Frankenstein's Bride (33 page)

“Night quickly shut in, but to my extreme wonder, I found that the cottagers had a means of prolonging light by the use of
tapers, and was delighted to find that the setting of the sun did not put an end to the pleasure I experienced in watching
my human neighbors. In the evening the young girl and her companion were employed in various occupations which I did not understand;
and the old man again took up the instrument which produced the divine sounds that had enchanted me in the morning. So soon
as he had finished, the youth began, not to play, but to utter sounds that were monotonous, and neither resembling the harmony
of the old man's instrument nor the songs of the birds; I since found that he read aloud, but at that time I knew nothing
of the science of words or letters.

“The family, after having been thus occupied for a short time, extinguished their lights and retired, as I conjectured, to
rest.”

C H A PT E R 1 2

I LAY ON MY STRAW, but I could not sleep. I thought of the occurrences of the day. What chiefly struck me was the gentle manners
of these people, and I longed to join them, but “ dared not. I remembered too well the treatment I had suffered the night
before from the barbarous villagers, and resolved, whatever course of conduct I might hereafter think it right to pursue,
that for the present I would remain quietly in my hovel, watching and endeavoring to discover the motives which influenced
their actions.

“The cottagers arose the next morning before the sun. The young woman arranged the cottage and prepared the food, and the
youth departed after the first meal.

“This day was passed in the same routine as that which preceded it. The young man was constantly employed out of doors, and
the girl in various laborious occupations within. The old man, whom I soon perceived to be blind, employed his leisure hours
on his instrument or in contemplation. Nothing could exceed the love and respect which the younger cottagers exhibited towards
their venerable companion. They performed towards him every little office of affection and duty with gentleness, and he rewarded
them by his benevolent smiles.

“They were not entirely happy. The young man and his companion often went apart and appeared to weep. I saw no cause for their
unhappiness, but I was deeply affected by it. If such lovely creatures were miserable, it was less strange that I, an imperfect
and solitary being, should be wretched. Yet why were these gentle beings unhappy? They possessed a delightful house (for such
it was in my eyes) and every luxury; they had a fire to warm them when chill and delicious viands when hungry; they were dressed
in excellent clothes; and, still more, they enjoyed one another's company and speech, interchanging each day looks of affection
and kindness. What did their tears imply? Did they really express pain? I was at first unable to solve these questions, but
perpetual attention and time explained to me many appearances which were at first enigmatic.

“A considerable period elapsed before I discovered one of the causes of the uneasiness of this amiable family: it was poverty,
and they suffered that evil in a very distressing degree. Their nourishment consisted entirely of the vegetables of their
garden and the milk of one cow, which gave very little during the winter, when its masters could scarcely procure food to
support it. They often, I believe, suffered the pangs of hunger very poignantly, especially the two younger cottagers, for
several times they placed food before the old man when they reserved none for themselves.

“This trait of kindness moved me sensibly. I had been accustomed, during the night, to steal a part of their store for my
own consumption, but when I found that in doing this I inflicted pain on the cottagers, I abstained and satisfied myself with
berries, nuts, and roots which I gathered from a neighboring wood.

“I discovered also another means through which I was enabled to assist their labors. I found that the youth spent a great
part of each day in collecting wood for the family fire, and during the night I often took his tools, the use of which I quickly
discovered, and brought home firing sufficient for the consumption of several days.

“I remember, the first time that I did this, the young woman, when she opened the door in the morning, appeared greatly astonished
on seeing a great pile of wood on the outside. She uttered some words in a loud voice, and the youth joined her, who also
expressed surprise. I observed, with pleasure, that he did not go to the forest that day, but spent it in repairing the cottage
and cultivating the garden.

