Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus

The next day, Frankenstein wanders through the valley, and the mountains’ magnificence calms him. The next morning, however, his “dark melancholy” returns when he sees that rain is “pouring in torrents” (80). He decides to climb the Montanvert summit despite the rain. He reaches the top and looks out at the “awful majesty” of Mont Blanc. He then sees a figure—the creature—approaching him with “superhuman speed.” Frankenstein waits, planning to engage in “mortal combat.” As the creature grows closer, Frankenstein sees that his face shows “disdain and malignity.” The creature’s “unearthly ugliness” makes looking at him nearly impossible.

Frankenstein asks the creature how he “dare approach” him and cries that he wishes killing the creature would bring back William and Justine. The creature says he “expected this reception” (83). He chastises Frankenstein for hating his own creation and for playing with life by creating him and then threatening to kill him. He then tells Frankenstein that if Frankenstein does his “duty” toward him, he will do his duty to humanity by leaving it “at peace.” If Frankenstein refuses, the creature will kill his friends and family.

When Frankenstein again rejects him, the creature begs him to “perform [his] part, the which [he] owes” as his creator (84). He is devastated that he alone is “irrevocably excluded” from the “bliss” he sees in the world. Once “benevolent and good” (84), he is only “a fiend” because of his “misery” (84). Though his soul once “glowed with love and humanity” (84), his loneliness has made him a monster. He expects to be able to defend himself just as the guilty are according to “human laws.” He suggests Frankenstein is a hypocrite.

Frankenstein rejects him a third time, and the creature warns him that whether he lives “a harmless life” or “become[s] the scourge” of humanity is in Frankenstein’s hands (85). He hopes Frankenstein will follow him to a hut on the mountain so he can hear the creature’s story. Frankenstein follows him across the ice, deciding to listen. As rain descends, they enter the hut.

Now told from the creature’s first-person perspective, the novel relates how he gained consciousness.

He remembers his senses awakening and the gradual awareness of light. He wanders into the forest and rests and then eats berries and drinks from the brook. He is alone and cold—despite stealing some clothes from Frankenstein, including a cloak—and he weeps, though the sight of the moon comforts him. Several days pass. He hears birds chirping and tries to imitate their sounds, but he is horrified by the “uncouth and inarticulate sounds” of his own voice (88).

One day, he sees an abandoned fire; he puts his hand in and pulls it out in pain. By studying the fire, he discovers how to make his own. He is pleased that the fire provides both heat and light. He also cooks some berries. He moves through the forest and finds a hut. Upon entering, a man screams and flees.

After resting, the creature approaches a village. He enters a house, where people scream and faint. Others attack and throw stones at him. He escapes to a hovel that is attached to a cottage, but mindful of his experiences thus far, he does not enter the cottage. The hovel allows him escape “the inclemency of the season,” as well as “the barbarity of man” (91).

In the morning, having taken a loaf of bread and a cup for water, he explores the surroundings. He looks inside the cottage through a chink in the wall, watching as a simply dressed girl and a young man exchange sorrowful looks and tend to their work.

An old man sits in the corner. The girl takes him a musical instrument. Even the creature, who “had never held aught beautiful before” (93), is moved by the music. The young man soon returns, carrying chopped wood with which they refuel the fire. The creature admires the cottagers’ beauty and notices that the young man appears sad. He feels great “pleasure” in watching them, though he cannot comprehend their actions. He watches as the young man reads aloud but is ignorant as to what he is saying.

The creature is struck by the cottagers’ gentleness. He wants to approach them but, remembering how he was attacked, decides not to. The next day, the young man and the girl work in the house and in the yard. The creature notices how much love they lavish on the old man, who is blind. He also notices that they are unhappy and wonders why.

As time goes on, he realizes they are poor and have inadequate supplies of food. Despite their own hunger, the young man and the girl give the old man their shares. This sacrifice touches creature, who decides he will no longer take from their food supply. He also chops wood for them at night and is delighted when this act brings them joy. The creature realizes that the sounds they utter to each other are words and seeks to learn the language. He learns their words by degrees. He now knows that the girl is Agatha and that the young man, her brother, is Felix.

Throughout the winter, the creature watches the cottagers and grows to care for them. The cottagers perform acts of kindness for each other, and the creature continues to perform anonymous kind tasks for them. Felix frequently reads to his father. Eventually, understanding that Felix is reading words, the creature decides to learn to read. He hopes that learning their language will enable him “to make them overlook the deformity of [his] figure” (98).

The creature contrasts the cottagers’ beauty with his own appearance. He looks at his reflection in the water and is “unable to believe that it [is] indeed [he] who [is] reflected in the mirror” (98). He feels “the bitterest sensations of despondence and mortification” (99).

Spring comes, and the creature continues performing tasks for the family, who are grateful to the “invisible hand” that helps them. Though he now considers himself a “foolish wretch” (99) for thinking so, the creature believes he might be able to “restore happiness to these deserving people” (99). He imagines meeting with them and earning their affection with his “gentle demeanour and conciliating words” (100). He is happy that the earth comes alive with spring. His “spirits [are] elevated by the enchanting appearance of nature” (100), and he forgets his past disappointments.