WEBVTT

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Welcome, everyone. Or rather, welcome to you,

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the learner, sitting right there tuning in for

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another journey. We are we're incredibly thrilled

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you could join us today. We really are. Because

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we have a deep dive that is entirely custom tailored

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just for you. Today, we're cracking open a sack

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of text that you might think you know. But I

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promise you, you don't. Exactly. We are looking

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straight at the original source material of Mary

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Shelley's Frankenstein or The Modern Prometheus.

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Specifically, we're going to be exploring the

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opening frame narrative, those first four letters,

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and then the first 15 chapters of the novel.

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And it's, wow, it is a dense, wild ride. It is

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a remarkable piece of literature. And what we

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are going to do today is fundamentally shift

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how you view this story. Because we have to strip

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away the Hollywood mythos, right? Completely.

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Forget the green skin. Forget the... bolts in

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the neck, the grunting monster with his arms

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out, right, or the lightning striking the gothic

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castle tower. None of that is in here. It's just

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not. Instead, we're going to look at the deeply

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psychological, profoundly philosophical text

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that Mary Shelley actually wrote when she was

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just a teenager, which is still mind blowing

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to me. It's a story about unchecked ambition,

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the devastating consequences of abandonment and

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fundamentally what it really means to be human.

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OK, let's unpack this because to get to the real

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story. We actually don't start with a mad scientist

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in a laboratory. We don't. We don't even start

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with Victor Frankenstein at all. The very first

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page places us somewhere completely unexpected.

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Right in the middle of the ice. Yes. We start

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on a ship trapped in the freezing, impenetrable

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ice of the Arctic with a man named Captain Robert

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Walton. And he's writing these letters back to

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his sister in England, Margaret Savelle. Why

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do we start at the North Pole, of all places?

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I mean, it seems so disconnected. Well, Walton

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is our entry point. He's our frame narrative,

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and he is absolutely crucial for understanding

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the tragedy that follows. How so? Mary Shelley

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uses Walton to mirror Victor Frankenstein in

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incredibly specific ways. Walton is a man totally

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consumed by ambition. He's leading this incredibly

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dangerous expedition to the North Pole in the

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1700s. And you have to remember the context of

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the era there. The North Pole was a total blank

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space on the map. It was the ultimate frontier.

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Right, the edge of the world. Walton is seeking

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a northern passage to the Pacific, but he also

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says he wants to discover the secret of the magnet.

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The secret of the magnet. What exactly was he

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looking for there? In the 18th century, magnetism

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and polar forces were major scientific mysteries.

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Walton believes that by reaching the North Pole,

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he will uncover fundamental laws of physics that

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govern the Earth. He tells his sister that these

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enticements are sufficient to conquer all fear

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of danger or death. He's entirely willing to

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risk his own life. And the lives of his entire

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crew. Yes, for the sake of glory and scientific

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knowledge. He wants to confer an inestimable

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benefit on all mankind to the last generation.

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But beneath all that grand ambition, he's also

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incredibly lonely. Deeply lonely. That's the

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part that really struck me in his second letter.

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He writes to his sister, I have one want. which

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I have never yet been able to satisfy. I have

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no friend, Margaret. Even though he's the captain

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of a ship. Exactly. He's surrounded by a crew,

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but he feels entirely isolated because he wants

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someone whose, and this is a quote, eyes would

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reply to mine. He's desperate for an intellectual

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equal. Someone to really see him. Precisely.

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He needs someone who understands his driving,

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obsessive passion, but who could also ground

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him. perhaps point out when his ambition is clouding

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his judgment. He gives us this extensive backstory,

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right, about his neglected education. How he

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ran wild in his Uncle Thomas's library reading

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histories of voyages. How he tried to be a famous

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poet for a year and failed miserably. And how

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he has now dedicated six years of his life to

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this one icy expedition. That loneliness is a

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foundational theme of the entire text. Every

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major character we will meet is defined by their

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profound isolation. So Walton is in this state

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of high ambition and deep aching loneliness when

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the ship gets completely surrounded by ice. They're

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totally stuck. A thick fog rolls in over the

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frozen sea. And when it finally clears, the crew

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see something impossible. At a distance of about

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half a mile out on the ice, they see a dog sled

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heading north. And it's being driven by a being

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which has the shape of a man but is of gigantic

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stature. A truly surreal image. The crew watches

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this gigantic figure disappear into the distance

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across the uneven ice. But the very next morning

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the ice breaks up a bit and they find another

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dog sled drifting toward them on a loose fragment

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of ice. Only one dog is alive. and inside the

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sledge is a European man. He is practically frozen

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to death. Dreadfully emaciated, and clearly on

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the brink of absolute physical collapse. And

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this guy, before he even agrees to be rescued,

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asks Walton a question. Which is wild. He's freezing

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to death, Walton is offering him a warm ship,

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and the guy croaks out, wither are you bound?

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Like I won't get on your ship to save my own

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life unless you're going the right way. It's

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an astonishing moment of stubbornness. It immediately

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tells you who this man is. When Walton says they

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are on a voyage of discovery toward the northern

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pole, the stranger finally agrees to be brought

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aboard. And this rescued man is, of course. Victor

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Frankenstein. Over the next few days, as Victor

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slowly recovers from his exposure to the elements,

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Walton finds exactly what he was looking for

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in the Arctic wasteland. A friend. Walton is

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completely captivated by him. He describes Victor

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as a noble creature whose eyes light up with

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benevolence. Even though Victor is clearly crushed

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by some unimaginable weight of woe. He's melancholy,

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he's destroyed, but there's this lingering greatness

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to him. And this leads to a pivotal exchange

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between the two men. Right, because Walton ends

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up confessing his own burning ambition to Victor.

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He tells him how gladly he would sacrifice his

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fortune, his existence, his every hope for this

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polar enterprise. He actually says that one man's

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life or death is a small price to pay for the

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acquirement of the knowledge he seeks. If we

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connect this to the bigger picture, Victor's

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reaction to Walden's speech is the catalyst for

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the entire novel. Because he totally loses it.

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When Walden says a human life is a small price

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to pay for knowledge, Victor has a massive physical

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and emotional reaction. He covers his face with

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his hands, burst into tears and groans in agony.

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He looks at Walden and cries out, unhappy man,

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do you share my madness? Have you drunk also

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of the intoxicating draft? Hear me, let me reveal

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my tale and you will dash the cup from your lips.

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I want you, the listener, to just pause and think

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about a time in your life when you were completely

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obsessed with a goal. A career milestone, maybe?

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Or a massive project, a relationship. A time

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when you wanted something so intensely that you

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developed absolute tunnel vision. You lost sight

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of everything else around you. Your health, your

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family, your normal ethical boundaries all faded

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into the background. That blinding, all -consuming

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obsession is the core of what Victor recognizes

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in Walton. Victor sees himself in this young,

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ambitious captain. He sees the exact same hubris.

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The exact same dangerous obsession with pushing

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the boundaries of human limits, regardless of

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the collateral damage. Victor realizes that Walton

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is walking the exact same path to destruction

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that he just survived or rather fade to survive.

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He decides to tell his life story not to entertain

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Walton, not to pass the time on a frozen ship,

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but as a dire warning to save Walton's soul.

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And with that, we transition directly into Victor's

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backstory. Chapters one through four trace his

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journey. From an incredibly idyllic privileged

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childhood in Geneva to his obsessive dark days

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at the university in Ingolstadt. And to really

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grasp the depth of his eventual fall, we have

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to look at how high he started. Who are these

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people he comes from? What was his family like?

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His family life is almost aggressively perfect.

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It's steeped in the high society and Republican

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values of Geneva. His father, Alphonse Frankenstein,

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is his deeply respected, wealthy public official.

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He spent his younger days entirely devoted to

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the affairs of his country. His mother, Caroline

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Buford, actually has a rather tragic backstory

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that Alphonse rescued her from, didn't she? She

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did. Her father was a close friend of Alphonse's,

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a merchant who fell into disastrous debt, lost

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all his money, and retreated to live in wretched

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poverty. Caroline nursed her father until he

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died in her arms. And Alphonse steps in right

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after the funeral. He comes in like a protecting

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spirit, rescues Caroline from her poverty, and

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two years later, they marry. And when Victor

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is born, they just absolutely dote on him. Victor

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describes his childhood by saying he was their

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plaything and their idol. The child of their

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deepest love. But the family dynamic gets really

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interesting and maybe a little strange when we

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look at the adoption of Elizabeth Levenza. How

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does she enter the picture? Victor's parents

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are visiting the shores of the Lake of Como in

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Italy. Caroline has a habit of visiting the cottages

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of the poor out of benevolence, remembering her

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own time in poverty. In one of these cottages,

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they find a child living with a peasant family

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who looks entirely different from the rest. This

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is Elizabeth. She's the daughter of a Milanese

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nobleman whose property was confiscated. He either

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died or was imprisoned. His fate is a bit vague.

