Frankenstein Letter 3 and 4 HD

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein or the modern prometheus first published in 1818 read by Jason Dempsey letter three July 7th 17 to mrs. Saville England my dear sister I read a few lines in haste to say that I am safe and well advanced on my voyage this letter will reach England by a merchantman now on its homeward voyage from Archangel more fortunate than I who may not see my native land perhaps for many years I am however in good spirits my men are bold and apparently firm of purpose nor did the floating sheets of ice that continually pass us indicating the dangers of the region towards which we are advancing appeared to dismay them we have already reached a very high latitude but it is the height of summer and although not so warm as in England the southern gales which blow us speedily towards those Shores which I so ardently desire to attain Bree the degree of renovating warmth which I had not expected no incidents have hitherto befallen us that would make a figure in a letter one or two stiff gales and the springing of a leak or accidents which experienced navigators scarcely remember to record and I shall be well content if nothing worse happens to us during our voyage adieu my dear Margaret be assured that for my own sake as well as yours I will not rashly encounter danger I will be cool for severing and prudent but success shell crown my endeavors where for naught thus far I have gone tracing the secure way over the path list sees the very stars themselves being witness and testimonies of my triumph why not still proceed over the untamed yet obedient element what can stop the determined heart and resolved will of man my swelling heart and voluntarily pours itself out thus but I must finish heaven bless my beloved sister rwo letter for August 5th 17 to mrs. Saville England so strange an accident has happened to us that I cannot forbear recording it although it is very probable that you will see me before these papers can come into your position last Monday July 31st we were nearly surrounded by ice which closed in the ship on all sides scarcely leaving her the sea room in which she floated our situation was somewhat dangerous especially as we were compass round by a very thick fog we accordingly lay to hoping that some change would take place in the atmosphere in weather about two o'clock the mist cleared away and we beheld stretched out in every direction vast and irregular planes of ice which seemed to have no end some of my comrades groaned and my own mind began to grow watchful with anxious thoughts when a strange sight suddenly attracted her attention and diverted our solicitude from our own situation we perceived a low carriage fixed on a sledge and drawn by dogs pass on towards the north at the distance of a half a mile a being which had the shape of a man but apparently of gigantic stature sat in the sledge and guided the dogs we watched the rapid progress of the traveller with our telescopes until he was lost among the distant inequalities of the ice this appearance excited are unqualified wonder we were as we believed many hundreds of miles from any land but this apparition seemed to denote that it was not in reality so distant as we had supposed shut in however by ice it was impossible to follow his track which we had observed with the greatest attention about two hours after this occurrence we heard the ground sea and before night the ice broke and freed our ship we however lay - until the morning fearing to encounter in the dark those large loose masses which float about after the breaking up of the ice I profited at this time to rest for a few hours in the morning however as soon as it was light I went upon the deck and found all the sailors busy on one side of the vessel apparently talking to someone in the sea it was in fact a sledge like that we had seen before which had drifted toward us in the night on a large fragment of ice only one dog remain alaya but there was a human being with it whom the sailors were persuading to enter the vessel he was not as the other traveler seemed to be a savage inhabitant of some undiscovered Island but a European when I appeared on the deck the master said here is our captain and he will not allow you to perish on the open sea on perceiving me the stranger addressed me in English although with a foreign accent before I come on board your vessel said he will you have the kindness to inform me whether you are bound you may conceive my astonishment on hearing such a question addressed to me from a man on the brink of destruction and to whom I should have supposed that my vessel would have been a resource which he would not exchanged for the most precious wealth the earth can afford I reply and however that we were on a voyage of discovery towards the North Pole upon hearing this he appeared satisfied and consented to come on board could God Margaret if you had seen the man who thus capitulated for his safety your surprise would have been boundless his limbs were nearly frozen and his body dreadfully emaciated by fatigue and suffering I never saw a man and so wretched a condition we attempted to carry him into the cabin but as soon as he had quitted the fresh air he fainted we accordingly brought him back to the deck