Chapter 10
Victor wakes up one day, a particularly miserable and rainy day, and is overcome by his older feelings of despair. Thinking to tackle this demon before it grows, he plans to surmount Montavert in order to bathe in the beauties of nature again, as it has aided him well in the past.
Upon reaching the peak, Victor does find peace and sublimity in the sight but all is quickly dashed when he sees the form of something pacing toward him with haste. Discerning the shape, Victor realises that it is the monster pursuing his location and he begins to panic.
Threatening the creature, encouraging it to stop in its tracks, does little as the threatening monster overpowers Victor, causing him to curse the beast and beg it to leave him alone. The creature, however, surprisingly responds intelligently, forming words and sentences in seemingly educated ways. The creature talks Victor into following him to an ice cave in which a fire burns, where the creature now assumes the role as narrator of his own story.
Frankenstein
Frankenstein is the classic gothic horror novel which has thrilled and engrossed readers for two centuries. Written by Mary Shelley, it is a story which she intended would ‘curdle the blood and quicken the beatings of the heart.’ The tale is a superb blend of science fiction, mystery and thriller.
Victor Frankenstein driven by the mad dream of creating his own creature, experiments with alchemy and science to build a monster stitched together from dead remains. Once the creature becomes a living breathing articulate entity, it turns on its maker and the novel darkens into tragedy.
The reader is very quickly swept along by the force of the elegant prose, the grotesque, surreal imagery, and the multi-layered themes in the novel. Although first published in 1818, Shelley’s masterpiece still maintains a strong grip on the imagination and has been the inspiration for numerous horror movies, television and stage adaptations.