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But Mary Shelley describes Elizabeth in these

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almost ethereal, otherworldly terms. She has

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the brightest living gold hair. cloudless blue

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eyes, and is presented as a distinct species,

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almost heaven -sent. The way Caroline, Victor's

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mother, introduces Elizabeth to young Victor

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is so eerie. Very unsettling. She brings this

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little girl into the house and tells Victor,

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I have a pretty present for my Victor. Tomorrow

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he shall have it. And Victor, being a child,

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takes this completely literally. He says he interpreted

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her words literally and looked upon Elizabeth

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as, quote, mine to protect, love, and cherish.

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He essentially views another human being as a

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prized possession. That sense of possession,

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of owning another being, heavily foreshadows

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his later attitude toward the creature he builds.

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It definitely does. He and Elizabeth grow up

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together in perfect harmony, but their minds

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are a fascinating study in contrasts. Elizabeth

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is drawn to the poetry of the world, the appearance

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of things. The majestic alpine scenery around

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their home in Switzerland. She finds ample scope

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for admiration and delight in the natural beauty

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of the world. Victor, on the other hand, is driven

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by a fierce desire to investigate the causes

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of things. He wants to know the hidden laws of

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nature. He wants to know how the world works

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underneath the surface. And then you add his

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childhood best friend into the mix, Henry Clerval.

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Henry is a completely different archetype. He

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is all about chivalry. Romance, heroic songs,

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the writing of plays, and the moral relations

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of things. So you have Elizabeth representing

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the aesthetic beauty of nature. Henry representing

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the moral and heroic side of humanity. And Victor

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just relentlessly obsessed with the physical

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secrets of heaven and earth. And Victor's obsession

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takes a very weird turn when he's 13 years old.

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The family is stuck inside an inn near the baths

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of Thunon during a rainstorm. And Victor picks

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up a book by a man named Cornelius Agrippa. This

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is a critical juncture. Cornelius Agrippa, along

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with Paracelsus and Albertus Magnus, whom Victor

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also begins to read avidly, were not modern scientists.

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They were alchemists from the Renaissance. Correct.

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What exactly did alchemists believe they could

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do? We hear that term a lot, but what were they

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actually trying to achieve? Alchemy was a philosophical

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and proto -scientific tradition. They pursued

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what we would consider impossible, almost magical

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dreams. Yeah, like turning base metals into gold.

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Exactly. The Philosopher's Stone. And the Elixir

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of Life to cure all diseases and grant immortality.

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They even pursued methods for raising ghosts

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or devils. They were deeply mystical. Victor

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takes this discovery of Agrippa to his father,

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eager to share his excitement. But Alphonse carelessly

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glances at the title page and simply says, ah.

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Cornelius Agrippa, my dear Victor, do not waste

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your time upon this. It is sad trash. But the

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fatal mistake is that Alphonse doesn't explain

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why it's trash. He misses the teaching moment

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entirely. He doesn't sit his son down and say,

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look, these guys lived hundreds of years ago.

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Their theories have been completely debunked

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by the scientific method. And this isn't real

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physics. So Victor, feeling dismissed, just keeps

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reading them in secret. He becomes totally captivated

00:12:29.679 --> 00:12:32.419
by the idea of attaining glory, by banishing

00:12:32.419 --> 00:12:35.200
disease from the human frame, and rendering man

00:12:35.200 --> 00:12:38.240
invulnerable to any but a violent death. He essentially

00:12:38.240 --> 00:12:40.279
wants to become a god. But then, when he's about

00:12:40.279 --> 00:12:43.440
15, reality forcefully intrudes on his mystical

00:12:43.440 --> 00:12:46.639
reading. There's this massive terrifying thunderstorm

00:12:46.639 --> 00:12:49.080
at their summer house near Belle Reve. It is

00:12:49.080 --> 00:12:52.259
a profound destructive display of nature. During

00:12:52.259 --> 00:12:55.590
the storm, Victor watches a stream of fire completely

00:12:55.590 --> 00:12:58.529
obliterate an old, beautiful oak tree near their

00:12:58.529 --> 00:13:00.850
house. When the lightning flashes and the smoke

00:13:00.850 --> 00:13:03.909
clears, nothing is left but a blasted, shattered

00:13:03.909 --> 00:13:06.889
stump reduced to thin ribbons of wood. The sheer

00:13:06.889 --> 00:13:09.450
violence of it is shocking. A guest of the family

00:13:09.450 --> 00:13:11.889
who happens to be there uses this occasion to

00:13:11.889 --> 00:13:14.470
explain the modern laws of electricity and galvanism

00:13:14.470 --> 00:13:17.879
to Victor. Galvanism. I know that word is deeply

00:13:17.879 --> 00:13:20.360
tied to the Frankenstein myth, but for the listener

00:13:20.360 --> 00:13:22.679
who might not be familiar with 18th century science,

00:13:22.940 --> 00:13:24.840
what exactly was Galvanism and why did it blow

00:13:24.840 --> 00:13:27.419
Victor's mind so completely? Galvanism was a

00:13:27.419 --> 00:13:30.340
very real, very sensational scientific theory

00:13:30.340 --> 00:13:33.080
in Mary Shelley's time, pioneered by an Italian

00:13:33.080 --> 00:13:36.090
scientist named Luigi Galvani. Okay. Galvani

00:13:36.090 --> 00:13:37.870
discovered that if you applied an electrical

00:13:37.870 --> 00:13:41.169
current to the severed legs of a frog, the muscles

00:13:41.169 --> 00:13:43.730
would violently twitch and convulse as if the

00:13:43.730 --> 00:13:46.610
frog were alive. That sounds disturbing. It was.

00:13:46.970 --> 00:13:49.789
In the late 1700s and early 1800s, this led to

00:13:49.789 --> 00:13:52.450
a widespread scientific and public fascination

00:13:52.450 --> 00:13:55.210
with the idea that electricity might actually

00:13:55.210 --> 00:13:57.909
be the fundamental spark of life itself. So people

00:13:57.909 --> 00:14:01.090
thought electricity was literally life. Scientists

00:14:01.090 --> 00:14:03.549
were literally touring Europe, hooking primitive

00:14:03.549 --> 00:14:06.190
batteries up to the corpses of executed chronicles,

00:14:06.370 --> 00:14:08.450
causing their limbs to thrash and their eyes

00:14:08.450 --> 00:14:11.509
to open. Wow. It was horrifying, but he convinced

00:14:11.509 --> 00:14:13.529
many that the boundary between life and death

00:14:13.529 --> 00:14:16.269
was merely a matter of electrical current. So

00:14:16.269 --> 00:14:18.629
Victor sees this lightning obliterated tree.

00:14:19.039 --> 00:14:21.899
learns about electricity and galvanism, and this

00:14:21.899 --> 00:14:25.659
sudden display of immense real -world power completely

00:14:25.659 --> 00:14:28.179
shatters his faith in his old alchemists. For

00:14:28.179 --> 00:14:30.539
a while, he abandons natural history entirely.

00:14:30.840 --> 00:14:33.360
He views it as a deformed and abortive creation.

00:14:33.419 --> 00:14:35.580
And he turns to mathematics instead, because

00:14:35.580 --> 00:14:38.399
math is built upon secure, rational foundations.

