Chapter 5*

"I had selected his features as beautiful... and beautiful he was." Dr. Frankenstein brings to life the magnum opus of his work and his most prized son.

“It was on a dreary night of November that I beheld the accomplishment of my toils… I saw the dull yellow eye of the creature open; it breathed hard, and a convulsive motion agitated its limbs… His limbs were in proportion, and I had selected his features as beautiful…(Shelley, 58)” And beautiful he was. His yellowed skin was tight across the solid muscle of his arms and chest; his inky black hair was greasy and slicked back from his forehead, making his deep-set, watery eyes all the more pronounced. I had done a good job. His stitching was even and mostly hidden; his eyes were murky but they could see, and they followed my movements as I greeted him.

“Welcome to this world, my dear creature,” I smiled and he seemed incapable of smiling back, exhibiting little fine motor control, like any other child. I put my hand on his shoulder and urged him, “Sit up, sit up!” He followed my command without seemingly knowing what a command was, sitting up and letting the blanket that was over him fall into his lap. “Stay,” I said, putting both my hands in front of me like barring him from moving. I went to one of the closets and pulled out some old clothing which would fit him despite his incredible size. I beseeched him, “Stand up!” and helped him dress, buttoning his jacket and tying his shoelaces.

As soon as I had gotten him clothed and assisted him in a lap around the laboratory, all while measuring his vitals, dexterity, and balance, a knock resounded from the chamber door. Giving an order to the creature to sit down, which he dutifully obeyed, I pulled the locks open and flung wide the door, revealing, to my great delight, my charming friend Henry Clerval with a wide smile on his face.

“My dear Frankenstein!” he exclaimed, giving me a warm hug, which I returned, “it is a pleasure to finally see you again. I have finally persuaded my father to join you in your studies here in Ingolstadt. He dislikes the idea of me devoting my days to anything but the pursuit of bookmaking, but with you here, living proof of the profits and joys of learning, he could refuse me no longer.”

I nodded, responding jovially to him, “It gives me the greatest delight to see you; but tell me how you left my father, brothers, and Elizabeth.” As I spoke, I ushered him inside, taking his bags and placing them on the chair, to the right of the entryway. The creature remained sitting in the background, static like a doll. His eyes followed us, lit not with malice but pure curiosity. I was pleased to see him react so well to an unforeseen guest.

Henry made light of my request, “Everyone back at the house has been made anxious by your lack of correspondence; they desire but one letter in your own hand, but I’m certain even my remarks of your clear vivacity will inspire them to remain joyous and unworried, as you appear to be. What is the marvelous occasion, dear Frankenstein, for you to have such a glow about you?” He smiled wholeheartedly at me, clapping me on the arm.

As he appeared to not have noticed the quiet being in the back, I took the chance to make a show of it, “Why, it is the completion of my masterwork that you have walked in on here, dear Henry!” With a flourish of my arm, I directed his attention to my creation, perched with his inordinate height and slouched posture, upon the delicate chair directly opposite the one in which Henry’s belongings were placed. The creature gave a grunt, and a pull at his black lips that may have indicated the beginnings of a smile, which Henry dashed with his horrendous yelp.

“What appalling fiend is this, who must have surely made away with the beauty of your magnum opus, Frankenstein?! Prosecute the damned animal for his malintentions, the wickedness of his countenance and all his other parts casting a curse on what must have been a most glorious day for you, my dear friend!” Henry grabbed my arm, pointing and cursing at the creature, who he assumed to be my disaster as well as his. The being stood abruptly, trembling from fear just like Henry, who clung to my arm, a place of safety the being seemed to want to join as well.

Turning around to stand between the two, my back to the creature and my face to Henry, I attempted to mediate, “No, no, dearest Henry, this being is my magnum opus! My pride and joy! See how he stands on his own feet, without assistance, as he couldn’t do less than ten minutes ago? See how he feels emotion, afraid at your yelling? You berate him senselessly, my dear, without thought! I made him with my own hands, my own blood and tears. I gave him, a pile of corpses, life! You mustn’t dole out your diatribes to him, as pure as the whitest cloud, when you know nothing about him, Henry!”

Henry jerked away from me, shaking as he inched backwards, away from the creature’s horrifying visage, stumbling over the chair and pinning himself against the wall. His eyes were ferocious and unsettling, unforgiving. He pointed at me now.

“Just as you have made an abomination, you too have been made an abomination!” Henry trembled as he spoke, tensed and overcome with revulsion. “Destroy that vile beast! Let him die by the same bloody hands that created him!” Henry gesticulated wildly, as I continued my attempt to console him.

“My dear Henry, are you mad? This child is my son, the product of my mind and my years of research and study, how could I possibly bring myself to part with him, let alone bring him to death by my own hands?” I approached Henry pleadingly, desperate to made him see the beauty of what I’ve created. The monster followed in my wake, plodding along, staring at the scene with a strange, pained expression. How could someone so sensible as Henry find such irredeemable fault in this harmless creature I’ve created? “You will see, Henry,” I made a final effort to convince him of mine and my creation’s benign natures, “I will care for this young one as my own, as I his father, and he my son. And when we arrive back in our own hometown, you will make no mistake that Elizabeth will prove to be the most lovely and understanding of mothers, as it was as much under her gentle hand as our mothers’ that we were raised. This child will turn out as fine as any, you will see, and someday I will teach him to make his own child. It will only be the start of a wonderful family like any other, like even our own families, Henry. Especially if you will agree to be his godfather.”

Henry’s face twitched, shocked and appalled at the thought, and turned his back, gunning for the door. “I will never recognize that ungodly beast as a child of mine!” he yelled hastily, and soon his footsteps are heard thundering down the hall, down the stairs, and out of earshot.

I turned to look at my creature. A despondent sadness had possessed his features, eliciting swinging feelings of depression and desire to amend in my heart. I touched his shoulder, and he jolted, turning his head to look down at me.

“Do not worry, my dear child, Elizabeth is a kinder soul, and will not be so harsh as Henry, I am certain. Do not concern yourself about a single thing,” I tried to cheer the creature up, and he gave me the best half-smile he could in response, and a nearly inaudible grunt. I smiled, “For now, we should give you a name, shouldn’t we? In this world half an hour already, and all you’ve been called is ‘fiend’ and ‘beast.’ Why don’t we name you Felix, for luck?” The delight on his face was easy to see, as he was taken by his new name immediately.

From then on every time I called, “Felix!” he would turn and listen. He soon proved to possess an unbelievable learning curve, picking up directions quickly and showing a great fascination with language and literature. He was simple minded; he took everything he read or heard for a fact, and it took great persuasion to break him of this idea, of his fears of giant reptiles roaming the Earth and pirates ready to ransack the port at any moment. He grew to where his speech was of equal diction to mine, though it maintained the innocence and inarticulateness of its age, as it was tested only by conversing with me and no others. After three months, and several dreadfully worried letters from Elizabeth and father, Felix and I hastened home.

Author's Note

The opening quotes are from the first two paragraphs of Shelley's Chapter 5. Any chapter numbers line up with the chapters the events correspond to in the book, that's why they jump around a lot.