Yet you, my creator, detest and spurn me, thy creature, to whom thou art bound by ties only dissoluble by the annihilation of one of us.Able to be dissolved: loosened, broken apart, or ended. The creature says only the destruction of one of them can undo his ties to Victor.
Frankenstein
Chapter 10
Mary Shelley · Mountaineers 10th–12th
Copywork
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 art bound by ties only dissoluble by the annihilation of one of us. You purpose to kill me. How dare you sport thus with life? Do your duty towards me, and I will do mine towards you and the rest of mankind. If you 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 satiated with the blood of your remaining friends.
These sentences come from the creature's first speech to the man who made him. Read them aloud. Which one is hardest to say in one tone of voice?
Discussion
Narration Tell back the chapter from Victor's day in the valley to the moment he sits down by the fire in the hut. Then choose the one sentence you would keep if you could keep only one, and say what the chapter would lose without it.
- On the climb, Victor says that if we felt only hunger, thirst and desire, “we might be nearly free”. Instead, we are moved by “every wind that blows” and by a chance word. Is it a weakness or a strength to be moved so easily? Theme
- The figure on the ice bounds over crevices that Victor crossed “with caution”, and he seems taller than a man. Why might the author let us see his speed and size before we hear his voice? Author's choice
- The creature says he “ought to be thy Adam” but is “rather the fallen angel, whom thou drivest from joy for no misdeed”. What part does that comparison give Victor to play? Inference
- Victor tells the creature, “You have left me no power to consider whether I am just to you or not.” Is that an honest admission, or an excuse? Character
- Victor cries, “Relieve me from the sight of your detested form.” The creature answers, “Thus I relieve thee,” and covers Victor's eyes with his hands. Is he obeying Victor, or mocking him? Tone
- The creature says that after his tale Victor “can decide”. Then he adds that “On you it rests” whether he leads “a harmless life” or becomes “the scourge of your fellow creatures”. Is Victor free to decide? Moral reasoning
Make a Connection Think of another maker, from history, a myth, or a story, who made something they could not control. What does a maker owe to what they have made?
Vocabulary
- dissoluble
- satiated
If you 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 satiated with the blood of your remaining friends.
Filled so full that no more is wanted, as when a hunger is fully fed. The creature pictures death as a beast's mouth, a “maw”, that he will feed.- immutable
accumulated ice, which, through the silent working of immutable laws, was ever and anon rent and torn, as if it had been but a plaything in their hands.
Never changing; fixed for all time. Here it names the laws of nature at work on the glacier.- mutability
Nought may endure but mutability!
The quality of being open to change; changeableness. In the verse it is the one thing said to endure.- hitherto
I had hitherto supposed him to be the murderer of my brother, and I eagerly sought a confirmation or denial of this opinion.
Until now; up to this time. Victor uses it for a belief he had held, which he now wants confirmed or denied.
Critical thinking
- Victor swears, “I will not hear you.” Yet he follows the creature across the ice and sits down by the fire to listen. What wins the hearing he swore he would not give?
- The creature asks to speak before he is condemned, as even the guilty may. Who is on trial on the glacier, the creature or Victor?