00:14:38.799 --> 00:14:41.460
He later calls that shift to mathematics the

00:14:41.460 --> 00:14:44.159
last effort made by the spirit of preservation

00:14:44.159 --> 00:14:47.580
to avert the storm that was even then hanging

00:14:47.580 --> 00:14:50.720
in the stars. He recognizes in hindsight that

00:14:50.720 --> 00:14:53.080
his brief interest in math was his mind trying

00:14:53.080 --> 00:14:55.879
to protect him from the dangerous path of biology

00:14:55.879 --> 00:14:57.960
and chemistry. But of course, the preservation

00:14:57.960 --> 00:15:01.980
doesn't last. At 17, he is set to leave Geneva

00:15:01.980 --> 00:15:04.919
for the University of Ingolstadt in Germany to

00:15:04.919 --> 00:15:07.360
broaden his education. But right before he is

00:15:07.360 --> 00:15:10.179
scheduled to leave, tragedy strikes the Frankenstein

00:15:10.179 --> 00:15:12.679
household. Elizabeth catches scarlet fever. She

00:15:12.679 --> 00:15:15.820
is deathly ill. Caroline, Victor's mother, absolutely

00:15:15.820 --> 00:15:18.879
refuses to stay away. She insists on nursing

00:15:18.879 --> 00:15:21.580
Elizabeth herself. And she succeeds. Elizabeth

00:15:21.580 --> 00:15:24.940
is saved. But the cost is devastating. Caroline

00:15:24.940 --> 00:15:27.320
catches the fever herself, and within days, she

00:15:27.320 --> 00:15:29.860
is on her deathbed. Her dying wish, as she holds

00:15:29.860 --> 00:15:32.240
Victor and Elizabeth's hands, is for the two

00:15:32.240 --> 00:15:34.580
of them to eventually marry and to act as parents

00:15:34.580 --> 00:15:36.860
to the younger children. She dies calmly, leaving

00:15:36.860 --> 00:15:39.799
the family in ruins. It's Victor's first... deeply

00:15:39.799 --> 00:15:42.820
personal encounter with the irreparable permanent

00:15:42.820 --> 00:15:45.639
void of death. This trauma delays his departure

00:15:45.639 --> 00:15:48.139
for university, but eventually he arrives at

00:15:48.139 --> 00:15:50.820
Ingolstadt. For the first time in his life, he

00:15:50.820 --> 00:15:53.740
is completely alone, removed from the protecting

00:15:53.740 --> 00:15:55.980
sphere of his family, having to form his own

00:15:55.980 --> 00:15:58.659
connections. And almost immediately, he meets

00:15:58.659 --> 00:16:01.460
two professors of natural philosophy who will

00:16:01.460 --> 00:16:04.919
inadvertently seal his fate. The first is M.

00:16:05.019 --> 00:16:08.009
Kremp. Victor really does not like Kremp. Kramp

00:16:08.009 --> 00:16:10.629
is described as a squat man with a gruff voice

00:16:10.629 --> 00:16:13.629
and a repulsive countenance. When Victor tells

00:16:13.629 --> 00:16:16.750
him what he's been reading, Agrippa, Paracelsus

00:16:16.750 --> 00:16:19.330
Kramp, is absolutely appalled. He stares at him

00:16:19.330 --> 00:16:21.529
and tells Victor he has burdened his memory with

00:16:21.529 --> 00:16:24.750
exploded systems and useless names. He says Victor

00:16:24.750 --> 00:16:27.450
must begin his studies entirely anew and gives

00:16:27.450 --> 00:16:29.850
him a list of modern scientific books. Crimp

00:16:29.850 --> 00:16:32.809
represents the harsh, unromantic reality of modern

00:16:32.809 --> 00:16:35.769
science, which Victor finds deeply uninspiring.

00:16:35.929 --> 00:16:38.070
But then Victor attends a lecture by the other

00:16:38.070 --> 00:16:40.850
professor, M. Waldman. And Waldman is entirely

00:16:40.850 --> 00:16:43.529
different. He is benevolent, he has a sweet,

00:16:43.690 --> 00:16:46.070
engaging voice, and he gives this incredibly

00:16:46.070 --> 00:16:48.470
passionate lecture on the history and future

00:16:48.470 --> 00:16:51.299
of chemistry. Waldman's speech is essentially

00:16:51.299 --> 00:16:54.259
the fatal match that lights the powder keg in

00:16:54.259 --> 00:16:57.360
Victor's mind. Waldman compares the ancient alchemists

00:16:57.360 --> 00:17:00.460
with modern scientists. He admits that the ancients

00:17:00.460 --> 00:17:03.940
promised impossibilities, immortality, unlimited

00:17:03.940 --> 00:17:06.849
power, and performed nothing. But the modern

00:17:06.849 --> 00:17:09.369
masters, Waldman says, though they seem to just

00:17:09.369 --> 00:17:11.730
dabble in dirt and pour over microscopes, have

00:17:11.730 --> 00:17:14.509
indeed performed miracles. He tells the students,

00:17:15.170 --> 00:17:17.589
they penetrate into the recesses of nature and

00:17:17.589 --> 00:17:19.829
show how she works in her hiding places. They

00:17:19.829 --> 00:17:22.230
can command the thunders of heaven, mimic the

00:17:22.230 --> 00:17:24.210
earthquake and even mock the invisible world

00:17:24.210 --> 00:17:26.910
with its own shadows. It is a speech that validates

00:17:26.910 --> 00:17:29.150
all of Victor's childhood desires for godlike

00:17:29.150 --> 00:17:31.869
power, but dresses them up in the legitimate

00:17:31.869 --> 00:17:34.769
methodology of modern science. Victor hears that.

00:17:34.859 --> 00:17:37.880
and his soul basically catches on fire. He says,

00:17:38.519 --> 00:17:41.599
so much has been done. More, far more will I

00:17:41.599 --> 00:17:44.440
achieve. He visits Waldman privately. Waldman

00:17:44.440 --> 00:17:46.819
takes him under his wing, shows him his own laboratory,

00:17:47.380 --> 00:17:49.460
and tells Victor that chemistry is that branch

00:17:49.460 --> 00:17:51.960
of natural philosophy in which the greatest improvements

00:17:51.960 --> 00:17:54.460
are to be made. From that day forward, Victor

00:17:54.460 --> 00:17:57.009
is completely lost to his obsession. He becomes

00:17:57.009 --> 00:18:00.750
consumed. He spends two uninterrupted years in

00:18:00.750 --> 00:18:03.630
Ingolstadt without returning to Geneva a single

00:18:03.630 --> 00:18:06.369
time to see his grieving family. He makes brilliant

00:18:06.369 --> 00:18:08.609
discoveries in the improvement of chemical instruments.

00:18:09.089 --> 00:18:11.009
He gains the admiration of all the professors.

00:18:11.289 --> 00:18:13.809
He's a prodigy. But he pushes further. He decides

00:18:13.809 --> 00:18:15.849
he wants to investigate the principle of life

00:18:15.849 --> 00:18:19.329
itself. And to do that, he realizes he must first

00:18:19.329 --> 00:18:22.299
deeply study death. This is where the narrative

00:18:22.299 --> 00:18:25.599
plunges into absolute darkness. Victor notes

00:18:25.599 --> 00:18:28.400
that he has no supernatural fears. He doesn't

00:18:28.400 --> 00:18:31.019
care about ghosts and darkness has no effect

00:18:31.019 --> 00:18:33.720
on his imagination. A churchyard to him is simply

00:18:33.720 --> 00:18:36.519
a receptacle for bodies deprived of life. So

00:18:36.519 --> 00:18:39.019
he begins to spend his days and nights in vaults

00:18:39.019 --> 00:18:41.039
in charnel houses. I think we need to talk about

00:18:41.039 --> 00:18:42.960
what that actually meant in the context of the

00:18:42.960 --> 00:18:45.500
early 19th century. A charnel house wasn't just

00:18:45.500 --> 00:18:48.019
a quiet graveyard. No, it wasn't. These were

00:18:48.019 --> 00:18:50.539
places where bones and decaying bodies were stored.

00:18:50.480 --> 00:18:53.700
and Victor isn't just looking at them, he's actively

00:18:53.700 --> 00:18:56.819
dissecting them. He is engaging in the morbid,

00:18:57.039 --> 00:19:00.099
illegal, and highly dangerous practice of grave

00:19:00.099 --> 00:19:02.670
robbing. He is isolating himself with the dead,

00:19:02.970 --> 00:19:05.529
breathing in the stench of decay. He spends time

00:19:05.529 --> 00:19:08.490
in dissecting rooms and slaughterhouses. He forces

00:19:08.490 --> 00:19:11.569
himself to watch the fine form of man degrade

00:19:11.569 --> 00:19:14.630
and waste away, to watch worms inherit the wonders

00:19:14.630 --> 00:19:17.009
of the eye and brain. He is systematically breaking

00:19:17.009 --> 00:19:20.109
down his own natural human empathy and revulsion.

00:19:20.269 --> 00:19:22.150
And suddenly, from the midst of this darkness,

00:19:22.529 --> 00:19:25.009
after days and nights of incredible labor and

00:19:25.009 --> 00:19:27.809
fatigue, a brilliant light breaks in upon his

00:19:27.809 --> 00:19:32.049
mind. He discovers the cause of genera - He realizes

00:19:32.049 --> 00:19:35.049
he has the power to bestow animation upon lifeless

00:19:35.049 --> 00:19:37.730
matter. It is the ultimate scientific breakthrough.

00:19:38.329 --> 00:19:41.190
He possesses the secret of life. But think about

00:19:41.190 --> 00:19:42.829
what he does with it. He doesn't write a paper.