“By degrees I made a discovery of still greater moment. I found that these people possessed a method of communicating their
experience and feelings to one another by articulate sounds. I perceived that the words they spoke sometimes produced pleasure
or pain, smiles or sadness, in the minds and countenances of the hearers. This was indeed a godlike science, and I ardently
desired to become acquainted with it. But I was baffled in every attempt I made for this purpose. Their pronunciation was
quick, and the words they uttered, not having any apparent connection with visible objects, I was unable to discover any clue
by which I could unravel the mystery of their reference. By great application, however, and after having remained during the
space of several revolutions of the moon in my hovel, I discovered the names that were given to some of the most familiar
objects of discourse; I learned and applied the words, ‘fire,' ‘milk,' ‘bread,' and ‘wood.' I learned also the names of the
cottagers themselves. The youth and his companion had each of them several names, but the old man had only one, which was
‘father.' The girl was called ‘sister' or ‘Agatha,' and the youth ‘Felix,' ‘brother,' or ‘son.' I cannot describe the delight
I felt when I learned the ideas appropriated to each of these sounds and was able to pronounce them. I distinguished several
other words without being able as yet to understand or apply them, such as ‘good,' ‘dearest,' ‘unhappy.'

“I spent the winter in this manner. The gentle manners and beauty of the cottagers greatly endeared them to me; when they
were unhappy, I felt depressed; when they rejoiced, I sympathized in their joys. I saw few human beings besides them, and
if any other happened to enter the cottage, their harsh manners and rude gait only enhanced to me the superior accomplishments
of my friends. The old man, I could perceive, often endeavored to encourage his children, as sometimes I found that he called
them, to cast off their melancholy. He would talk in a cheerful accent, with an expression of goodness that bestowed pleasure
even upon me. Agatha listened with respect, her eyes sometimes filled with tears, which she endeavored to wipe away unperceived;
but I generally found that her countenance and tone were more cheerful after having listened to the exhortations of her father.
It was not thus with Felix. He was always the saddest of the group, and even to my unpracticed senses, he appeared to have
suffered more deeply than his friends. But if his countenance was more sorrowful, his voice was more cheerful than that of
his sister, especially when he addressed the old man.

“I could mention innumerable instances which, although slight, marked the dispositions of these amiable cottagers. In the
midst of poverty and want, Felix carried with pleasure to his sister the first little white flower that peeped out from beneath
the snowy ground. Early in the morning, before she had risen, he cleared away the snow that obstructed her path to the milk-house,
drew water from the well, and brought the wood from the outhouse, where, to his perpetual astonishment, he found his store
always replenished by an invisible hand. In the day, I believe, he worked sometimes for a neighboring farmer, because he often
went forth and did not return until dinner, yet brought no wood with him. At other times he worked in the garden, but as there
was little to do in the frosty season, he read to the old man and Agatha.

“This reading had puzzled me extremely at first, but by degrees I discovered that he uttered many of the same sounds when
he read as when he talked. I conjectured, therefore, that he found on the paper signs for speech which he understood, and
I ardently longed to comprehend these also; but how was that possible when I did not even understand the sounds for which
they stood as signs? I improved, however, sensibly in this science, but not sufficiently to follow up any kind of conversation,
although I applied my whole mind to the endeavor, for I easily perceived that, although I eagerly longed to discover myself
to the cottagers, I ought not to make the attempt until I had first become master of their language, which knowledge might
enable me to make them overlook the deformity of my figure, for with this also the contrast perpetually presented to my eyes
had made me acquainted.

“I had admired the perfect forms of my cottagers—their grace, beauty, and delicate complexions; but how was I terrified when
I viewed myself in a transparent pool! At first I started back, unable to believe that it was indeed I who was reflected in
the mirror; and when I became fully convinced that I was in reality the monster that I am, I was filled with the bitterest
sensations of despondence and mortification. Alas! I did not yet entirely know the fatal effects of this miserable deformity.

“As the sun became warmer and the light of day longer, the snow vanished, and I beheld the bare trees and the black earth.
From this time Felix was more employed, and the heart-moving indications of impending famine disappeared. Their food, as I
afterwards found, was coarse, but it was wholesome; and they procured a sufficiency of it. Several new kinds of plants sprang
up in the garden, which they dressed; and these signs of comfort increased daily as the season advanced.

