I FOUND MYSELF AT THE ENTRANCE OF THE CEMETERY...

I found this moment in the story of Frankenstein very powerful. After Victor's wife Elizabeth is murdered by the monster, he returns home only to find his father dying in his arms. He visits the cemetery where his family plot exists. He visits the graves of his brother William, Elizabeth and his father. He snaps. It is here that he pledges vengeance against the wretched fiend he created.

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The deep grief which this scene had at first excited quickly gave way to rage and despair. They were dead, and I lived; their murderer also lived, and to destroy him I must drag out my weary existence. I knelt on the grass, and kissed the earth, and with quivering lips exclaimed, "By the sacred earth on which I kneel, by the shades that wander near me, by the deep and eternal grief that I feel, I swear; and by thee, O Night, and by the spirits that preside over thee, I swear to pursue the demon, who caused this misery, until he or I shall perish in mortal conflict. For this purpose I will preserve my life: to execute this dear revenge, will I again behold the sun, and tread the green herbage of earth, which otherwise should vanish from my eyes for ever. And I call on you, spirits of the dead; and on you, wandering ministers of vengeance, to aid and conduct me in my work. Let the cursed and hellish monster drink deep of agony; let him feel the despair that now torments me."

I SAW YOUR VESSEL RIDING AT ANCHOR...

Here's your page of the week. This illustration reflects the fantastical and timeless style that I am bringing to the book in a way that no other telling of Frankenstein has been done. Known to those familiar with the tale of Frankenstein (yet not addressed in my blog yet) is the explorer Walton and his crew whose story of obsession parallels that of Victor's. The two meet in the beginning of the book when Walton discovers Victor weak and on the verge of death in the far uncharted north. Walton's ship is embedded in ice and the crew's life is endangered if they press one. This is a choice that their Captain Walton has to make.

The ship in my story, like all the other forms of transportation in this world, is covered in rivets and rusty metal. Exhaust pipes, indicating a fantastical and unfamiliar origin of power, jut out from all around. The main cabin is illuminated with the same bright green as the fluid that sparks Victor's creations to life, mirroring the two obsessions and their similar fate...DEATH.

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In this manner many appalling hours passed; several of my dogs died; and I myself was about to sink under the accumulation of distress, when I saw your vessel riding at anchor, and holding forth to me hopes of succour and life. I had no conception that vessels ever came so far north, and was astounded at the sight. I quickly destroyed part of my sledge to construct oars; and by these means was enabled, with infinite fatigue, to move my ice-raft in the direction of your ship. I had determined, if you were going southward, still to trust myself to the mercy of the seas, rather than abandon my purpose. I hoped to induce you to grant me a boat with which I could still pursue my enemy. But your direction was northward. You took me on board when my vigour was exhausted, and I should soon have sunk under my multiplied hardships into a death, which I still dread, - for my task is unfulfilled.

Oh! when will my guiding spirit, in conducting me to the demon, allow me the rest I so much desire; or must I die, and he yet live? If I do, Walton, satisfy my vengeance in his death. When I am dead, if he should appear, swear that he shall not live - swear that he shall not triumph over my accumulated woes, and live to make another such a wretch as I am. He is eloquent and persuasive; and once his words had even power over my heart: but trust him not. His soul is as hellish as his form.