Volume II, Chapter 6, Page 114
1 “At length I wandered towards these mountains, and have ranged through their immense recesses, consumed by a burning passion which you alone can gratify. We may not part until you have promised to comply with my requisition. I am alone, and miserable; man will not associate with me; but one as deformed and horrible as myself would not deny herself to me. My companion must be of the same species, and have the same defects. This being you must create.”
1. What does the creature ask Victor to do?
Volume II, Chapter 7, Pages 115–119 1 The being finished speaking, and fixed his looks upon me in expectation of a reply. But I was bewildered, perplexed, and unable to arrange my ideas sufficiently to understand the full extent of his proposition. 2 “You must create a female for me, with whom I can live in the interchange of those sympathies necessary for my being. I demand it of you as a right which you must not refuse.” 3 The latter part of his tale had kindled anew in me the anger that had died away while he narrated his peaceful life among the cottagers. I could no longer suppress the rage that burned within me.
4 “I do refuse it. Shall I create another like yourself, whose joint wickedness might desolate the world? Begone! I have answered you; you may torture me, but I will never consent.” 5 “You are in the wrong. I am malicious because I am miserable. You, my creator, would tear me to pieces, and destroy my frame, the work of your own hands. Shall I respect man, when he contemns me? If I cannot inspire love, I will cause fear; and work at your destruction, nor finish until I desolate your heart, so that you curse the hour of your birth.” 6 “What I ask of you is reasonable and moderate; I demand a creature of another sex, but as hideous as myself: we shall be monsters, cut off from all the world; but on that account we shall be more attached to one another. Our lives will be harmless, and free from the misery I now feel. Oh! my creator, make me happy; do not deny me my request!”
7 I was moved. I shuddered when I thought of the possible consequences of my consent; but I felt that there was some justice in his argument. His tale, and the feelings he now expressed, proved him to be a creature of fine sensations; and did I not, as his maker, owe him all the portion of happiness that it was in my power to bestow? 8 “If you consent, neither you nor any other human being shall ever see us again: I will go to the vast wilds of South America. We shall make our bed of dried leaves; the sun will shine on us as on man, and will ripen our food. The picture I present to you is peaceful and human, and you must feel that you could deny it only in the wantonness of power and cruelty. Pitiless as you have been towards me, I now see compassion in your eyes.”
9 “I swear to you that, with the companion you bestow, I will quit the neighbourhood of man. My evil passions will have fled, for I shall meet with sympathy; my life will flow quietly away, and, in my dying moments, I shall not curse my maker.” 10 When I looked upon him, when I saw the filthy mass that moved and talked, my heart sickened. I tried to stifle these sensations; as I could not sympathize with him, I had no right to withhold from him the small portion of happiness which was yet in my power to bestow. 11 “The love of another will destroy the cause of my crimes. My vices are the children of a forced solitude that I abhor; and my virtues will necessarily arise when I live in communion with an equal. I shall feel the affections of a sensitive being, and become linked to the chain of existence and events, from which I am now excluded.”
12 After a long pause of reflection, I concluded, that the justice due both to him and my fellow-creatures demanded of me that I should comply with his request. 13 “I consent to your demand, on your solemn oath to quit Europe for ever, and every other place in the neighbourhood of man, as soon as I shall deliver into your hands a female who will accompany you in your exile.” 14 “I swear, by the sun, and by the blue sky of heaven, that if you grant my prayer, while they exist you shall never behold me again.” 15 He suddenly quitted me, fearful, perhaps, of any change in my sentiments. I saw him descend the mountain with greater speed than the flight of an eagle, and quickly lost him among the undulations of the sea of ice.
16 His tale had occupied the whole day; and the sun was upon the verge of the horizon when he departed. I knew that I ought to hasten my descent towards the valley, as I should soon be encompassed in darkness; but my heart was heavy, and my steps slow. The labour of winding among the little paths of the mountains, and fixing my feet firmly as I advanced, perplexed me, occupied as I was by the emotions which the occurrences of the day had produced. 17 “Oh! stars, and clouds, and winds, ye are all about to mock me: if ye really pity me, crush sensation and memory; let me become as nought; but if not, depart, depart and leave me in darkness.” 18 The eternal twinkling of the stars weighed upon me. I listened to every blast of wind, as if it were a dull ugly siroc on its way to consume me.
What does the creature say to Victor? Drag each paraphrase to correct box.
1. What does the creature demand?
2. What argument does the creature make to justify this demand?
3. What does the creature offer in exchange?
Today you will debate whether Victor should create a partner for the creature. You can refer to Volume II, Chapter 7 as well as any earlier passages in the book.
1. Select which side you have been assigned.
Responses
Yes—he should create a mate for the creature.
No—he should not create a mate for the creature.
As a team, brainstorm two or three reasons supporting your side.
As a team, brainstorm two or three reasons supporting the other side.
Decide who will deliver your team’s opening argument (one team member), who will deliver rebuttals (one to two team members), and who will deliver your team’s closing statement (one team member).
2. Decide what will be the key idea of each team member's argument. Use your answers to the previous questions to write your key idea.
Select your part:
Responses
Opening argument
Rebuttals
Closing statement
Main idea of opening argument:
Main idea of rebuttals:
Main idea of closing statement:
What were the three parts of a debate that your team prepared today?
1. opening argument
2. rebuttal
3. closing statement
Based on the text, it seems that it will take Victor to create a female companion for the creature.
Given everything you know about the situation, What would you advise Victor to do?