“The old man, leaning on his son, walked each day at noon, when it did not rain, as I found it was called when the heavens
poured forth its waters. This frequently took place, but a high wind quickly dried the earth, and the season became far more
pleasant than it had been.

“My mode of life in my hovel was uniform. During the morning I attended the motions of the cottagers, and when they were dispersed
in various occupations, I slept; the remainder of the day was spent in observing my friends. When they had retired to rest,
if there was any moon or the night was star-light, I went into the woods and collected my own food and fuel for the cottage.
When I returned, as often as it was necessary, I cleared their path from the snow and performed those offices that I had seen
done by Felix. I afterwards found that these labors, performed by an invisible hand, greatly astonished them; and once or
twice I heard them, on these occasions, utter the words ‘good spirit,' ‘wonderful'; but I did not then understand the signification
of these terms.

“My thoughts now became more active, and I longed to discover the motives and feelings of these lovely creatures; I was inquisitive
to know why Felix appeared so miserable and Agatha so sad. I thought (foolish wretch!) that it might be in my power to restore
happiness to these deserving people. When I slept or was absent, the forms of the venerable blind father, the gentle Agatha,
and the excellent Felix flitted before me. I looked upon them as superior beings who would be the arbiters of my future destiny.
I formed in my imagination a thousand pictures of presenting myself to them, and their reception of me. I imagined that they
would be disgusted, until, by my gentle demeanor and conciliating words, I should first win their favor and afterwards their
love.

“These thoughts exhilarated me and led me to apply with fresh ardor to the acquiring the art of language. My organs were indeed
harsh, but supple; and although my voice was very unlike the soft music of their tones, yet I pronounced such words as I understood
with tolerable ease. It was as the ass and the lap-dog; yet surely the gentle ass whose intentions were affectionate, although
his manners were rude, deserved better treatment than blows and execration.

“The pleasant showers and genial warmth of spring greatly altered the aspect of the earth. Men who before this change seemed
to have been hid in caves dispersed themselves and were employed in various arts of cultivation. The birds sang in more cheerful
notes, and the leaves began to bud forth on the trees. Happy, happy earth! Fit habitation for gods, which, so short a time
before, was bleak, damp, and unwholesome. My spirits were elevated by the enchanting appearance of nature; the past was blotted
from my memory, the present was tranquil, and the future gilded by bright rays of hope and anticipations of joy.”

C H A PT E R 1 3

"I NOW HASTEN TO THE MORE moving part of my story. I shall relate events that impressed me with feelings which, from what
I had been, have made me what I am.

“Spring advanced rapidly; the weather became fine and the skies cloudless. It surprised me that what before was desert and
gloomy should now bloom with the most beautiful flowers and verdure. My senses were gratified and refreshed by a thousand
scents of delight and a thousand sights of beauty.

“It was on one of these days, when my cottagers periodically rested from labor—the old man played on his guitar, and the children
listened to him—that I observed the countenance of Felix was melancholy beyond expression; he sighed frequently, and once
his father paused in his music, and I conjectured by his manner that he inquired the cause of his son's sorrow. Felix replied
in a cheerful accent, and the old man was recommencing his music when someone tapped at the door.

“It was a lady on horseback, accompanied by a country-man as a guide. The lady was dressed in a dark suit and covered with
a thick black veil. Agatha asked a question, to which the stranger only replied by pronouncing, in a sweet accent, the name
of Felix. Her voice was musical but unlike that of either of my friends. On hearing this word, Felix came up hastily to the
lady, who, when she saw him, threw up her veil, and I beheld a countenance of angelic beauty and expression. Her hair of a
shining raven black, and curiously braided; her eyes were dark, but gentle, although animated; her features of a regular proportion,
and her complexion wondrously fair, each cheek tinged with a lovely pink.

