Frankenstein (AQA GCSE English Literature): Exam Questions

The monster saw my determination in my face, and gnashed his  teeth in the impotence of anger. "Shall each man," cried he, "find a  wife for his bosom, and each beast have his mate, and I  be alone? I had feelings of affection, and they were requited by detestation and  scorn. Man! you may hate; but beware! your hours will pass in dread  and misery, and soon the bolt will fall which must ravish from you  your happiness for ever. Are you to be happy while I grovel in the  intensity of my wretchedness? You can blast my other passions; but  revenge remains—revenge, henceforth dearer than light or food! I  may die; but first you, my tyrant and tormentor, shall curse the sun  that gazes on your misery. Beware; for I am fearless, and therefore  powerful. I will watch with the wiliness of a snake, that I may sting  with its venom. Man, you shall repent of the injuries you inflict." 

"Devil, cease; and do not poison the air with these sounds of malice.  I have declared my resolution to you, and I am no coward to bend  beneath words. Leave me; I am inexorable." 

"It is well. I go; but remember, I shall be with you on your wedding- night." 

I started forward, and exclaimed. "Villain! before you sign my death- warrant, be sure that you are yourself safe." 

I would have seized him; but he eluded me, and quitted the house  with precipitation. In a few moments I saw him in his boat, which shot  across the waters with an arrowy swiftness, and was soon  lost amidst the waves.

‘But it is true that I am a wretch. I have murdered the lovely and the helpless; I  have strangled the innocent as they slept, and grasped to death his throat who  never injured me or any other living thing. I have devoted my creator, the select  specimen of all that is worthy of love and admiration among men, to misery; I have  pursued him even to that irremediable ruin. There he lies, white and cold in death.  You hate me; but your abhorrence cannot equal that with which I regard myself; I  look on the hands which executed the deed; I think on the heart in which the  imagination of it was conceived, and long for the moment when these hands will  meet my eyes, when that imagination will haunt my thoughts no more. 

‘Fear not that I shall be the instrument of future mischief. My work is nearly  complete. Neither yours nor any man’s death is needed to consummate the  series of my being, and accomplish that which must be done but it requires my  own. Do not think that I shall be slow to perform this sacrifice. I shall quit your  vessel on the ice-raft which brought me thither, and shall seek the most northern  extremity of the globe; I shall collect my funeral pile and consume to ashes this  miserable frame, that its remains may afford no light to any curious and  unhallowed wretch who would create such another as I have been. I shall die. I  shall no longer feel the agonies which now consume me, or be the prey of feelings unsatisfied, yet unquenched. He is dead who called me into being; and when I  shall be no more the very remembrance of us both will speedily vanish. I shall no  longer see the sun or stars, or feel the winds play on my cheeks. Light, feeling,  and sense will pass away; and in this condition must I find my happiness. Some  years ago, when the images which this world affords first opened upon me, when I  felt the cheering warmth of summer, and heard the rustling of the leaves and the  warbling of the birds, and these were all to me, I should have wept to die; now it is  my only consolation. Polluted by crimes, and torn by the bitterest remorse, where  can I find rest but in death? 

‘ “How can I thank you, my best and only benefactor? From your lips first have I heard the voice of kindness directed towards me; I shall be for ever grateful; and  your present humanity assures me of success with those friends whom I am on the point of meeting.” 

‘ “May I know the names and residence of those friends?” 

‘I paused. This, I thought, was the moment of decision, which was to rob me of, or bestow happiness on me for ever. I struggled vainly for firmness sufficient  to answer him, but the effort destroyed all my remaining strength; I sank on the  chair, and sobbed aloud. At that moment I heard the steps of my younger  protectors. I had not a moment to lose; but, seizing the hand of the old man, I  cried, “Now is the time! − save and protect me! You and your family are the  friends whom I seek. Do not you desert me in the hour of trial!” 

‘ “Great God!” exclaimed the old man, “who are you?” 

‘At that instant the cottage door was opened, and Felix, Safie, and Agatha entered. Who can describe their horror and consternation on beholding me?  Agatha fainted; and Safie, unable to attend to her friend, rushed out of the  cottage. Felix darted forward, and with supernatural force tore me from his father,  to whose knees I clung: in a transport of fury, he dashed me to the ground and  struck me violently with a stick. I could have torn him limb from limb, as the lion  rends the antelope. But my heart sunk within me as with bitter sickness, and I  refrained. I saw him on the point of repeating his blow, when, overcome by pain  and anguish, I quitted the cottage and in the general tumult escaped unperceived  to my hovel.

I passed an hour in this state of mind, when suddenly I reflected how fearful the combat which I momentarily expected would be to my wife, and I earnestly entreated her to retire, resolving not to join her until I had obtained some knowledge as to the situation of my enemy. 

She left me, and I continued some time walking up and down the passages of the house, and inspecting every corner that might afford a retreat to my adversary. But I discovered no trace of him, and was beginning to conjecture that some fortunate chance had intervened to prevent the execution of his menaces, when suddenly I heard a shrill and dreadful scream. It came from the room into which Elizabeth had retired. As I heard it, the whole truth rushed into my mind, my arms dropped, the motion of every muscle and fibre was suspended; I could feel the blood trickling in my veins and tingling in the extremities of my limbs. This state lasted but for an instant; the scream was repeated, and I rushed into the room. 

