CHAPTER X.
I spent the following day roaming through the valley. I stood beside thesources of the Arveiron, which take their rise in a glacier, that withslow pace is advancing down from the summit of the hills, to barricadethe valley. The abrupt sides of vast mountains were before me; the icywall of the glacier overhung me; a few shattered pines were scatteredaround; and the solemn silence of this glorious presence-chamber ofimperial Nature was broken only by the brawling waves, or the fall ofsome vast fragment, the thunder sound of the avalanche, or the cracking,reverberated along the mountains of the accumulated ice, which, throughthe silent working of immutable laws, was ever and anon rent and torn,as if it had been but a plaything in their hands. These sublime andmagnificent scenes afforded me the greatest consolation that I wascapable of receiving. They elevated me from all littleness of feeling;and although they did not remove my grief, they subdued andtranquillised it. In some degree, also, they diverted my mind from thethoughts over which it had brooded for the last month. I retired to restat night; my slumbers, as it were, waited on and ministered to by theassemblance of grand shapes which I had contemplated during the day.They congregated round me; the unstained snowy mountain-top, theglittering pinnacle, the pine woods, and ragged bare ravine; the eagle,soaring amidst the clouds--they all gathered round me, and bade me be atpeace.
Where had they fled when the next morning I awoke? All ofsoul-inspiriting fled with sleep, and dark melancholy clouded everythought. The rain was pouring in torrents, and thick mists hid thesummits of the mountains, so that I even saw not the faces of thosemighty friends. Still I would penetrate their misty veil, and seek themin their cloudy retreats. What were rain and storm to me? My mule wasbrought to the door, and I resolved to ascend to the summit ofMontanvert. I remembered the effect that the view of the tremendous andever-moving glacier had produced upon my mind when I first saw it. Ithad then filled me with a sublime ecstasy, that gave wings to the soul,and allowed it to soar from the obscure world to light and joy. Thesight of the awful and majestic in nature had indeed always the effectof solemnising my mind, and causing me to forget the passing cares oflife. I determined to go without a guide, for I was well acquainted withthe path, and the presence of another would destroy the solitarygrandeur of the scene.
The ascent is precipitous, but the path is cut into continual and shortwindings, which enable you to surmount the perpendicularity of themountain. It is a scene terrifically desolate. In a thousand spots thetraces of the winter avalanche may be perceived, where trees lie brokenand strewed on the ground; some entirely destroyed, others bent, leaningupon the jutting rocks of the mountain, or transversely upon othertrees. The path, as you ascend higher, is intersected by ravines ofsnow, down which stones continually roll from above; one of them isparticularly dangerous, as the slightest sound, such as even speaking ina loud voice, produces a concussion of air sufficient to drawdestruction upon the head of the speaker. The pines are not tall orluxuriant, but they are sombre, and add an air of severity to the scene.I looked on the valley beneath; vast mists were rising from the riverswhich ran through it, and curling in thick wreaths around the oppositemountains, whose summits were hid in the uniform clouds, while rainpoured from the dark sky, and added to the melancholy impression Ireceived from the objects around me. Alas! why does man boast ofsensibilities superior to those apparent in the brute; it only rendersthem more necessary beings. If our impulses were confined to hunger,thirst, and desire, we might be nearly free; but now we are moved byevery wind that blows, and a chance word or scene that that word mayconvey to us.
We rest; a dream has power to poison sleep. We rise; one wand'ring thought pollutes the day. We feel, conceive, or reason; laugh or weep, Embrace fond woe, or cast our cares away; It is the same: for, be it joy or sorrow, The path of its departure still is free. Man's yesterday may ne'er be like his morrow; Nought may endure but mutability!
It was nearly noon when I arrived at the top of the ascent. For sometime I sat upon the rock that overlooks the sea of ice. A mist coveredboth that and the surrounding mountains. Presently a breeze dissipatedthe cloud, and I descended upon the glacier. The surface is very uneven,rising like the waves of a troubled sea, descending low, andinterspersed by rifts that sink deep. The field of ice is almost aleague in width, but I spent nearly two hours in crossing it. Theopposite mountain is a bare perpendicular rock. From the side where Inow stood Montanvert was exactly opposite, at the distance of a league;and above it rose Mont Blanc, in awful majesty. I remained in a recessof the rock, gazing on this wonderful and stupendous scene. The sea, orrather the vast river of ice, wound among its dependent mountains, whoseaerial summits hung over its recesses. Their icy and glittering peaksshone in the sunlight over the clouds. My heart, which was beforesorrowful, now swelled with something like joy; I exclaimed--"Wanderingspirits, if indeed ye wander, and do not rest in your narrow beds, allowme this faint happiness, or take me, as your companion, away from thejoys of life."
As I said this, I suddenly beheld the figure of a man, at some distance,advancing towards me with superhuman speed. He bounded over the crevicesin the ice, among which I had walked with caution; his stature, also, ashe approached, seemed to exceed that of man. I was troubled: a mist cameover my eyes, and I felt a faintness seize me; but I was quicklyrestored by the cold gale of the mountains. I perceived, as the shapecame nearer (sight tremendous and abhorred!) that it was the wretchwhom I had created. I trembled with rage and horror, resolving to waithis approach, and then close with him in mortal combat. He approached;his countenance bespoke bitter anguish, combined with disdain andmalignity, while its unearthly ugliness rendered it almost too horriblefor human eyes. But I scarcely observed this; rage and hatred had atfirst deprived me of utterance, and I recovered only to overwhelm himwith words expressive of furious detestation and contempt.
