[00:00.28] Chapter three.
[00:01.91] Frankenstein's story,
[00:03.84] The Secret of Life.
[00:08.15] Oh, Walton, if only I had stopped there.
[00:12.20] I had succeeded in bringing dead matter back to life.
[00:13.20] Surely that was enough.
[00:16.03] But no, I would not rest until I had taken my experiments as far as they would go.
[00:22.76] I wanted to create a living being, a creature like myself, but perfect and original.
[00:31.57] I believed that this new creature would know I was its maker.
[00:35.90] It would bless me and be grateful.
[00:41.48] So I returned to the graveyard, to the slaughterhouse and the dissecting room and brought back to my lonely room the materials I needed, bone and flesh and muscle, and arteries.
[00:59.12] Can you imagine the horror of all this?
[01:04.87] Dabbling in damp graves and torturing living animals to bring dead flesh to life.
[01:10.74] Oh, yes, I was often appalled by what I was doing, but I could not stop.
[01:17.44] It was as if there was something inside driving me on.
[01:22.95] I worked feverishly throughout that summer, becoming more and more weary in mind and body.
[01:30.83] Then, one dreary night in November, with the rain beating against my window, I stood back from my work and knew that it was almost done.
[01:44.33] On the bench before me lay a huge figure, assembled from the gory fragments I had collected.
[01:53.35] All that was required now was the spark that would bring it to life.
[01:58.45] A flash of electricity, like the one I'd seen destroy the tree.
[02:05.30] I worked on into the morning until, at last, that moment came.
[02:12.31] There was a rush of air as its massive chest heaved.
[02:17.15] I saw its eyes open.
[02:22.57] I felt a surge of triumph, but it lasted no more than an instant.
[02:27.87] Then I was overcome with a feeling of disgust.
[02:33.87] I had chosen parts from bodies that would make the creature beautiful, but it was nothing of the kind.
[02:43.37] The skin which covered its face was like dry yellow paper.
[02:48.87] Its eyes were dull, and its lips black and straight.
[02:54.99] I could not bear the sight of it.
[02:58.53] I ran from the room in horror and shut myself in my bedroom.
[03:04.85] There I paced about, asking myself, what have I done?
[03:10.70] What have I done?
[03:14.99] Later that night, I woke from a restless sleep.
[03:20.06] My teeth were chattering, and the sweat of fever made every limb shake.
[03:27.51] There at the foot of my bed was the monster I had created.
[03:33.98] It was standing in the moonlight, its eyes fixed on me, and its jaw open in an evil grin.
[03:42.19] One hand was stretched out to me, and from its throat came a harsh, unearthly sound.
[03:49.88] I did not wait to hear what it meant to say, or if it was capable of meaning at all.
[03:55.76] I pushed past it and hurried madly down the stairs, down, down, and out into the cold night air of the town.
[04:06.91] I wandered the streets, tormented by the failure of my dream and the horror of what I had done.
[04:14.93] It was light before I dared to return.
[04:19.19] I was about to climb the stairs to that dreadful room again when there was a knock at the door.
[04:27.08] Imagine my relief when I saw my old friend Henry Clerval on the doorstep.
[04:37.00] My dear Frankenstein, he said, grasping my hand.
[04:43.52] Can you guess?
[04:46.65] Father has agreed at last.
[04:51.25] I am to study at the university.
[04:59.39] Then he looked into my eyes, and his face clouded with worry.
[05:07.79] But Victor, what's the matter?
[05:11.67] He said, "You don't look well."
[05:17.82] I assured him it was nothing, no more than the effects of hard work.
[05:27.32] Are you sure?
[05:30.29] Has something happened?
[05:33.62] You've written no letters, sent no news, and we've all been so worried about you.
[05:43.01] Only because I've been so busy, Henry.
[05:46.54] I promise you, I said, but my work is over now and I am free again.
[05:54.91] But was I free?
[05:57.54] Could I ever be free while that dreadful thing was waiting for me in my workroom?
[06:06.49] I could not bear to think of Henry discovering my secret, so I asked him to wait a while, and I hurried up the stairs.
[06:16.21] I reached my door and hesitated, shuddering at the thought of what might still lurk behind it.
[06:24.95] Then I flung it open.
[06:28.82] The room was empty.
[06:32.96] The monster had gone.
[06:38.71] Henry Clerval was right, of course.
[06:42.13] The strain of all this had made me ill, and during the next few months, I was confined to my bed.
[06:53.57] All this time, Henry watched over me.
[06:58.58] I was too unwell to write home, so he wrote for me, and then sat beside me to read the letters Elizabeth sent back.
[07:09.58] It was in one of these letters that I first heard about Justine.
[07:15.04] She was a girl my father had employed to look after my brothers.
[07:22.99] She was sweet natured, Elizabeth wrote, and a great help to the whole family.
[07:32.87] Elizabeth's letters made me long to regain my strength so that I could go to see her.
[07:41.69] Long years had passed since I first parted from those I loved.
[07:49.47] Henry's good company did much to restore my health, and in time, I felt well enough to study again.
[07:58.78] However, I refused to have anymore to do with my old work.
[08:04.70] Instead, I joined Henry who was studying oriental languages.
[08:11.28] My decision puzzled him.
[08:14.73] But why, Victor?
[08:18.66] He asked, surely you haven't lost your love of science?
[08:26.51] I told him I wanted to learn something new.
[08:30.33] I could not tell him my real reason.
[08:35.46] As my health improved, I managed to push the dread of what I had done to the back of my mind, and I appeared, at least outwardly, to be happy and carefree.
[08:50.30] Soon, I thought, soon I shall see my home again.
[08:57.81] However, one day, when Henry and I were sharing breakfast, a letter came from my father, and the news it contained threw me back into despair.
[09:11.03] What on earth is it?
[09:14.07] Henry asked anxiously.
[09:18.10] I must go back to Geneva immediately, I said, almost overcome with grief.
[09:26.21] William is dead.
[09:29.43] Dead?
[09:31.48] But he can't be.
[09:34.65] He's dead, Henry.
[09:37.25] Read it yourself and see.
[09:41.47] My little brother had taken a walk one evening and not returned.
[09:50.08] The family had searched for him and found him at last, stretched out on the grass with the marks of some cruel hand on his neck.
[10:04.54] At length Henry looked up from the letter, pale with shock.
[10:11.98] Murdered?
[10:14.44] He whispered, I don't understand.
[10:20.60] He was such a sweet child, so innocent.
[10:26.94] It's there in my father's own hand, I said bitterly.
[10:33.60] William was wearing a locket.
[10:37.97] It bore a portrait of my mother, and when his body was found, the locket was missing.
[10:49.47] Clearly he was murdered for it.
[10:55.59] And now, Elizabeth blames herself because she gave him the locket.
[11:02.98] She weeps all the time and won't be comforted.
[11:09.38] Henry, will you help me to pack?
[11:13.26] I must go to them tonight.