard her say, amen, knowing that him whom she reviled
was my very self. A little reflection taught me silence.
(40:22):
A little practice enabled me to speak of that frightful
night without any very excessive blunder. The wound I had
given myself was no mockery of one. It was long
before I recovered. And as the benevolent and generous Turella
sat beside me, talking such wisdom as might win friends
to repentance, and mine own, dear Juliet hovered near me,
administering to my wants and cheering me by her smiles,
(40:44):
the work of my bodily cure and mental reform went
on together. I have never indeed wholly recovered my strength.
My cheek is paler, since my person a little bent.
Juliet sometimes ventures to allude bitterly to the malice that
caused this check. But I kiss her on the moment
and tell her all is for the best. I am
(41:04):
a fonder and more faithful husband and true as this,
But for that wound, never had I called her mine.
I did not revisit the sea shore, nor seek for
the fiend's treasure. Yet, while I ponder on the past,
I often think and my confessor was not backward in
favoring the idea that it might be a good rather
than an evil spirit sent by my guardian angel to
(41:26):
show me the folly and misery of pride. So well
at least did I learn this lesson, roughly taught as
it was, that I am known, but now by all
my friends and fellow citizens by the name of Guido
Ilcotis End of Transformation by Mary Shelley
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