and restored him to animation by rubbing him with brandy and forcing him to swallow a small quantity as soon as he showed signs of life we wrapped him up in blankets and placed him near the chimney of the kitchen stove by slow degrees he recovered and ate a little soup which restored him wonderfully two days passed in this manner before he was able to speak and I often fear that his sufferings had deprived him of understanding when he had in some measure recovered I removed him to my own cabin and attended on him as much as my duty would permit I never saw a more interesting creature his eyes have generally an expression of wildness and even madness but there are moments when if anyone performs an act of kindness towards him or does him any of the most trifling service his whole countenance is lighted up as it were with a beam of benevolence and sweetness that I never saw equalled but he is generally melancholy and barring and sometimes he gnashes his teeth as if impatient of the weight of woes that oppresses him when my guest was a little recovered I had great trouble to keep off the men who wished to ask him a thousand questions but I would not allow him to be tormented by their idle curiosity in a state of body and mind whose restoration evidently depended upon entire repose once however the lieutenant asked why he had come so far upon the ice and so strange a vehicle his countenance instantly assumed an aspect of the deepest gloom and he replied to seek one who fled from me and did the man whom you pursued travel in the same fashion yes then I fancy we have seen him for the day before we picked you up we saw some dogs drawing a sled with a man in it across the ice this aroused the strangers attention and he asked a multitude of questions concerning the route which the demon as he called him had pursued soon after when he was alone with me he said I have doubtless excited your curiosity as well as that of these good people but you are to consider it to make inquiries certainly it would indeed be very impertinent and inhuman in me to trouble you with any inquisitiveness of mine and yet you rescued me from a strange and perilous situation you have benevolently restored me to life soon after this he inquired if I thought that the breaking up of the ice had destroyed the other sledge I replied that I could not answer with any degree of certainty for the ice had not broken until near midnight and the traveler might have arrived at a place of safety before that time but of this I could not judge from this time a new spirit of life animated the decaying frame with the stranger he manifested the greatest eagerness to be upon the deck to watch for the sledge which had before appeared but I have persuaded him to remain in the cabin for he is far too weak to sustain the rawness of the atmosphere I have promised that someone should want for him and give him instant notice of any new object should appear in sight such as my journal of what relates to this strange occurrence up to the present day the stranger has Brad improved in health but is very silent and appears uneasy when anyone except myself enters his cabin yet his manners are so conciliating and gentle that the sailors are all interested in him although they have had very little communication with him for my own part I began to love him as a brother and his constant and deep grief fills me with sympathy and compassion he must have been a noble creature in his better days being even now in wreck so attractive and amiable I said in one of my letters my dear Margaret that I should find no friend on the wide ocean yet I have found a man who before his spirit had been broken by misery I should have been happy too possessed as the brother of my heart I shall continue my journal concerning the stranger at intervals should I have any fresh incidents to record August 13th 17 my affection for my guests increases every day he excites at once my admiration and my pity to an astonishing degree how can I see so noble a creature destroyed by misery without feeling the most poignant grief he is so gentle yet so wise his mind is so cultivated and when he speaks although his words are cold with the choicest art yet they flow with rapidity and unparalleled eloquence he is now much recovered from his illness and is continually on the deck apparently watching for the sledge that preceded his own yet although unhappy he is not so utterly occupied by his own misery but that he interests himself deeply in the projects of others he is frequently conversed with me on mine which I have communicated to him without disguise he entered attentively into all my arguments in favour of my eventual success and into every detail of the measure as I had taken to secure it I was easily led by the sympathy which he evinced to use the language of my heart to give utterance to the burning ardour of my soul and to say with all the fervor that warmed me how gladly I would sacrifice my fortune my existence my every hope to the furtherance of my enterprise one man's life of death would but a small price to pay for the acquirement of the knowledge which I sought for the Dominion acquire and transmitted over the elemental foes of our race as I spoke a dark gloom spread over my listeners countenance at first I perceived