“Felix seemed ravished with delight when he saw her, every trait of sorrow vanished from his face, and it instantly expressed
a degree of ecstatic joy, of which I could hardly have believed it capable; his eyes sparkled, as his cheek flushed with pleasure;
and at that moment I thought him as beautiful as the stranger. She appeared affected by different feelings; wiping a few tears
from her lovely eyes, she held out her hand to Felix, who kissed it rapturously and called her, as well as I could distinguish,
his sweet Arabian. She did not appear to understand him, but smiled. He assisted her to dismount, and dismissing her guide,
conducted her into the cottage. Some conversation took place between him and his father, and the young stranger knelt at the
old man's feet and would have kissed his hand, but he raised her and embraced her affectionately.

“I soon perceived that although the stranger uttered articulate sounds and appeared to have a language of her own, she was
neither understood by nor herself understood the cottagers. They made many signs which I did not comprehend, but I saw that
her presence diffused gladness through the cottage, dispelling their sorrow as the sun dissipates the morning mists. Felix
seemed peculiarly happy and with smiles of delight welcomed his Arabian. Agatha, the ever-gentle Agatha, kissed the hands
of the lovely stranger, and pointing to her brother, made signs which appeared to me to mean that he had been sorrowful until
she came. Some hours passed thus, while they, by their countenances, expressed joy, the cause of which I did not comprehend.
Presently I found, by the frequent recurrence of some sound which the stranger repeated after them, that she was endeavoring
to learn their language; and the idea instantly occurred to me that I should make use of the same instructions to the same
end. The stranger learned about twenty words at the first lesson; most of them, indeed, were those which I had before understood,
but I profited by the others.

“As night came on, Agatha and the Arabian retired early. When they separated Felix kissed the hand of the stranger and said,
‘Good night sweet Safie.' He sat up much longer, conversing with his father, and by the frequent repetition of her name I
conjectured that their lovely guest was the subject of their conversation. I ardently desired to understand them, and bent
every faculty towards that purpose, but found it utterly impossible.

“The next morning Felix went out to his work, and after the usual occupations of Agatha were finished, the Arabian sat at
the feet of the old man, and taking his guitar, played some airs so entrancingly beautiful that they at once drew tears of
sorrow and delight from my eyes. She sang, and her voice flowed in a rich cadence, swelling or dying away like a nightingale
of the woods.

“When she had finished, she gave the guitar to Agatha, who at first declined it. She played a simple air, and her voice accompanied
it in sweet accents, but unlike the wondrous strain of the stranger. The old man appeared enraptured and said some words which
Agatha endeavored to explain to Safie, and by which he appeared to wish to express that she bestowed on him the greatest delight
by her music.

“The days now passed as peaceably as before, with the sole alteration that joy had taken place of sadness in the countenances
of my friends. Safie was always gay and happy; she and I improved rapidly in the knowledge of language, so that in two months
I began to comprehend most of the words uttered by my protectors.

“In the meanwhile also the black ground was covered with herbage, and the green banks interspersed with innumerable flowers,
sweet to the scent and the eyes, stars of pale radiance among the moonlight woods; the sun became warmer, the nights clear
and balmy; and my nocturnal rambles were an extreme pleasure to me, although they were considerably shortened by the late
setting and early rising of the sun, for I never ventured abroad during daylight, fearful of meeting with the same treatment
I had formerly endured in the first village which I entered.

“My days were spent in close attention, that I might more speedily master the language; and I may boast that I improved more
rapidly than the Arabian, who understood very little and conversed in broken accents, whilst I comprehended and could imitate
almost every word that was spoken.

“While I improved in speech, I also learned the science of letters as it was taught to the stranger, and this opened before
me a wide field for wonder and delight.

