“What do you mean?What do you demand of your captain?Are you, then, so easily turned from your design?Did you not call this a glorious expedition?“And wherefore was it glorious?Not because the way was smooth and placid as a southern sea,but because it was full of dangers and terror,because at every new incident your fortitude was to be called forth and your courage exhibited, because danger and death surrounded it, and these you were to brave and overcome. For this was it a glorious, for this was it an honourable undertaking. You were hereafter to be hailed as the benefactors of your species, your names adored as belonging to brave men who encountered death for honour and the benefit of mankind. And now, behold, with the first imagination of danger, or, if you will, the first mighty and terrific trial of your courage, you shrink away and are content to be handed down as men who had not strength enough to endure cold and peril; and so, poor souls, they were chilly and returned to their warm firesides. Why, that requires not this preparation; ye need not have come thus far and dragged your captain to the shame of a defeat merely to prove yourselves cowards. Oh!Be men, or be more than men.Be steady to your purposes and firm as a rock.This ice is not made of such stuff as your hearts may be;it is mutable and cannot withstand you if you say that it shall not.Do not return to your families with the stigma of disgrace marked on your brows. Return as heroes who have fought and conquered and who know not what it is to turn their backs on the foe.”
He spoke this with a voice so modulated to the different feelings expressed in his speech, with an eye so full of lofty design and heroism, that can you wonder that these men were moved?They looked at one another and were unable to reply.I spoke; I told them to retire and consider of what had been said,that I would not lead them farther north if they strenuously desired the contrary, but that I hoped that, with reflection, their courage would return.
They retired and I turned towards my friend,but he was sunk in languor and almost deprived of life.
How all this will terminate, I know not,but I had rather die than return shamefully,my purpose unfulfilled.Yet I fear such will be my fate; the men,unsupported by ideas of glory and honour,can never willingly continue to endure their present hardships.
September 7th.
The die is cast; I have consented to return if we are not destroyed.Thus are my hopes blasted by cowardice and indecision;I come back ignorant and disappointed.It requires more philosophy than I possess to bear this injustice with patience.
September 12th.
It is past; I am returning to England.I have lost my hopes of utility and glory;I have lost my friend.But I will endeavour to detail these bitter circumstances to you,my dear sister; and while I am wafted towards England and towards you, I will not despond.
September 9th, the ice began to move,and roarings like thunder were heard at a distance as the islands split and cracked in every direction. We were in the most imminent peril, but as we could only remain passive, my chief attention was occupied by my unfortunate guest whose illness increased in such a degree that he was entirely confined to his bed. The ice cracked behind us and was driven with force towards the north; a breeze sprang from the west, and on the 11th the passage towards the south became perfectly free. When the sailors saw this and that their return to their native country was apparently assured, a shout of tumultuous joy broke from them, loud and long-continued. Frankenstein, who was dozing, awoke and asked the cause of the tumult. “They shout,” I said, “because they will soon return to England.”
“Do you, then, really return?”
“Alas!Yes; I cannot withstand their demands.I cannot lead them unwillingly to danger, and I must return.”
“Do so, if you will; but I will not.You may give up your purpose,but mine is assigned to me by Heaven, and I dare not.I am weak, but surely the spirits who assist my vengeance will endow me with sufficient strength.” Saying this, he endeavoured to spring from the bed, but the exertion was too great for him; he fell back and fainted.
It was long before he was restored,and I often thought that life was entirely extinct.At length he opened his eyes;he breathed with difficulty and was unable to speak.The surgeon gave him a composing draught and ordered us to leave him undisturbed. In the meantime he told me that my friend had certainly not many hours to live.
His sentence was pronounced,and I could only grieve and be patient.I sat by his bed, watching him; his eyes were closed,and I thought he slept;but presently he called to me in a feeble voice,and bidding me come near, said, “Alas!The strength I relied on is gone;I feel that I shall soon die, and he,my enemy and persecutor, may still be in being.Think not, Walton, that in the last moments of my existence I feel that burning hatred and ardent desire of revenge I once expressed; but I feel myself justified in desiring the death of my adversary. During these last days I have been occupied in examining my past conduct; nor do I find it blamable. In a fit of enthusiastic madness I created a rational creature and was bound towards him to assure, as far as was in my power, his happiness and well-being. This was my duty, but there was another still paramount to that. My duties towards the beings of my own species had greater claims to my attention because they included a greater proportion of happiness or misery. Urged by this view, I refused, and I did right in refusing, to create a companion for the first creature. He showed unparalleled malignity and selfishness in evil; he destroyed my friends; he devoted to destruction beings who possessed exquisite sensations, happiness, and wisdom; nor do I know where this thirst for vengeance may end. Miserable himself that he may render no other wretched, he ought to die. The task of his destruction was mine, but I have failed. When actuated by selfish and vicious motives, I asked you to undertake my unfinished work, and I renew this request now, when I am only induced by reason and virtue.
“Yet I cannot ask you to renounce your country and friends to fulfil this task;and now that you are returning to England,you will have little chance of meeting with him.But the consideration of these points,and the well balancing of what you may esteem your duties,I leave to you; my judgment and ideas are already disturbed by the near approach of death. I dare not ask you to do what I think right, for I may still be misled by passion.
“That he should live to be an instrument of mischief disturbs me;in other respects, this hour,when I momentarily expect my release,is the only happy one which I have enjoyed for several years.The forms of the beloved dead flit before me,and I hasten to their arms. Farewell, Walton!Seek happiness in tranquillity and avoid ambition,even if it be only the apparently innocent one of distinguishing yourself in science and discoveries. Yet why do I say this?I have myself been blasted in these hopes,yet another may succeed.”
His voice became fainter as he spoke, and at length,exhausted by his effort, he sank into silence.About half an hour afterwards he attempted again to speak but was unable;he pressed my hand feebly,and his eyes closed for ever,while the irradiation of a gentle smile passed away from his lips.
Margaret, what comment can I make on the untimely extinction of this glorious spirit?What can I say that will enable you to understand the depth of my sorrow?All that I should express would be inadequate and feeble.My tears flow; my mind is overshadowed by a cloud of disappointment.But I journey towards England,and I may there find consolation.