that he tried to suppress his emotion he placed his hands before his eyes and my voice quivered and failed me as I beheld tears trickled fast from between his fingers a groan burst from his heaving breast I paused at length he spoken broken accents unhappy men do you share my madness have you drunk also of the intoxicating drought heal me let me reveal my tale and you will dash the cup from your lips such words you may imagine strongly excited my curiosity but the peroxy ism of grief that it seized the stranger overcame his weakened powers and many hours of repose and tranquil conversation were necessary to restore his composure having conquered the violence of his feelings he appeared to despise himself for being the slave of passion and quelling the dark tyranny of despair he led me again to converse concerning myself personally he asked me the history of my earlier years the tale was quickly told but it awakened various trains a reflection I spoke of my desire of finding a friend of my thirst for a more intimate sympathy with a fellow mine than had ever fallen to my lot and expressed my conviction that a man could boast of little happiness who'd not enjoyed this blessing I agree with you replied the stranger we are unfashionable dearer than ourselves such a friend ought to be do not lend his aid to perfection it our weak and for teenagers I once had a friend the most noble of human creatures and I'm entitled therefore to judge respecting friendship you have hope and the world before you and have no cause for despair but I I have lost everything and cannot begin life anew as he said this his countenance became expressive of a calm settled grief that touched me to the heart but he was silent and presently retire to his captain even broken in spirit as he is no one can feel more deeply than he does the beauties of nature the starry sky the sea and every sight afforded by these wonderful regions seem still to have the power of elevating his soul from the earth such a man has a double existence he may suffer misery and be overwhelmed by disappointments yet when he has retired into himself he will be like a celestial spirit that has a halo around him within whose circle no grief or folly ventures will you smile at the enthusiasm I expressed concerning this divine wanderer you would not if you saw him you have been tutored and refined by books and retirement from the world and you are therefore somewhat fastidious but this only renders you the more fit to appreciate the extraordinary merits of this wonderful man sometimes I have endeavoured to discover what quality it is which he possesses that elevates him so immeasurably above any other person I ever knew I believe it to be an intuitive discernment a quick but never failing power of judgment a penetration and the causes of things unequaled for clearness and precision add to this a facility of expression and a voice whose varied in two nations are soul subduing music August 19th 17 yesterday the stranger said to me you may easily perceive captain Bolton's that I have suffered great and unparalleled misfortunes I had determined once that the memory of these evils should die with me but you have won me to alter my determination you seek for knowledge am wisdom as I once did and I ardently hope that the gratification of your wishes may not be a serpent to sting you as mine has been I do not know that the relation of my misfortunes will be useful to you yet if you are inclined listen to my tale I believe that these strange incidents connected with it will afford a view of nature which may enlarge your faculties and understanding you will hear of powers sent occurrences such as you have been accustomed to believe impossible but I do not doubt that my tale conveys in its serious internal evidence of the truth of the events of which it is composed you may easily conceive that I was much gratified by the offered communication yet I could not endure that he should renew his grief by a recital of his misfortunes I felt the greatest eagerness to hear the promised narrative partly from my curiosity and partly from a strong desire to ameliorate his fate if it were in my power I expressed these feelings in my answer yes thank you he replied for your sympathy but it is useless my fate is nearly fulfilled I await but for one event and then I shall repose in peace I understand your feeling continued he perceiving that I wish to interrupt him but you are mistaken my friend if thus you will allow me to name him nothing can alter my destiny listen to my history and you will perceive how irrevocably it is determined he then told me that he would commence his narrative the next day when I should be at leader this promise drew from me the warmest thanks I have resolved every night when I am not engaged to record as nearly as possible in his own words what he has related during the day if I should be engaged I will at least make the notes this manuscript will doubtless afford you the greatest pleasure but to me who know him and who hear it from his own lips with what interest and sympathy shall I read it in some future day end of letter for

Channel: Jason Dempsey

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Length: 17min 21sec (1041 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 19 2016