00:19:42.950 --> 00:19:45.069
He doesn't share this monumental discovery with

00:19:45.069 --> 00:19:47.309
the scientific community or his mentors. He hoards

00:19:47.309 --> 00:19:50.170
it. He decides, in total secrecy, to create a

00:19:50.170 --> 00:19:52.869
human being. And because working on minute human

00:19:52.869 --> 00:19:56.210
parts, the tiny veins, the complex muscles, is

00:19:56.210 --> 00:19:58.630
too difficult and time consuming, he makes a

00:19:58.630 --> 00:20:01.450
highly practical yet deeply disturbing decision.

00:20:01.789 --> 00:20:03.890
He decides to make the creature gigantic, about

00:20:03.890 --> 00:20:06.829
eight feet tall. It is an act of pure hubris.

00:20:07.369 --> 00:20:10.190
He isolates himself in a solitary chamber or

00:20:10.190 --> 00:20:13.069
rather a cell at the top of the house, separated

00:20:13.069 --> 00:20:15.569
from all the other apartments by a gallery and

00:20:15.569 --> 00:20:18.450
staircase. He refers to it as his workshop of

00:20:18.450 --> 00:20:20.890
filthy creation. He completely stops writing

00:20:20.890 --> 00:20:23.730
to his family. His father notices the silence

00:20:23.730 --> 00:20:26.789
and writes letters expressing deep worry. Victor

00:20:26.789 --> 00:20:30.150
knows he is causing his family pain, but he justifies

00:20:30.150 --> 00:20:33.269
it because... He is convinced he is working on

00:20:33.269 --> 00:20:35.609
a transcendent masterpiece. I want to use an

00:20:35.609 --> 00:20:37.670
analogy here for those listening, because Victor's

00:20:37.670 --> 00:20:40.309
mindset feels incredibly relevant today. Think

00:20:40.309 --> 00:20:43.089
about Victor's lab work, like a modern tech founder

00:20:43.089 --> 00:20:45.390
pulling months of all -nighters in a garage.

00:20:45.690 --> 00:20:48.670
Fueled by energy drinks, coding an incredibly

00:20:48.670 --> 00:20:51.809
powerful, totally unregulated artificial intelligence.

00:20:51.930 --> 00:20:54.069
They are so caught up in the intellectual puzzle

00:20:54.069 --> 00:20:56.690
of can we do it, that they never once stopped

00:20:56.690 --> 00:20:59.470
to ask the ethical question, should we do it?

00:20:59.579 --> 00:21:02.720
They are completely blind to the societal implications

00:21:02.720 --> 00:21:04.720
of what they are building. Victor gets a slow

00:21:04.720 --> 00:21:07.480
fever. He becomes emaciated. He jumps when a

00:21:07.480 --> 00:21:10.180
leaf falls outside his window. All while he is

00:21:10.180 --> 00:21:12.460
dabbling among the unhallowed damps of the grave

00:21:12.460 --> 00:21:15.559
to build this new species. His motivation reveals

00:21:15.559 --> 00:21:18.940
his deep narcissism. He explicitly states his

00:21:18.940 --> 00:21:21.859
belief that a new species would bless him as

00:21:21.859 --> 00:21:25.039
its creator and source. He says, no father could

00:21:25.039 --> 00:21:27.500
claim the gratitude of his child so completely

00:21:27.500 --> 00:21:30.259
as I should deserve theirs. He doesn't want to

00:21:30.259 --> 00:21:32.059
be a scientist. He wants to be worshipped as

00:21:32.059 --> 00:21:35.160
a god by an entire race of beings. And that brings

00:21:35.160 --> 00:21:38.519
us to the climax of his ambition and his immediate

00:21:38.519 --> 00:21:41.559
spectacular psychological collapse in Chapter

00:21:41.559 --> 00:21:44.599
5. The November night. It's arguably the most

00:21:44.599 --> 00:21:46.900
famous scene in all of literature. Let's set

00:21:46.900 --> 00:21:49.119
the scene exactly as Mary Shelley wrote it. It

00:21:49.119 --> 00:21:51.500
is one in the morning. It is a dreary night in

00:21:51.500 --> 00:21:53.759
November. The rain is pattering dismally against

00:21:53.759 --> 00:21:56.579
the window panes of his high up cell. Victor's

00:21:56.579 --> 00:21:58.759
candle is nearly burnt out. He has collected

00:21:58.759 --> 00:22:01.220
the instruments of life around him to infuse

00:22:01.220 --> 00:22:03.519
a spark of being into the lifeless eight foot

00:22:03.519 --> 00:22:06.720
thing lying at his feet. And by the dim flickering

00:22:06.720 --> 00:22:09.380
glimmer of the dying light, he sees the dull

00:22:09.380 --> 00:22:11.759
yellow eye of the creature open. It breathes

00:22:11.759 --> 00:22:14.599
hard. A convulsive motion agitates its limbs.

00:22:14.720 --> 00:22:18.180
The creature is alive. And instantly, in a fraction

00:22:18.180 --> 00:22:21.140
of a second, the grand illusion shatters. The

00:22:21.140 --> 00:22:23.700
contrast between Victor's two -year dream of

00:22:23.700 --> 00:22:27.039
glory and the stark physical reality of his creation

00:22:27.369 --> 00:22:30.130
is absolute. He says he selected the features

00:22:30.130 --> 00:22:33.190
to be beautiful, but the result is horrific.

00:22:33.450 --> 00:22:35.730
The yellow skin scarcely covers the intricate

00:22:35.730 --> 00:22:38.349
work of muscles and arteries beneath. The hair

00:22:38.349 --> 00:22:41.250
is a lustrous flowing black. The teeth are pearly

00:22:41.250 --> 00:22:43.690
white. But these marks of beauty only create

00:22:43.690 --> 00:22:46.289
a more hideous contrast with its watery eyes,

00:22:46.569 --> 00:22:48.450
which seem almost the same color as the done

00:22:48.450 --> 00:22:50.980
white sockets they sit in. Its complexion is

00:22:50.980 --> 00:22:53.220
shriveled and its lips are straight and black.

00:22:53.380 --> 00:22:55.960
The revulsion Victor feels is instantaneous.

00:22:56.380 --> 00:22:58.859
He has completely sacrificed his health, his

00:22:58.859 --> 00:23:01.359
sanity, and his relationships for two years.

00:23:01.539 --> 00:23:04.359
And the moment his creation draws a breath, breathless

00:23:04.359 --> 00:23:06.660
horror and disgust fill his heart. He literally

00:23:06.660 --> 00:23:09.160
just runs away. He bolts out of the room, rushes

00:23:09.160 --> 00:23:11.720
down the stairs to his bedchamber, and just paces

00:23:11.720 --> 00:23:14.420
back and forth. Finally, out of sheer exhaustion,

00:23:14.819 --> 00:23:17.339
he falls asleep in his clothes and has this deeply,

00:23:17.380 --> 00:23:20.019
deeply disturbing nightmare. The nightmare is

00:23:20.019 --> 00:23:22.579
incredibly revealing of Victor's fragile mental

00:23:22.579 --> 00:23:25.940
state. In the dream, Victor sees Elizabeth walking

00:23:25.940 --> 00:23:28.559
in the streets of Ingolstadt in the bloom of

00:23:28.559 --> 00:23:32.599
health. He is overjoyed and embraces her, imprinting

00:23:32.599 --> 00:23:35.920
a kiss on her lips. But as he kisses her, her

00:23:35.920 --> 00:23:38.509
lips become livid with the hue of death. Her

00:23:38.509 --> 00:23:41.329
features change, and suddenly he is holding the

00:23:41.329 --> 00:23:43.670
rotting corpse of his dead mother in his arms.

