FRANKENSTEIN
My name is captain Walton. My ship was exploring the Arctic when we found a man on a piece of floating ice. He was called Victor Frankenstein. One night he told me a strange tale:
” I grew up near Geneva. I was a happy child. When I was seventeen, I went to the University of Ingolstadt. A professor there inspired me to study chemistry. This changed my life as I became obsessed with the search for the secret of life. Finally, I found the secret. To test my discovery, I decided to create a new life in the laboratory. I collected parts of the body and after two years I was ready to bring my creature to life. But when I saw the monster I had created I felt horror and disgust. How can I describe the monster? You could see the muscles under his thin, yellow skin. His hair was long and black, his teeth were pearly white, but his eyes were watery and his lips black. When my friend Henry Clerval arrived I said nothing about the monster, which by now had left my house. Henry brought news of my family. They were well and had taken in a servant called Justine. Imagine my surprise when a letter arrived from my father – my young brother William had been murdered!
I went to my parents’ house. Just before I got there, I saw the monster running through the trees. I realized the monster I had created had killed my brother! When I got to the house I discovered that Justine, who had been found near the scene of the crime, was accused of the murder. I knew she was innocent but could say nothing. She was hanged.
Some time afterwards, the monster also killed Victor’s fiancée Elisabeth! The destruction of the monster became Victor’s only aim. He followed him everywhere. He went north. He followed him to the frozen wastes of the Arctic. He was drifting on a piece of broken ice when the captain found him.
Victor died in the captain’s cabin. The captain heard strange noise. When he returned to his cabin he saw the monster, kneeling next to Frankenstein and crying. He told the captain how miserable he had been and how guilty he felt. He wanted to die and assured the captain he would destroy himself. Then, he jumped out of the cabin window onto the ice and was taken away by the waves into the darkness.