Frankenstein

Chapter 22

Mary Shelley · Mountaineers 10th–12th

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If for one instant I had thought what might be the hellish intention of my fiendish adversary, I would rather have banished myself for ever from my native country and wandered a friendless outcast over the earth than have consented to this miserable marriage. But, as if possessed of magic powers, the monster had blinded me to his real intentions; and when I thought that I had prepared only my own death, I hastened that of a far dearer victim.

Elizabeth seemed happy; my tranquil demeanour contributed greatly to calm her mind. But on the day that was to fulfil my wishes and my destiny, she was melancholy, and a presentiment of evil pervaded her; and perhaps also she thought of the dreadful secret which I had promised to reveal to her on the following day. My father was in the meantime overjoyed, and, in the bustle of preparation, only recognised in the melancholy of his niece the diffidence of a bride.

Each passage uses the word “only” once: “only my own death” and “only recognised”. What does that small word do in each?

For the educator Two passages, five sentences. The first is the older Victor breaking into his own tale. Its first sentence is a condition that keeps its choice for the end: he “would rather have banished myself for ever” than “have consented to this miserable marriage.” The second sets what he thought against what he did, and the two halves answer each other across the comma: “only my own death” and “a far dearer victim.” The second passage, a few paragraphs later, is the wedding day as three people meet it. Victor’s “tranquil demeanour” calms Elizabeth. The long middle sentence turns on “But”: the day “that was to fulfil my wishes and my destiny” finds her melancholy, and the semicolons carry it from what she feels to what she may be thinking (“perhaps also”). The last sentence gives the father, “overjoyed”, and holds his reading for the very end: he “only recognised in the melancholy of his niece the diffidence of a bride.” The words demeanour, presentiment and diffidence are in the vocabulary. For the talk prompt, listen for a student who hears “only” narrow a reading in both places: the father sees no more than a bride’s nerves, and Victor, by his own later account, saw no more than his own death.

Discussion

Narration Tell the chapter back in your own words, from Victor’s rest in Paris to the moment he steps ashore at Evian.

In Paris, Victor’s father begs him never again to say that he killed William, Justine and Henry, and from then on will not let him speak of his troubles. Victor keeps quiet too, though he “would have given the world” to tell his secret. Who wanted the silence more, the father or the son? Character
Elizabeth asks Victor for “simple truth”. He writes back that there must be “perfect confidence” between them. But he will not tell her his secret until the day after the wedding. Why the day after, and not the day before? Inference
Victor is sure the monster means to kill him on his wedding night. Yet he agrees to marry in ten days, “contented and even cheerful”. What is he cheerful about? Character
Victor carries pistols and a dagger everywhere he goes. As the wedding comes near, the threat starts to seem like a delusion. How can getting ready for a danger make it seem less real? Inference
On the lake, Victor asks Elizabeth to let him enjoy this one day. She will not listen to the whisper that warns her, and she points him to the clouds and the fish. Who is taking care of whom in that boat? Character

Make a Connection Think of a story, a piece of history or a time in your own life when someone was sure they knew what a warning meant. What made them so sure?

Vocabulary

consternation: But, besides, I could not bring myself to disclose a secret which would fill my hearer with consternation and make fear and unnatural horror the inmates of his breast. Sudden alarm and dismay that leaves a person not knowing what to do. Victor keeps his secret partly to spare others this: it “would fill my hearer with consternation”. The word gives his silence a kind reason beside the fearful one, that he would be thought mad.
satiated: He had vowed _to be with me on my wedding-night_, yet he did not consider that threat as binding him to peace in the meantime, for as if to show me that he was not yet satiated with blood, he had murdered Clerval immediately after the enunciation of his threats. Filled so full that nothing more is wanted (related to sate and satisfy). Victor says the monster killed Clerval as if to show he was “not yet satiated with blood”. The word pictures an appetite that one death does not end, and Victor uses it while deciding not to delay the wedding.
conduce: I resolved, therefore, that if my immediate union with my cousin would conduce either to hers or my father’s happiness, my adversary’s designs against my life should not retard it a single hour. To lead toward a result or help bring it about (conducive is the more familiar form). Victor will marry at once if it “would conduce either to hers or my father’s happiness”. The word names the test he sets himself: whether the marriage leads to their happiness, with his own life set against it in the same sentence.
remonstrate: When reason returned, she would remonstrate and endeavour to inspire me with resignation. To protest, or to reason earnestly with someone about what they are doing (from the Latin for pointing out, the root of demonstrate). When his fits pass, Elizabeth “would remonstrate”: she argues with him, not only comforts him. The word makes her an active voice in his recovery.
demeanour: Elizabeth seemed happy; my tranquil demeanour contributed greatly to calm her mind. The way a person outwardly carries and conducts themselves; their manner as others see it. Victor’s “tranquil demeanour” calms Elizabeth. The word names only the outside, and a few paragraphs earlier he has told us he hid a sinking heart under “an appearance of hilarity”.
presentiment: But on the day that was to fulfil my wishes and my destiny, she was melancholy, and a presentiment of evil pervaded her; and perhaps also she thought of the dreadful secret which I had promised to reveal to her on the following day. A feeling that something, usually bad, is about to happen, felt before there is any reason for it (pre-, before, and sentiment, feeling). On the wedding day “a presentiment of evil pervaded her”. Victor reports the feeling and only guesses at a cause: “perhaps also” the secret.
diffidence: My father was in the meantime overjoyed, and, in the bustle of preparation, only recognised in the melancholy of his niece the diffidence of a bride. Shyness that comes from a lack of confidence (diffidence and confidence share a Latin root meaning trust). Victor’s father sees in Elizabeth’s sadness “only” the diffidence of a bride, the ordinary nerves of a wedding day. The word names what he expects to see in her.

Critical thinking

As Elizabeth’s letter stirs his hope, Victor stops himself with a picture: “the apple was already eaten, and the angel’s arm bared to drive me from all hope.” In his picture, who is the angel?
Looking back, Victor says the monster blinded him to its real plans. Was Victor blinded by the monster, as he claims, or did he blind himself?