00:23:43.970 --> 00:23:46.769
A shroud envelops her, and he actually sees grave

00:23:46.769 --> 00:23:49.289
worms crawling in the folds of the flannel. That

00:23:49.289 --> 00:23:52.390
is a horrifying psychological break. He's literally

00:23:52.390 --> 00:23:55.869
subverting the natural birth process. He bypassed

00:23:55.869 --> 00:23:58.009
the role of a mother entirely to create life

00:23:58.009 --> 00:24:00.650
out of corpses. And his subconscious is punishing

00:24:00.650 --> 00:24:04.150
him by directly associating his creation with

00:24:04.150 --> 00:24:06.990
the rotting corpse of his own mother. and inflicting

00:24:06.990 --> 00:24:09.329
that death upon Elizabeth. Life and death are

00:24:09.329 --> 00:24:11.630
completely inverted in his mind. He wakes up

00:24:11.630 --> 00:24:13.910
from this nightmare in a cold sweat, his teeth

00:24:13.910 --> 00:24:16.009
chattering. And right there, illuminated by the

00:24:16.009 --> 00:24:17.849
yellow light of the moon coming through the window

00:24:17.849 --> 00:24:20.269
shutters, is the monster. This is a moment of

00:24:20.269 --> 00:24:22.630
immense tragedy that is often completely overlooked

00:24:22.630 --> 00:24:25.170
in adaptations of the story. The creature is

00:24:25.170 --> 00:24:28.029
standing by the bed. It holds up the bed curtain,

00:24:28.470 --> 00:24:30.970
its jaws open, and it mutters some inarticulate

00:24:30.970 --> 00:24:33.849
sounds, grinning. It reaches out one hand, seemingly

00:24:33.849 --> 00:24:37.039
to detain Victor. If we step back and analyze

00:24:37.039 --> 00:24:40.200
what is actually happening here, a newly born

00:24:40.200 --> 00:24:43.440
being, possessing absolutely no malice, no understanding

00:24:43.440 --> 00:24:46.400
of the world, is simply reaching out for its

00:24:46.400 --> 00:24:49.200
parent. It is the most primal gesture of an infant

00:24:49.200 --> 00:24:51.779
seeking connection, warmth, and protection from

00:24:51.779 --> 00:24:54.220
its creator. But Victor runs. Wait, hold on.

00:24:54.240 --> 00:24:56.140
Let me play devil's advocate here for a second.

00:24:56.539 --> 00:24:58.960
We always condemn Victor for running away. And

00:24:58.960 --> 00:25:01.700
yes, abandoning a child is monstrous. Sure. But

00:25:01.700 --> 00:25:04.119
- Put yourself in his shoes. It is one in the

00:25:04.119 --> 00:25:06.299
morning, he just woke up from a nightmare about

00:25:06.299 --> 00:25:09.480
rotting corpses, and an eight foot tall, horribly

00:25:09.480 --> 00:25:12.059
deformed, stitched together giant starts twitching,

00:25:12.220 --> 00:25:13.940
grinning, and reaching a massive hand toward

00:25:13.940 --> 00:25:17.099
him. Isn't running away just a basic, hardwired

00:25:17.099 --> 00:25:19.500
human survival instinct? That is an excellent

00:25:19.500 --> 00:25:21.599
point, and we must be fair to the visceral reality

00:25:21.599 --> 00:25:24.859
of the situation. Yes, the initial flinch, the

00:25:24.859 --> 00:25:27.420
sheer terror of a towering, unfamiliar being

00:25:27.420 --> 00:25:29.740
reaching for you in the dark, that is a completely

00:25:29.740 --> 00:25:33.380
natural biological response. Right. The ethical

00:25:33.380 --> 00:25:35.900
failure of Victor Frankenstein isn't necessarily

00:25:35.900 --> 00:25:38.660
that he panicked in the first 30 seconds. The

00:25:38.660 --> 00:25:41.319
profound moral failure is what he does next.

00:25:41.640 --> 00:25:44.140
He doesn't regroup. He doesn't wait till dawn

00:25:44.140 --> 00:25:46.339
and return to take responsibility for the life

00:25:46.339 --> 00:25:48.779
he forced into existence. He rushes downstairs,

00:25:49.380 --> 00:25:51.880
takes refuge in the courtyard, and spends the

00:25:51.880 --> 00:25:54.420
rest of the night walking up and down in absolute

00:25:54.420 --> 00:25:57.559
terror, avoiding the creature entirely. He abandons

00:25:57.559 --> 00:26:01.019
it. to the world. When morning dawns, he just

00:26:01.019 --> 00:26:03.319
wanders the streets of Ingolstadt in the freezing

00:26:03.319 --> 00:26:06.720
rain, absolutely paralyzed by fear and the bitterness

00:26:06.720 --> 00:26:08.680
of disappointment. He's dreading going back to

00:26:08.680 --> 00:26:11.140
his apartment. And then in a stroke of incredible

00:26:11.140 --> 00:26:13.880
timing, a coach pulls up right in front of him

00:26:13.880 --> 00:26:16.460
and out steps his childhood best friend, Henry

00:26:16.460 --> 00:26:18.740
Clairvaux. Henry has finally convinced his father,

00:26:18.880 --> 00:26:21.039
a practical merchant, to let him study at the

00:26:21.039 --> 00:26:23.240
university. Victor is overjoyed to see a familiar

00:26:23.240 --> 00:26:26.400
face, but his physical appearance shocks Henry.

00:26:26.759 --> 00:26:30.259
Victor is thin, pale, and wild -eyed. Victor

00:26:30.259 --> 00:26:32.619
brings Henry back to his college, terrified the

00:26:32.619 --> 00:26:34.359
whole way that the monster will still be in his

00:26:34.359 --> 00:26:36.579
apartment. He makes Henry wait at the bottom

00:26:36.579 --> 00:26:39.079
of the stairs, nervously checks his room, and

00:26:39.079 --> 00:26:42.559
finds it empty. The monster has fled. Victor

00:26:42.559 --> 00:26:45.079
is so relieved that the threat is gone that he

00:26:45.079 --> 00:26:47.859
basically has a manic episode. He jumps over

00:26:47.859 --> 00:26:50.720
chairs, claps his hands, and laughs with this

00:26:50.720 --> 00:26:53.460
wild unrestrained hysterical laughter that completely

00:26:53.460 --> 00:26:56.210
terrifies Henry. And then Victor imagines the

00:26:56.210 --> 00:26:59.369
monster grabbing him, screams, and falls down

00:26:59.369 --> 00:27:02.670
in a dead feint. This begins a massive nervous

00:27:02.670 --> 00:27:06.069
fever that confines Victor to his bed for several

00:27:06.069 --> 00:27:08.509
months. For the entirety of the winter, Henry

00:27:08.509 --> 00:27:11.720
Clairvaux acts as his sole nurse. Henry hides

00:27:11.720 --> 00:27:13.940
the extent of Victor's illness from the Frankenstein

00:27:13.940 --> 00:27:16.119
family in Geneva so they weren't worried. He

00:27:16.119 --> 00:27:18.519
puts his own university studies entirely on hold

00:27:18.519 --> 00:27:20.539
to save his friend's life. By the time spring

00:27:20.539 --> 00:27:23.000
arrives, Victor begins to slowly recover his

00:27:23.000 --> 00:27:25.440
senses and his joy in nature. And once Victor

00:27:25.440 --> 00:27:27.640
is lucid again, Henry gives him a letter from

00:27:27.640 --> 00:27:30.099
Elizabeth. This letter serves to ground Victor

00:27:30.099 --> 00:27:32.480
back in his family reality, but it also introduces

00:27:32.480 --> 00:27:35.299
the character whose backstory is critical to

00:27:35.299 --> 00:27:38.000
the tragedy that is about to unfold. Elizabeth's

00:27:38.000 --> 00:27:40.660
letter mentions a young woman named Justine Moritz.

00:27:41.200 --> 00:27:44.359
Who is Justine, and why is her backstory so critical

00:27:44.359 --> 00:27:46.920
to understand? Justine's history is incredibly

00:27:46.920 --> 00:27:50.380
sad, but it highlights the values of Geneva society.

00:27:51.200 --> 00:27:53.660
She was the third of four children. Her mother,

00:27:54.000 --> 00:27:56.480
Madame Moritz, was a widow who could not endure

00:27:56.480 --> 00:27:59.359
Justine and treated her terribly. Victor's aunt,

00:27:59.440 --> 00:28:01.799
Caroline Bufort, who herself knew what it was

00:28:01.799 --> 00:28:04.380
like to be impoverished and rescued, saw this

00:28:04.380 --> 00:28:07.039
abuse and prevailed upon the mother to let Justine

00:28:07.039 --> 00:28:09.119
live as a servant in the Frankenstein household.