"Devil," I exclaimed, "do you dare approach me? and do not you fear thefierce vengeance of my arm wreaked on your miserable head? Begone, vileinsect! or rather, stay, that I may trample you to dust! and, oh! that Icould, with the extinction of your miserable existence, restore thosevictims whom you have so diabolically murdered!"
"I expected this reception," said the daemon. "All men hate the wretched;how, then, must I be hated, who am miserable beyond all living things!Yet you, my creator, detest and spurn me, thy creature, to whom thou artbound by ties only dissoluble by the annihilation of one of us. Youpurpose to kill me. How dare you sport thus with life? Do your dutytowards me, and I will do mine towards you and the rest of mankind. Ifyou will comply with my conditions, I will leave them and you at peace;but if you refuse, I will glut the maw of death, until it be satiatedwith the blood of your remaining friends."
"Abhorred monster! fiend that thou art! the tortures of hell are toomild a vengeance for thy crimes. Wretched devil! you reproach me withyour creation; come on, then, that I may extinguish the spark which I sonegligently bestowed."
My rage was without bounds; I sprang on him, impelled by all thefeelings which can arm one being against the existence of another.
He easily eluded me, and said--
"Be calm! I entreat you to hear me, before you give vent to your hatredon my devoted head. Have I not suffered enough, that you seek toincrease my misery? Life, although it may only be an accumulation ofanguish, is dear to me, and I will defend it. Remember, thou hast mademe more powerful than thyself; my height is superior to thine; my jointsmore supple. But I will not be tempted to set myself in opposition tothee. I am thy creature, and I will be even mild and docile to mynatural lord and king, if thou wilt also perform thy part, the whichthou owest me. Oh, Frankenstein, be not equitable to every other, andtrample upon me alone, to whom thy justice, and even thy clemency andaffection, is most due. Remember, that I am thy creature; I ought to bethy Adam; but I am rather the fallen angel, whom thou drivest from joyfor no misdeed. Every where I see bliss, from which I alone amirrevocably excluded. I was benevolent and good; misery made me a
fiend.Make me happy, and I shall again be virtuous."
"Begone! I will not hear you. There can be no community between you andme; we are enemies. Begone, or let us try our strength in a fight, inwhich one must fall."
"How can I move thee? Will no entreaties cause thee to turn a favourableeye upon thy creature, who implores thy goodness and compassion? Believeme, Frankenstein: I was benevolent; my soul glowed with love andhumanity: but am I not alone, miserably alone? You, my creator, abhorme; what hope can I gather from your fellow-creatures, who owe menothing? They spurn and hate me. The desert mountains and drearyglaciers are my refuge. I have wandered here many days; the caves ofice, which I only do not fear, are a dwelling to me, and the only onewhich man does not grudge. These bleak skies I hail, for they are kinderto me than your fellow-beings. If the multitude of mankind knew of myexistence, they would do as you do, and arm themselves for mydestruction. Shall I not then hate them who abhor me? I will keep noterms with my enemies. I am miserable, and they shall share mywretchedness. Yet it is in your power to recompense me, and deliver themfrom an evil which it only remains for you to make so great, that notonly you and your family, but thousands of others, shall be swallowed upin the whirlwinds of its rage. Let your compassion be moved, and do notdisdain me. Listen to my tale: when you have heard that, abandon orcommiserate me, as you shall judge that I deserve. But hear me. Theguilty are allowed, by human laws, bloody as they are, to speak in theirown defence before they are condemned. Listen to me, Frankenstein. Youaccuse me of murder; and yet you would, with a satisfied conscience,destroy your own creature. Oh, praise the eternal justice of man! Yet Iask you not to spare me: listen to me; and then, if you can, and if youwill, destroy the work of your hands."
"Why do you call to my remembrance," I rejoined, "circumstances, ofwhich I shudder to reflect, that I have been the miserable origin andauthor? Cursed be the day, abhorred devil, in which you first saw light!Cursed (although I curse myself) be the hands that formed you! You havemade me wretched beyond expression. You have left me no power toconsider whether I am just to you, or not. Begone! relieve me from thesight of your detested form."
"Thus I relieve thee, my creator," he said, and placed his hated handsbefore my eyes, which I flung from me with violence; "thus I take fromthee a sight which you abhor. Still thou canst listen to me, and grantme thy compassion. By the virtues that I once possessed, I demand thisfrom you. Hear my tale; it is long and strange, and the temperature ofthis place is not fitting to your fine sensations; come to the hut uponthe mountain. The sun is yet high in the heavens; before it descends tohide itself behind yon snowy precipices, and illuminate another world,you will have heard my story, and can decide. On you it rests, whether Iquit for ever the neighbourhood of man, and lead a harmless life, orbecome the scourge of your fellow-creatures, and the author of your ownspeedy ruin."
As he said this, he led the way across the ice: I followed. My heart wasfull, and I did not answer him; but, as I proceeded, I weighed thevarious arguments that he had used, and determined at least to listen tohis tale. I was partly urged by curiosity, and compassion confirmed myresolution. I had hitherto supposed him to be the murderer of mybrother, and I eagerly sought a confirmation or denial of this opinion.For the first time, also, I felt what the duties of a creator towardshis creature were, and that I ought to render him happy before Icomplained of his wickedness. These motives urged me to comply with hisdemand. We crossed the ice, therefore, and ascended the opposite rock.The air was cold, and the rain again began to descend: we entered thehut, the fiend with an air of exultation, I with a heavy heart, anddepressed spirits. But I consented to listen; and, seating myself by thefire which my odious companion had lighted, he thus began his tale.