Manuscript of Frankenstein: TEI Transcription

Images

Transcription

A scan of a handwritten document written by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley. This scan depicts Folio 21r of Notebook A, one of two notebooks in which the author drafted the two-volume version of Frankenstein. This page in the notebook indicates the start of the seventh chapter in this draft of the novel, where Victor Frankenstein beholds his completed creature for the first time.
75 21

Chapter 7th

It was on a dreary night of November
that I beheld the frame on whic my man completeated., And
with an anxiety that almost amount
ed to agony I collected instruments of life
around me and endeavour to that I might e infuse a
spark of being into the lifeless thinkg
that lay at my feet. It was already
one in the morning, the rain pattered
dismally against the window panes, &
my candle was nearly burnt out, when
by the glimmer of the half extinguish
ed light I saw the dull yellow eye of
the creature open. —It breathed hard,
and a convulsive motion agitated
its limbs.

But how How can I describe my
emotion at this catastrophe; or how deli
neate the wretch whom with such
infinite pains and care I had endeavoured
to form. His limbs were in proportion
and I had selected his features h as
handsome handsome beautiful. Handsome Beautiful; Great God! His
dun yellow skin scarcely covered the work of
muscles and arteries beneath; his hair
was of a lustrous black & flowing and his teeth of a pearly white
ness but these luxuriancies only fomed
formed a more horrid contrast with his watry eyes that seemed almost of
the same colour as the dun white
sockets in which they were set,

A scan of a handwritten document written by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley. This scan depicts Folio 21v of Notebook A, one of two notebooks in which the author drafted the two-volume version of Frankenstein. This page in the notebook continues the seventh chapter in this draft of the novel, where Victor Frankenstein beholds his completed creature for the first time.
76

his shrivelled complexion and strait
black lips.

The different accidents of life are
not so changeable as the feelings of hu
man nature. I had worked hard for
nearly two years for the sole purpose
of infusing h life into an inanimate
body. For this I had deprived myself of
rest and heath health. I had desired
it with an ardour that far exceeded
moderation; but now that I had succeed
ed these dreams vanished and breathless
horror and disgust filled my heart.
Unable to endure the aspect of the creaturebeing I
had created, I rushed out of the room and
remainedcontinued a long time traversing my
bed chamber unable to compose my
mind to sleep. At length sllassitude
succeeded to the tumult I had before
endured, and I threw myself on my
bed in my clothes endeavouring to seek
a feew few moments of forgetfullness.
But it was in vain; I slept indeed but
I was disturbed by the wildest dreams --
I saw Elisabeth in the bloom of health walking in the streets of
Ingolstadt; delighted & surprised I embraced
her but as I imprinted the first kiss
on her lips they became lurid with
the hue of death; her features appeared