Frankenstein
Frankenstein — an illustrated literature story. 10 illustrated pages, free to read on Wonder Novels.
Page 1
The year is 1797. Captain Robert Walton, a spirited English explorer, led his ship deep into the uncharted Arctic, dreaming of new discoveries. His vessel, trapped by immense sheets of ice, stood still in the frozen silence. One desolate morning, his crew spotted a strange, emaciated figure clinging to a fragment of ice, barely alive. They rescued him, bringing the frail man aboard. This man, Victor Frankenstein, was on the brink of death, yet driven by an intense, burning purpose. Walton, intrigued by the stranger's wild gaze and profound sorrow, took him into his cabin. As Victor slowly regained some strength, he began to speak of a story so extraordinary and terrible that it chilled the very air around them.
Page 2
Victor, now aboard Walton’s ship, began his tale with his earliest memories, painting a picture of a joyful childhood in Geneva. He spoke of his loving father, Alphonse, and his gentle mother, Caroline. He recalled the day Elizabeth Lavenza, an orphaned child of angelic beauty, joined their family, becoming his dearest companion and later, his intended bride. His closest friend, Henry Clerval, shared his love for nature and heroic tales, their youthful days filled with companionship and shared dreams. Yet, even in this idyllic setting, Victor's mind was powerfully drawn to the mysteries of life and death, an obsession that would overshadow all else. He devoured old books of alchemy, dreaming of discovering secrets that science had long dismissed as mere superstition. This fascination, though often dismissed by his father as 'sad trash,' only grew stronger, setting him on a path that would lead him far from his beloved home to the university at Ingolstadt, to pursue knowledge beyond conventional bounds.
Page 3
At Ingolstadt, Victor's studies consumed him. Abandoning all other pursuits, he plunged into the secret, forbidden work of creating life, driven by a powerful, almost mad ambition to unlock nature's deepest mysteries. For months, he toiled in his solitary attic apartment, using charnel-house materials and collected parts, neglecting his health, his friends, and the outside world. His mind was a maelstrom of scientific theory and macabre practice, his singular focus blurring the lines of sanity. Finally, on a dreary, fateful night, after endless hours of intense labor, his creation stirred into existence. A new being, formed by his own hands, opened its dull yellow eyes, and a shudder ran through its immense frame. But the beauty Victor had envisioned was a grotesque reality. The creature's gigantic stature, its pallid, stretched skin, and its horrific features filled him with an immediate, sickening repulsion. The spark of life he had sought so eagerly now ignited a profound terror within him, shattering his grand dreams.
Page 4
Overwhelmed by horror and a profound sense of guilt, Victor fled his apartment and his monstrous creation, unable to bear the sight of the being he had brought to life. He wandered the rainy, labyrinthine streets of Ingolstadt in a feverish, terrified daze, haunted by the image of its grotesque features. His health, already severely weakened by months of solitary, obsessive toil, quickly deteriorated, and he succumbed to a severe fever and delirium. It was during this illness that his dear friend, Henry Clerval, arrived unexpectedly from Geneva, a welcome beacon of kindness and concern amidst Victor’s spiralling despair. Henry, unaware of the terrible secret that haunted Victor, nursed him back to health with unwavering devotion. As Victor slowly recovered, a letter from his father brought devastating news: his youngest brother, William, had been found dead in Geneva, the victim of a violent attack. A miniature portrait of their mother, found clutched in William's hand, pointed to a frame-up, and Justine Moritz, a beloved family servant, was wrongly accused and condemned.
Page 5
After Victor's abandonment, the creature wandered alone, experiencing only terror, fear, and rejection from humanity. He found a temporary refuge in a hovel adjoining a poor but kind family's cottage – the DeLaceys. From his hidden vantage point within the shadows of the hovel, he observed them daily, learning about love, compassion, and human language through their gentle interactions. He saw their generosity even in poverty, their shared sorrows, and their simple joys. He found discarded books and taught himself to read, educating himself on history and philosophy, and through these narratives, he came to understand his own unnatural existence and the chasm that separated him from mankind. Filled with a desperate hope, he finally gathered his courage to approach the blind old father, hoping his lack of sight would allow for acceptance. But when the rest of the family returned, his terrifying appearance filled them with horror, and they drove him away with cries of disgust, shattering his fragile dreams of belonging and companionship forever.