00:28:09.299 --> 00:28:11.440
It is important to contextualize what a servant

00:28:11.440 --> 00:28:13.619
meant in the Republican institutions of Geneva

00:28:13.619 --> 00:28:16.480
at that time. A servant was not considered a

00:28:16.480 --> 00:28:19.940
despised or enslaved class. Justine is educated,

00:28:20.460 --> 00:28:22.519
deeply loved by the family, and treated with

00:28:22.519 --> 00:28:25.039
immense respect. She practically adores Caroline,

00:28:25.359 --> 00:28:27.660
imitating her phraseology and manners. Justine

00:28:27.660 --> 00:28:29.599
is forced to go back to her own mother for a

00:28:29.599 --> 00:28:32.069
few years when all her siblings die. Her mother

00:28:32.069 --> 00:28:34.690
repents, but the mother is terrible, vacillating,

00:28:34.890 --> 00:28:36.750
and constantly blames Justine for the deaths

00:28:36.750 --> 00:28:39.009
of her brothers and sisters. Eventually, the

00:28:39.009 --> 00:28:41.910
mother dies, and Justine returns to the Frankenstein

00:28:41.910 --> 00:28:45.690
family. She's gentle, clever, pretty, and a beloved

00:28:45.690 --> 00:28:48.190
part of the household. So Victor is reading this

00:28:48.190 --> 00:28:50.789
letter, feeling loved, getting better. He even

00:28:50.789 --> 00:28:53.289
introduces Henry to his professors, which is

00:28:53.289 --> 00:28:55.250
torture for Victor, because he can't even stand

00:28:55.250 --> 00:28:57.500
the sight of chemical instruments anymore. He

00:28:57.500 --> 00:28:59.640
and Henry spend the summer studying Oriental

00:28:59.640 --> 00:29:02.559
languages, reading Persian and Arabic poetry,

00:29:02.819 --> 00:29:05.740
and taking a pedestrian tour in the spring. Victor

00:29:05.740 --> 00:29:08.799
feels like his old self again. But Victor's newfound

00:29:08.799 --> 00:29:11.559
peace walking with Henry doesn't last. In fact,

00:29:11.599 --> 00:29:13.519
it's brutally shattered the moment he returns

00:29:13.519 --> 00:29:15.619
to the university and finds a letter from his

00:29:15.619 --> 00:29:18.700
father waiting for him. The tone of Alphonse's

00:29:18.700 --> 00:29:21.259
letter is immediately devastating. He writes

00:29:21.259 --> 00:29:24.000
to prepare Victor for woeful news, trying to

00:29:24.000 --> 00:29:26.920
cushion the blow before bluntly stating, William

00:29:26.920 --> 00:29:29.740
is dead. That sweet child who smiles delighted

00:29:29.740 --> 00:29:32.480
and warmed my heart. Victor, he is murdered.

00:29:32.859 --> 00:29:36.000
It's an absolute gut punch. Little William, Victor's

00:29:36.000 --> 00:29:38.579
youngest brother. The father explains the horrific

00:29:38.579 --> 00:29:41.539
details. The family was walking in Klain Palay,

00:29:41.759 --> 00:29:44.819
a park outside Geneva. William and Ernest went

00:29:44.819 --> 00:29:47.839
on a head plane. William ran away to hide, and

00:29:47.839 --> 00:29:49.500
when the family tried to gather everyone to go

00:29:49.500 --> 00:29:52.039
home, they couldn't find him. They searched into

00:29:52.039 --> 00:29:54.369
the night. At five in the morning, the father

00:29:54.369 --> 00:29:56.769
found little William dead on the grass. There

00:29:56.769 --> 00:29:58.950
was the print of the murderer's finger on his

00:29:58.950 --> 00:30:01.490
neck. He had been strangled. And Elizabeth is

00:30:01.490 --> 00:30:04.289
absolutely inconsolable because she blames herself.

00:30:05.049 --> 00:30:07.690
She had let William wear a very valuable miniature

00:30:07.690 --> 00:30:10.809
portrait of Victor's mother, Caroline, on a chain

00:30:10.809 --> 00:30:13.549
around his neck. The picture is missing, so the

00:30:13.549 --> 00:30:16.309
family assumes robbery was the motive for the

00:30:16.309 --> 00:30:18.930
murder. Victor is thrown into absolute despair.

00:30:19.309 --> 00:30:21.970
He and Henry instantly order horses to travel

00:30:21.970 --> 00:30:24.650
back to Geneva. The journey is melancholy, and

00:30:24.650 --> 00:30:27.630
as Victor approaches his native town, he is overcome

00:30:27.630 --> 00:30:30.869
by a nameless, creeping fear. He actually stops

00:30:30.869 --> 00:30:33.250
at Lausanne for two days because he is so emotionally

00:30:33.250 --> 00:30:34.950
distressed he can't bear to face his family.

00:30:35.170 --> 00:30:37.490
When he finally reaches the environs of Geneva,

00:30:37.950 --> 00:30:39.990
it is completely dark and the gates of the town

00:30:39.990 --> 00:30:43.160
are shut for the night. Unable to enter, he decides

00:30:43.160 --> 00:30:45.779
to cross the lake in a small boat to visit Plain

00:30:45.779 --> 00:30:48.279
Palais, the exact spot where his brother was

00:30:48.279 --> 00:30:50.579
murdered. Here's where it gets really interesting.

00:30:51.299 --> 00:30:54.259
Because as he crosses the dark lake, this massive

00:30:54.259 --> 00:30:56.599
thunderstorm breaks out. The lightning is playing

00:30:56.599 --> 00:30:59.839
on the summit of Mont Blanc. The thunder is echoing

00:30:59.839 --> 00:31:03.180
with terrific crashes. It's a beautifully violent

00:31:03.180 --> 00:31:05.640
scene. And in the middle of this terrific storm,

00:31:06.000 --> 00:31:08.380
illuminated by a sudden brilliant flash of lightning,

00:31:09.000 --> 00:31:11.839
Victor sees a gigantic figure hiding behind a

00:31:11.839 --> 00:31:14.039
clump of trees near where his brother died. He

00:31:14.039 --> 00:31:16.900
knows instantly. He says its gigantic stature

00:31:16.900 --> 00:31:19.259
and the deformity of its aspect more hideous

00:31:19.259 --> 00:31:21.880
than belongs to humanity instantly informed me

00:31:21.880 --> 00:31:24.079
that it was the wretch, the filthy demon to whom

00:31:24.079 --> 00:31:26.579
I had given life. The realization strikes Victor

00:31:26.579 --> 00:31:29.240
with the force of the lightning itself. He asks

00:31:29.240 --> 00:31:31.259
himself what the creature is doing there so far

00:31:31.259 --> 00:31:33.839
from Ingolstadt. and the answer is undeniable.

00:31:34.500 --> 00:31:36.539
The creature is the murderer of his brother.

00:31:36.799 --> 00:31:39.140
Victor says the mere presence of the idea was

00:31:39.140 --> 00:31:41.680
an irresistible proof of the fact. You have to

00:31:41.680 --> 00:31:43.960
remember two full years have passed since the

00:31:43.960 --> 00:31:46.140
night of the creation. This is the very first

00:31:46.140 --> 00:31:48.980
time Victor has laid eyes on his creation since

00:31:48.980 --> 00:31:51.400
abandoning it. He realizes in this moment that

00:31:51.400 --> 00:31:54.319
he has turned a depraved superhumanly strong

00:31:54.319 --> 00:31:57.079
wretch loose into the world. He spends the rest

00:31:57.079 --> 00:31:59.809
of the night shivering in the wet and cold, imagining

00:31:59.809 --> 00:32:02.230
the being is his own vampire, his own spirit

00:32:02.230 --> 00:32:04.769
let loose from the grave, driven to destroy all

00:32:04.769 --> 00:32:07.369
he loves. So when the town gates open in the

00:32:07.369 --> 00:32:09.809
morning, he rushes to his father's house, but

00:32:09.809 --> 00:32:13.150
he pauses before he speaks. He desperately wants

00:32:13.150 --> 00:32:15.269
to declare a pursuit of the murderer to tell

00:32:15.269 --> 00:32:18.690
everyone what he saw, but he stops himself. Why?

00:32:18.950 --> 00:32:22.019
Because his story sounds completely insane. He

00:32:22.019 --> 00:32:23.880
reasons that if he tells the magistrates he made

00:32:23.880 --> 00:32:25.779
an eight -foot tall monster out of dead body

00:32:25.779 --> 00:32:27.980
parts two years ago, and it just showed up in

00:32:27.980 --> 00:32:29.660
a lightning storm and climbed a perpendicular

00:32:29.660 --> 00:32:31.980
mountain, they will instantly lock him in an

00:32:31.980 --> 00:32:34.940
asylum. So he resolves to remain completely silent.

00:32:35.299 --> 00:32:39.180
It is a profound moral failing. Victor prioritizes

00:32:39.180 --> 00:32:42.109
his own reputation. His fear of being seen as

00:32:42.109 --> 00:32:44.809
a madman over the pursuit of justice for his

00:32:44.809 --> 00:32:46.869
murdered brother. When he enters the house, his

00:32:46.869 --> 00:32:49.309
brother Ernest greets him and tells him that

00:32:49.309 --> 00:32:51.509
the discovery of the murderer has completed their

00:32:51.509 --> 00:32:54.829
misery. Victor, terrified, assumes they mean

00:32:54.829 --> 00:32:57.710
the monster has been caught. But Ernest reveals

00:32:57.710 --> 00:33:00.990
something far worse. Justine Moritz, their beloved

00:33:00.990 --> 00:33:03.269
friend and servant, has been accused of the murder.