“The book from which Felix instructed Safie was Volney's
Ruins
of Empires
. I should not have understood the purport of this book had not Felix, in reading it, given very minute explanations. He had
chosen this work, he said, because the declamatory style was framed in imitation of the Eastern authors. Through this work
I obtained a cursory knowledge of history and a view of the several empires at present existing in the world; it gave me an
insight into the manners, governments, and religions of the different nations of the earth. I heard of the slothful Asiatics,
of the stupendous genius and mental activity of the Grecians, of the wars and wonderful virtue of the early Romans—of their
subsequent degenerating—of the decline of that mighty empire, of chivalry, Christianity, and kings. I heard of the discovery
of the American hemisphere and wept with Safie over the hapless fate of its original inhabitants.

“These wonderful narrations inspired me with strange feelings. Was man, indeed, at once so powerful, so virtuous and magnificent,
yet so vicious and base? He appeared at one time a mere scion of the evil principle and at another as all that can be conceived
of noble and godlike. To be a great and virtuous man appeared the highest honor that can befall a sensitive being; to be base
and vicious, as many on record have been, appeared the lowest degradation, a condition more abject than that of the blind
mole or harmless worm. For a long time I could not conceive how one man could go forth to murder his fellow, or even why there
were laws and governments; but when I heard details of vice and bloodshed, my wonder ceased and I turned away with disgust
and loathing.

“Every conversation of the cottagers now opened new wonders to me. While I listened to the instructions which Felix bestowed
upon the Arabian, the strange system of human society was explained to me. I heard of the division of property, of immense
wealth and squalid poverty, of rank, descent, and noble blood.

“The words induced me to turn towards myself. I learned that the possessions most esteemed by your fellow creatures were high
and unsullied descent united with riches. A man might be respected with only one of these advantages, but without either he
was considered, except in very rare instances, as a vagabond and a slave, doomed to waste his powers for the profits of the
chosen few! And what was I? Of my creation and creator I was absolutely ignorant, but I knew that I possessed no money, no
friends, no kind of property. I was, besides, endued with a figure hideously deformed and loathsome; I was not even of the
same nature as man. I was more agile than they and could subsist upon coarser diet; I bore the extremes of heat and cold with
less injury to my frame; my stature far exceeded theirs. When I looked around I saw and heard of none like me. Was I, then,
a monster, a blot upon the earth, from which all men fled and whom all men disowned?

“I cannot describe to you the agony that these reflections inflicted upon me; I tried to dispel them, but sorrow only increased
with knowledge. Oh, that I had forever remained in my native wood, nor known nor felt beyond the sensations of hunger, thirst,
and heat!

“Of what a strange nature is knowledge! It clings to the mind when it has once seized on it like a lichen on the rock. I wished
sometimes to shake off all thought and feeling, but I learned that there was but one means to overcome the sensation of pain,
and that was death—a state which I feared yet did not understand. I admired virtue and good feelings and loved the gentle
manners and amiable qualities of my cottagers, but I was shut out from intercourse with them, except through means which I
obtained by stealth, when I was unseen and unknown, and which rather increased than satisfied the desire I had of becoming
one among my fellows. The gentle words of Agatha and the animated smiles of the charming Arabian were not for me. The mild
exhortations of the old man and the lively conversation of the loved Felix were not for me. Miserable, unhappy wretch!

“Other lessons were impressed upon me even more deeply. I heard of the difference of sexes, and the birth and growth of children,
how the father doted on the smiles of the infant, and the lively sallies of the older child, how all the life and cares of
the mother were wrapped up in the precious charge, how the mind of youth expanded and gained knowledge, of brother, sister,
and all the various relationships which bind one human being to another in mutual bonds.

“But where were my friends and relations? No father had watched my infant days, no mother had blessed me with smiles and caresses;
or if they had, all my past life was now a blot, a blind vacancy in which I distinguished nothing. From my earliest remembrance
I had been as I then was in height and proportion. I had never yet seen a being resembling me or who claimed any intercourse
with me. What was I? The question again recurred, to be answered only with groans.

“I will soon explain to what these feelings tended, but allow me now to return to the cottagers, whose story excited in me
such various feelings of indignation, delight, and wonder, but which all terminated in additional love and reverence for my
protectors (for so I loved, in an innocent, half-painful self-deceit, to call them).”