Page 6
Tormented by guilt and despair after Justine's unjust execution, Victor sought solace in the terrifying grandeur of the Swiss Alps. He climbed to the dizzying heights of the Mer de Glace glacier, hoping to find some measure of peace amidst the majestic, silent, and unforgiving landscape. But there, amidst the towering ice formations and endless snow, he was suddenly confronted by the very being he had created and abandoned. The creature, having tracked his creator relentlessly, emerged from the swirling mists, a figure of immense power and sorrow. He spoke with chilling eloquence of his profound suffering, his unbearable loneliness, and the crushing injustice of his existence at Victor's hands. He recounted his experiences, his self-education, and the relentless cruelty he had faced from humanity. Then, with a voice filled with both despair and an unyielding demand, he insisted that Victor create a female companion for him, a being to share his cursed existence, promising to leave humanity in peace if his desperate plea was granted.
Page 7
Haunted by the creature's demand and terrified by his threats, Victor reluctantly sailed to a remote, desolate island in the Orkneys, off the coast of Scotland. There, in a crude, isolated stone cottage, battered by the elements, he began the agonizing, repulsive work of creating a second being. The task was hateful, yet he felt bound by his promise to the creature and the terrifying threat of vengeance upon his remaining loved ones if he refused. Day after day, he toiled, his mind a battlefield of ethical dilemmas and nightmarish imaginings. He envisioned the horrors of a new race of creatures, their potential for evil, their potential to reproduce and torment humanity with their monstrous existence. The thought of this second creation, a female monster, filled him with an insurmountable dread that drove him to the brink of madness. In a moment of desperate resolve, driven by a sudden, chilling realization, he destroyed his work, tearing apart the half-formed body before it could be animated. The creature, who had been secretly watching through a window, let out a howl of despair and furious vengeance, a sound that echoed across the barren landscape.
Page 8
The creature, enraged by Victor's betrayal on the Orkney island, vowed a terrible, calculated revenge. Soon after, Victor's boat was swept by a violent storm to the desolate shores of Ireland, where he was immediately arrested by the local authorities. He was accused of murder, and to his utter horror, he was brought to view the victim: the lifeless body of his beloved friend, Henry Clerval, cruelly murdered by the creature as an act of calculated vengeance. Victor was utterly distraught, falling into a feverish delirium of grief and guilt. Though eventually acquitted due to lack of conclusive evidence, the trauma of Henry's death and the creature's malicious deed were immense. Upon his return to Geneva, his father, Alphonse, urged him to marry Elizabeth, hoping that her love and their union would restore some joy and normalcy to his shattered life. But on their wedding night, the creature fulfilled his chilling promise: Victor, hearing Elizabeth’s piercing scream, rushed to their bridal chamber to find her dead, a tragic victim of the creature's final, brutal act of vengeance, leaving Victor's life utterly shattered beyond repair.
Page 9
With his life utterly destroyed, his beloved ones gone, and his soul consumed by an unquenchable fire, Victor Frankenstein was consumed by a singular, all-encompassing desire for vengeance. He abandoned all thoughts of peace or recovery, dedicating his remaining, tormented days to the relentless pursuit of his monstrous creature. Across vast, desolate landscapes, through the frozen wastes of Russia, and ever northward, he tracked the being he had brought to life, his body aching, his mind driven. The creature, seemingly tormenting him with calculated glimpses and faint trails, led him on, sustaining Victor with the bitter fuel of hatred and a desperate need for retribution. Victor's body weakened under the immense hardships of the Arctic journey, but his spirit, burning with an unholy, unwavering fire, pushed him onward, driven by the chilling knowledge that his own miserable existence would only end once he had annihilated the source of all his misery and suffering from the face of the earth.
Page 10
Victor Frankenstein, having finished his tragic tale, finally succumbed to his exhaustion and the ravages of his long pursuit. He died aboard Walton's ship, his last breath a mix of regret and a final, unfulfilled desire for vengeance. Walton, deeply moved by the horrifying narrative, stood over the body of the tormented scientist. Suddenly, a dark, imposing figure appeared through the open cabin window. It was the creature, come to mourn his creator, expressing his own profound despair and loneliness. He spoke of his acts of vengeance, born from rejection and suffering, and his deep, conflicting sorrow for Victor. Then, declaring his intention to seek his final rest and vanish into nothingness, the creature departed into the unforgiving Arctic wastes, a solitary figure disappearing forever into the vast, frozen silence.
About this story
- Audience: general readers
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