00:33:03.470 --> 00:33:06.210
Victor is absolutely shocked. He says, Justine.

00:33:06.410 --> 00:33:16.970
Poor, good Justine, it's impossible. A servant

00:33:16.970 --> 00:33:19.410
examining the clothes she wore that night found

00:33:19.410 --> 00:33:22.210
the missing miniature portrait of Caroline Beaufort,

00:33:22.549 --> 00:33:24.650
the presumed motive for the murder hidden in

00:33:24.650 --> 00:33:35.339
her pocket. Victor is entirely convinced of her

00:33:35.339 --> 00:33:37.640
innocence because he knows the true culprit is

00:33:37.640 --> 00:33:40.700
his own creation. He confidently tells his family

00:33:40.700 --> 00:33:43.799
Justine is innocent, but crucially he does not

00:33:43.799 --> 00:33:47.000
provide his evidence. His father, Alphonse, places

00:33:47.000 --> 00:33:49.460
his faith entirely in the justice of the laws,

00:33:49.799 --> 00:33:51.819
believing the trial will exonerate her if she

00:33:51.819 --> 00:33:54.680
is truly innocent. Elizabeth relies on her deep

00:33:54.680 --> 00:33:57.579
emotional intuition, declaring she relies on

00:33:57.579 --> 00:34:00.640
Justine's innocence as certainly as her own.

00:34:00.859 --> 00:34:03.769
And so... They all attend the trial. The trial

00:34:03.769 --> 00:34:06.589
scene is excruciating to read. Victor sits in

00:34:06.589 --> 00:34:09.750
the courtroom suffering living torture. He says,

00:34:10.070 --> 00:34:11.969
a thousand times rather would I have confessed

00:34:11.969 --> 00:34:14.969
myself guilty of the crime. But such a declaration

00:34:14.969 --> 00:34:16.710
would have been considered as the ravings of

00:34:16.710 --> 00:34:19.329
a madman. He just sits there. The prosecution

00:34:19.329 --> 00:34:21.909
lays out a very compelling circumstantial case.

00:34:22.389 --> 00:34:24.130
Justine was out the whole night of the murder.

00:34:24.510 --> 00:34:26.590
She was seen by a market woman looking strangely

00:34:26.590 --> 00:34:29.150
and giving confused answers near the exact spot

00:34:29.150 --> 00:34:31.190
where the body was found. When she was later

00:34:31.190 --> 00:34:34.489
shown William's body, she fell into violent hysterics.

00:34:34.750 --> 00:34:37.750
And most damningly, she had the stolen picture

00:34:37.750 --> 00:34:40.869
in her pocket. Justine's defense is simple, honest,

00:34:40.989 --> 00:34:43.349
but unfortunately lacks any physical proof. She

00:34:43.349 --> 00:34:45.750
calmly explains her movements. She had been visiting

00:34:45.750 --> 00:34:48.210
an aunt in a neighboring village. On her way

00:34:48.210 --> 00:34:50.130
back, she heard the child was lost and spent

00:34:50.130 --> 00:34:52.389
hours frantically searching for him. The gates

00:34:52.389 --> 00:34:55.210
of Geneva shut, trapping her outside. So she

00:34:55.210 --> 00:34:57.849
slept in a barn. She woke up, searched again,

00:34:58.070 --> 00:35:01.119
and eventually returned home. Her bewilderment,

00:35:01.159 --> 00:35:03.619
when questioned by the market woman, was simply

00:35:03.619 --> 00:35:06.550
exhaustion and desperate worry. As for the picture,

00:35:06.650 --> 00:35:09.110
she has absolutely no idea how it got into her

00:35:09.110 --> 00:35:12.070
pocket. She correctly assumes the true murderer

00:35:12.070 --> 00:35:13.849
must have placed it there while she slept in

00:35:13.849 --> 00:35:16.289
the barn, but she doesn't know who or why. And

00:35:16.289 --> 00:35:18.789
her character witnesses are completely useless.

00:35:19.489 --> 00:35:21.349
These are people who have known her for years,

00:35:21.949 --> 00:35:24.650
but out of fear and intense public hatred for

00:35:24.650 --> 00:35:27.050
the horrific crime against a child, they are

00:35:27.050 --> 00:35:29.150
timorous and unwilling to speak up forcefully

00:35:29.150 --> 00:35:31.900
on her behalf. Seeing this cowardice, Elizabeth

00:35:31.900 --> 00:35:34.440
becomes violently agitated. She steps up and

00:35:34.440 --> 00:35:36.619
addresses the court herself. She gives this incredibly

00:35:36.619 --> 00:35:39.539
passionate defense, saying she lived with Justine,

00:35:39.860 --> 00:35:42.400
saw her nurse, her aunt, and mother, and knows

00:35:42.400 --> 00:35:44.599
her to be the most amiable and benevolent creature.

00:35:44.780 --> 00:35:47.280
She points out that Justine loved William dearly,

00:35:47.539 --> 00:35:50.260
had no temptation for the crime, and if she had

00:35:50.260 --> 00:35:52.820
simply wanted the bauble, Elizabeth would have

00:35:52.820 --> 00:35:55.139
freely given it to her. Elizabeth's intervention

00:35:55.139 --> 00:35:58.530
is courageous, but it completely backfires. The

00:35:58.530 --> 00:36:00.849
public and the judges, rather than being moved

00:36:00.849 --> 00:36:03.650
to pity for Justine, turn their indignation upon

00:36:03.650 --> 00:36:06.789
her with renewed violence. They view her alleged

00:36:06.789 --> 00:36:09.670
crime as an act of the blackest, most unnatural

00:36:09.670 --> 00:36:12.070
ingratitude toward a family that loved and protected

00:36:12.070 --> 00:36:16.170
her so much. The ballots are cast and they are

00:36:16.170 --> 00:36:19.329
all black. Justine is condemned to die. Victor

00:36:19.329 --> 00:36:21.809
rushes out of the court in agony, feeling the

00:36:21.809 --> 00:36:24.010
fangs of remorse tearing at his bosom. And then

00:36:24.010 --> 00:36:25.650
the next morning, Victor finds out something

00:36:25.650 --> 00:36:28.650
even worse. Justine has confessed to the murder.

00:36:29.050 --> 00:36:31.690
Victor and Elizabeth go to visit her in the gloomy

00:36:31.690 --> 00:36:34.429
prison chamber. She's sitting on straw, her hands

00:36:34.429 --> 00:36:37.150
manacled. Elizabeth is devastated, weeping, asking

00:36:37.150 --> 00:36:39.230
her why she would confess to something so horrific

00:36:39.230 --> 00:36:41.809
if she was innocent. Why on earth would Justine

00:36:41.809 --> 00:36:44.690
confess to a murder she didn't commit? It is

00:36:44.690 --> 00:36:47.090
a profound critique of religious institutional

00:36:47.090 --> 00:36:49.610
pressure and the vulnerability of the isolated

00:36:49.610 --> 00:36:52.719
individual. Justine explains to Elizabeth, I

00:36:52.719 --> 00:36:55.179
did confess, but I confessed a lie. I confessed

00:36:55.179 --> 00:36:58.039
that I might obtain absolution. Her confessor,

00:36:58.199 --> 00:37:00.579
a Catholic priest, had besieged her in prison.

00:37:00.800 --> 00:37:04.079
He prayed on her terror and exhaustion. He threatened

00:37:04.079 --> 00:37:06.420
her with excommunication and eternal hellfire

00:37:06.420 --> 00:37:08.739
in her last moments if she continued to deny

00:37:08.739 --> 00:37:11.400
the crime. She was completely isolated, looked

00:37:11.400 --> 00:37:14.840
upon by the entire town as a monster. Broken,

00:37:15.179 --> 00:37:17.579
exhausted, and terrified of spiritual damnation,

00:37:17.619 --> 00:37:20.039
she submitted to the lie to appease the priest.