Volume III, Chapter 1, Pages 122–129
1 Day after day, week after week, passed away on my return to Geneva; and I could not collect the courage to recommence my work. I feared the vengeance of the disappointed fiend, yet I was unable to overcome my repugnance to the task which was enjoined me. I found that I could not compose a female without again devoting several months to profound study and laborious disquisition.
2 I had heard of some discoveries having been made by an English philosopher, the knowledge of which was material to my success, and I sometimes thought of obtaining my father’s consent to visit England for this purpose; but I clung to every pretence of delay, and could not resolve to interrupt my returning tranquillity.
3 My health, which had hitherto declined, was now much restored; and my spirits, when unchecked by the memory of my unhappy promise, rose proportionably. My father saw this change with pleasure, and he turned his thoughts towards the best method of eradicating the remains of my melancholy, which every now and then would return by fits, and with a devouring blackness overcast the approaching sunshine.
4 At these moments I took refuge in the most perfect solitude. I passed whole days on the lake alone in a little boat, watching the clouds, and listening to the rippling of the waves, silent and listless.
5 It was after my return from one of these rambles that my father, calling me aside, thus addressed me—
6 “I confess, my son, that I have always looked forward to your marriage with your cousin as the tie of our domestic comfort, and the stay of my declining years. You were attached to each other from your earliest infancy; you studied together, and appeared, in dispositions and tastes, entirely suited to one another."
7 “My dear father, my future hopes and prospects are entirely bound up in the expectation of our union.”
8 “The expression of your sentiments on this subject, my dear Victor, gives me more pleasure than I have for some time experienced. If you feel thus, we shall assuredly be happy, however present events may cast a gloom over us."
9 “We have been unfortunate, and recent events have drawn us from that every-day tranquillity befitting my years and infirmities. You are younger; yet I do not suppose, possessed as you are of a competent fortune, that an early marriage would at all interfere with any future plans of honour and utility that you may have formed."
10 “Do not suppose, however, that I wish to dictate happiness to you. Interpret my words with candour and answer me, I conjure you, with confidence and sincerity.”
11 I revolved rapidly in my mind a multitude of thoughts, and endeavoured to arrive at some conclusion Alas! To me the idea of an immediate union with my cousin was one of horror and dismay. I was bound by a solemn promise, which I had not yet fulfilled, and dared not break. I must perform my engagement, and let the monster depart with his mate, before I allowed myself to enjoy the delight of an union from which I expected peace.
12 I remembered the necessity of journeying to England to those philosophers of that country, whose knowledge and discoveries were of indispensable use to me in my present undertaking.
13 Our plan was soon arranged. I should travel to Strasburgh, where Clerval would join me. It was agreed that the tour should occupy the space of two years.
14 My union with Elizabeth should take place immediately on my return to Geneva.
15 “These two years will pass swiftly, and it will be the last delay that will oppose itself to your happiness. And, indeed, I earnestly desire that period to arrive, when we shall all be united, and neither hopes or fears arise to disturb our domestic calm.”
16 It was in the latter end of August that I departed. Elizabeth approved of the reasons of my departure, and only regretted that she had not the same opportunities. She wept as she bade me farewell, and entreated me to return happy and tranquil. 17 “We all depend upon you.” 18 I threw myself into the carriage that was to convey me away. I remembered only to order that my chemical instruments should be packed to go with me: for I resolved to fulfil my promise while abroad, and return, if possible, a free man. Filled with dreary imaginations, my eyes were fixed and unobserving. 19 After some days spent in listless indolence I arrived at Strasburgh, where I waited two days for Clerval. 20 Alas, how great was the contrast between us! He was alive to every new scene; joyful when he saw the beauties of the setting sun, and more happy when he beheld it rise. 21 “This is what it is to live; now I enjoy existence! 22 But you, my dear Frankenstein, wherefore are you desponding and sorrowful?”
23 In truth, I was occupied by gloomy thoughts, and neither saw the descent of the evening star, nor the golden sun-rise reflected in the Rhine. 24 We had agreed to descend the Rhine in a boat from Strasburgh to Rotterdam, whence we might take shipping for London. 25 Even I, depressed in mind, and my spirits continually agitated by gloomy feelings, was pleased. 26 I lay at the bottom of the boat, and, as I gazed on the cloudless blue sky, I seemed to drink in a tranquillity to which I had long been a stranger. And if these were my sensations, who can describe those of Henry? He felt as if he had been transported to Fairyland, and enjoyed a happiness seldom tasted by man. 27 “I have seen the most beautiful scenes of my own country; but this country, Victor, pleases me more than all those wonders.”
28 Clerval! beloved friend! He was a being formed in the “very poetry of nature.” His wild and enthusiastic imagination was chastened by the sensibility of his heart. His soul overflowed with ardent affections, and his friendship was of that devoted and wondrous nature that the worldly-minded teach us to look for only in the imagination. And where does he now exist? Is this gentle and lovely being lost for ever? Has this mind so replete with ideas, which formed a world, whose existence depended on the life of its creator; has this mind perished? Does it now only exist in my memory? No, it is not thus; your form so divinely wrought, and beaming with beauty, has decayed, but your spirit still visits and consoles your unhappy friend. 29 At length we saw the numerous steeples of London, St. Paul’s towering above all, and the Tower famed in English history.
Victor is cheerful and confident about creating a female companion for the creature.
What does Victor's father say to him?
The plan is for Victor to get married in
Which description best fits each character?
Victor
Henry
In paragraph 28, Victor says of Henry, “And where does he now exist?” What do you think he means by that?