FRANKENSTEIN
A monologue from the
novel by Mary Shelley
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NOTE: This monologue is reprinted
from Frankenstein. Mary Shelley. Philadelphia: Carey,
Lea and Blanchard, 1833. |
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THE CREATURE: I expected this reception. All men hate
the wretched. How, then, must I be hated, who am miserable beyond
all living things! Yet you, my creator, detest and spurn me,
thy creature, to whom thou art bound by ties only dissoluble
by the annihilation of one of us. You purpose to kill me. How
dare you sport thus with life? Do your duty toward me, and I
will do mine toward you and the rest of mankind. If you will
comply with my conditions, I will leave them and you at peace,
but if you refuse I will glut the maw of death, until it be satiated
with the blood of your remaining friends. Have I not suffered
enough that you seek to increase my misery? Life, although it
may only be an accumulation of anguish, is dear to me, and I
will defend it. Remember, thou hast made me more powerful than
thyself. My height is superior to thine, my joints more supple.
But I will not be tempted to set myself in opposition to thee.
I am thy creature and I will be even mild and docile to my natural
lord and king, if thou wilt also perform thy part, the which
thou owest me. Oh, Frankenstein, be not equitable to every other
and trample upon me alone, to whom thy justice, and even thy
clemency and affection, is most due. Remember that I am thy creature,
I ought to by thy Adam, but I am rather the fallen angel whom
thou drivest from joy for no misdeed. Everywhere I see bliss
from which I alone am irrevocably excluded. The desert mountains
and dreary glaciers are my refuge. I have wandered here many
days. The caves of ice, which I only do not fear, are a dwelling
to me, and the only one which man does not grudge. These bleak
skies I hail, for they are kinder to me than your fellow beings.
If the multitude of mankind knew of my existence, they would
do as you do and arm themselves for my destruction. Shall I not
then hate them who abhor me? I will keep no terms with my enemies.
I am miserable and they shall share my wretchedness. Yet it is
in your power to recompense me, and deliver them from an evil
which it only remains for you to make so great that not only
you and your family, but thousands of others, shall be swallowed
up in the whirlwinds of its rage. Let your compassion be moved
and do not disdain me. I was benevolent and good. Misery made
me a fiend. Make me happy and I shall again be virtuous. I have
wandered through these mountains, I 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 request. 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. A female. This being you must create.
MORE
MONOLOGUES BY MARY SHELLEY |