Great God! why did I not then expire! Why am I here to relate the destruction  of the best hope and the purest creature of earth? She was there, lifeless and inanimate, thrown across the bed, her head hanging down, and her pale and distorted features half covered by her hair. Everywhere I turn I see the same figure – her bloodless arms and relaxed form flung by the murderer on its bridal bier. Could I behold this and live? Alas! life is obstinate and clings closest where it is most hated. For a moment only did I lose recollection; I fell senseless on the ground. 

When I recovered I found myself surrounded by the people of the inn; their countenances expressed a breathless terror: but the horror of others appeared only as a mockery, a shadow of the feelings that oppressed me. I escaped from them to the room where lay the body of Elizabeth, my love, my wife, so lately living, so dear, so worthy. She had been moved from the posture in which I had first beheld her; and now, as she lay, her head upon her arm, and a handkerchief thrown across her face and neck, I might have supposed her asleep. I rushed towards her, and embraced her with ardour; but the deadly languor and coldness of the limbs told me that what I now held in my arms had ceased to be the Elizabeth whom I had loved and cherished. The murderous mark of the fiend’s grasp was on her neck, and the breath had ceased to issue from her lips.

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 whither 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 have exchanged for the most precious wealth the earth can afford. I replied, however, that we were on a voyage of discovery towards the northern pole. 

Upon hearing this he appeared satisfied, and consented to come on board. Good 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 in 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  feared 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 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 despairing; 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 in so strange a vehicle?

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 crevices  in the ice, among which I had walked with caution; his stature, also, as he  approached, seemed to exceed that of man. I was troubled: a mist came over  my eyes, and I felt a faintness seize me; but I was quickly restored by the cold  gale of the mountains. I perceived, as the shape came nearer (sight tremendous  and abhorred!) that it was the wretch whom I had created. I trembled with rage  and horror, resolving to wait his approach, and then close with him in mortal  combat. He approached; his countenance bespoke bitter anguish, combined  with disdain and malignity, while its unearthly ugliness rendered it almost too  horrible for human eyes. But I scarcely observed this; rage and hatred had at  first deprived me of utterance, and I recovered only to overwhelm him with words  expressive of furious detestation and contempt. 

‘Devil,’ I exclaimed, ‘do you dare approach me? and do not you fear the fierce vengeance of my arm wreaked on your miserable head? Begone, vile insect! or rather, stay, that I may trample you to dust! and, oh! that I could, with the extinction of your miserable existence, restore those victims whom you have so diabolically murdered!’ 

‘I expected this reception,’ said the dæmon. ‘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.’ 

‘Abhorred monster! fiend that thou art! the tortures of hell are too mild a vengeance for thy crimes. Wretched devil! you reproach me with your creation; come on, then, that I may extinguish the spark which I so negligently bestowed.’ My rage was without bounds; I sprang on him, impelled by all the feelings 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 hatred on my devoted head. Have I not suffered enough that you seek to increase my misery?’

‘You must create a female for me, with whom I can live in the interchange of  those sympathies necessary for my being. This you alone can do; and I demand  it of you as a right which you must not refuse to concede.’ 

The latter part of his tale had kindled anew in me the anger that had died away while he narrated his peaceful life among the cottagers, and, as he said this, I could no longer suppress the rage that burned within me. 

‘I do refuse it,’ I replied; ‘and no torture shall ever extort a consent from me. You may render me the most miserable of men, but you shall never make me base in my own eyes. Shall I create another like yourself, whose joint wickedness might desolate the world! Begone! I have answered you; you may  torture me, but I will never consent.’ 

‘You are in the wrong,’ replied the fiend; ‘and, instead of threatening, I am content to reason with you. I am malicious because I am miserable. Am I not shunned and hated by all mankind? You, my creator, would tear me to pieces, and triumph; remember that, and tell me why I should pity man more than he pities me? You would not call it murder if you could precipitate me into one of those ice-rifts, and destroy my frame, the work of your own hands. Shall I respect man when he contemns me? Let him live with me in the interchange of  kindness; and, instead of injury, I would bestow every benefit upon him with tears of gratitude at his acceptance. But that cannot be; the human senses are insurmountable barriers to our union. Yet mine shall not be the submission of abject slavery. I will revenge my injuries: if I cannot inspire love, I will cause fear; and chiefly towards you my arch-enemy, because my creator, do I swear inextinguishable hatred. Have a care: I will work at your destruction, nor finish until I desolate your heart, so that you shall curse the hour of your birth.’ 

A fiendish rage animated him as he said this; his face was wrinkled into contortions too horrible for human eyes to behold; but presently he calmed himself and proceeded. 

‘I intended to reason. This passion is detrimental to me; for you do not reflect that you are the cause of its excess. If any being felt emotions of benevolence towards me, I should return them a hundred and a hundred fold; for that one creature’s sake, I would make peace with the whole kind! But I now indulge in dreams of bliss that cannot be realised. What I ask of you is reasonable and moderate; I demand a creature of another sex, but as hideous as myself; the gratification is small, but it is all that I can receive, and it shall content me. It is true we shall be monsters, cut off from all the world; but on that account we shall be more attached to one another. Our lives will not be happy, but they will be harmless, and free from the misery I now feel. Oh! my creator, make me happy; let me feel gratitude towards you for one benefit! Let me see that I excite the sympathy of some existing thing; do not deny me my request!’