00:37:20.230 --> 00:37:22.969
And now that falsehood lies heavier on her heart

00:37:22.969 --> 00:37:26.130
than the impending execution. It's so utterly

00:37:26.130 --> 00:37:28.570
tragic. She tells Elizabeth, in an evil hour,

00:37:28.630 --> 00:37:31.750
I subscribe to a lie, and now only am I truly

00:37:31.750 --> 00:37:34.429
miserable. She just wanted Elizabeth, the one

00:37:34.429 --> 00:37:36.809
person she loved most, to know the truth before

00:37:36.809 --> 00:37:39.969
she died. Elizabeth promises she will never distrust

00:37:39.969 --> 00:37:42.210
her again, but there's nothing they can do. The

00:37:42.210 --> 00:37:44.230
judges won't change their minds based on a recanted

00:37:44.230 --> 00:37:46.650
confession. Justine is executed the very next

00:37:46.650 --> 00:37:48.989
day. And Victor has to live with this. He says

00:37:48.989 --> 00:37:51.829
he bore hell within him which nothing could extinguish.

00:37:52.050 --> 00:37:54.289
He recognizes that there are now two innocent

00:37:54.289 --> 00:37:56.429
lives, William and Justine, who are the first

00:37:56.429 --> 00:37:58.989
direct victims of his unhallowed scientific arts.

00:37:59.329 --> 00:38:01.329
The psychological toll on Victor in the aftermath

00:38:01.329 --> 00:38:05.130
is staggering. He is consumed by a dead calmness

00:38:05.130 --> 00:38:08.150
of inaction and certainty. He shuns the face

00:38:08.150 --> 00:38:11.480
of man wandering alone. He deeply contemplates

00:38:11.480 --> 00:38:14.380
suicide, frequently taking a small boat out onto

00:38:14.380 --> 00:38:16.780
the lake in the dead of night, tempted to plunge

00:38:16.780 --> 00:38:19.000
into the dark water and let it close over him

00:38:19.000 --> 00:38:21.539
forever. The only thing restraining him is the

00:38:21.539 --> 00:38:24.119
thought of leaving his surviving family, his

00:38:24.119 --> 00:38:27.679
father, Elizabeth, and his brother, Ernest. unprotected

00:38:27.679 --> 00:38:30.000
against the malice of the fiend he let loose.

00:38:30.300 --> 00:38:32.480
His hatred for the creature bursts all bounds

00:38:32.480 --> 00:38:35.760
of moderation. He fantasizes about revenge. He

00:38:35.760 --> 00:38:37.800
says he would have made a pilgrimage to the highest

00:38:37.800 --> 00:38:39.940
peak of the Andes if he could precipitate the

00:38:39.940 --> 00:38:42.619
monster to its base. Meanwhile, Elizabeth is

00:38:42.619 --> 00:38:44.920
just a shell of her former self. Her worldview

00:38:44.920 --> 00:38:47.360
has been shattered. She tells Victor that misery

00:38:47.360 --> 00:38:50.000
has come home and men appear to her as monsters

00:38:50.000 --> 00:38:52.559
thirsting for each other's blood. She realizes

00:38:52.559 --> 00:38:55.460
the world is fundamentally unjust, that innocence

00:38:55.460 --> 00:38:58.000
is no protection against destruction. To cope

00:38:58.000 --> 00:39:01.000
with this sullen, suffocating despair, Victor

00:39:01.000 --> 00:39:03.639
decides to leave Geneva temporarily and seek

00:39:03.639 --> 00:39:06.780
relief in the sublime power of nature. He travels

00:39:06.780 --> 00:39:08.960
to the Valley of Chamonix in the French Alps.

00:39:09.190 --> 00:39:12.590
Mary Shelley deeply utilizes the romantic concept

00:39:12.590 --> 00:39:15.590
of the sublime, the massive, indifferent, enduring

00:39:15.590 --> 00:39:18.269
power of the natural world that dwarfs human

00:39:18.269 --> 00:39:21.349
sorrow and reminds us of our own insignificance.

00:39:21.590 --> 00:39:23.969
Victor looks at the massive glaciers, the rushing,

00:39:24.070 --> 00:39:26.769
violent river Arve, the destructive avalanches

00:39:26.769 --> 00:39:29.389
and the towering, eternal peak of Mont Blanc.

00:39:29.530 --> 00:39:31.809
These majestic scenes temporarily elevate him

00:39:31.809 --> 00:39:34.090
from the littleness of his own human feeling.

00:39:34.489 --> 00:39:37.250
Seeking further isolation, He decides to climb

00:39:37.250 --> 00:39:40.010
the Montanvera glacier entirely without a guide.

00:39:41.010 --> 00:39:43.389
It is a terrifically desolate, dangerous environment.

00:39:43.750 --> 00:39:46.349
Trees lie broken from avalanches. It takes him

00:39:46.349 --> 00:39:48.789
nearly two hours to cross the Sea of Ice. He

00:39:48.789 --> 00:39:50.809
stands in a recess of the rock, looking at the

00:39:50.809 --> 00:39:53.130
glittering peaks, and he has this rare moment

00:39:53.130 --> 00:39:55.909
of faint spiritual happiness. He cries out to

00:39:55.909 --> 00:39:58.150
the wandering spirits of the Alps, asking them

00:39:58.150 --> 00:40:00.550
to either allow him this faint happiness or take

00:40:00.550 --> 00:40:02.869
him away from the joys of life entirely. And

00:40:02.869 --> 00:40:05.369
literally as he speaks these words, he sees a

00:40:05.369 --> 00:40:08.050
figure emerging from the ice. It is a man advancing

00:40:08.050 --> 00:40:11.250
toward him with superhuman speed, bounding effortlessly

00:40:11.250 --> 00:40:13.710
over the treacherous deep crevices in the ice.

00:40:14.309 --> 00:40:17.250
As it approaches, Victor perceives the abhorred

00:40:17.250 --> 00:40:20.250
gigantic shape of his creation. Victor's reaction

00:40:20.250 --> 00:40:23.650
is instantaneous, furious rage. He doesn't flee

00:40:23.650 --> 00:40:26.329
this time. He stands his ground. He yells, Devil,

00:40:26.409 --> 00:40:29.289
do you dare approach me? Begone, vile insect.

00:40:29.449 --> 00:40:32.570
Or rather, stay. that I may trample you to dust.

00:40:32.949 --> 00:40:35.489
Victor is absolutely ready for mortal combat.

00:40:35.550 --> 00:40:38.030
He wants to kill it right there on the ice. But

00:40:38.030 --> 00:40:40.710
the creature easily eludes him, possessing strength

00:40:40.710 --> 00:40:43.610
far beyond a normal human. And this is the massive

00:40:43.610 --> 00:40:46.550
aha moment for you listening. If your only exposure

00:40:46.550 --> 00:40:48.510
to Frankenstein is pop culture, the creature

00:40:48.510 --> 00:40:50.829
doesn't grunt. He doesn't smash things in a blind

00:40:50.829 --> 00:40:53.170
rage. When he opens his mouth, he speaks, and

00:40:53.170 --> 00:40:56.570
he is incredibly breathtakingly eloquent. The

00:40:56.570 --> 00:40:59.230
creature's dialogue is a masterpiece of rhetorical

00:40:59.230 --> 00:41:01.739
argument. He remains remarkably calm in the face

00:41:01.739 --> 00:41:04.039
of Victor's murderous rage. He says, I expected

00:41:04.039 --> 00:41:06.579
this reception. All men hate the wretched. How

00:41:06.579 --> 00:41:09.000
then must I be hated, who am miserable beyond

00:41:09.000 --> 00:41:11.780
all living things? The creature acknowledges

00:41:11.780 --> 00:41:14.500
Victor's power as his creator, but he demands

00:41:14.500 --> 00:41:18.239
justice. He lays out his core ultimatum, a line

00:41:18.239 --> 00:41:21.139
that perfectly encapsulates the entire philosophical

00:41:21.139 --> 00:41:24.039
debate of the novel. I ought to be thy Adam,

00:41:24.119 --> 00:41:26.820
but I am rather the fallen angel whom thou drivest

00:41:26.820 --> 00:41:30.449
from joy for no misdeed. I ought to be thy Adam,

00:41:30.530 --> 00:41:32.650
but I am rather the fallen angel. We have to

00:41:32.650 --> 00:41:35.289
break that down because it is so powerful. He

00:41:35.289 --> 00:41:38.289
is directly invoking the biblical creation story.

00:41:38.429 --> 00:41:40.349
He is saying, you made me, you brought me into

00:41:40.349 --> 00:41:42.690
this world, and therefore you owe me the care,

00:41:43.030 --> 00:41:46.070
love, and guidance that a creator owes his first

00:41:46.070 --> 00:41:48.409
man. But instead of treating me like Adam, you

00:41:48.409 --> 00:41:50.469
cast me out like Satan, the fallen angel, even

00:41:50.469 --> 00:41:52.269
though when you abandoned me, I hadn't done anything

00:41:52.269 --> 00:41:54.530
wrong. I was innocent. The creature openly admits

00:41:54.530 --> 00:41:57.579
he is capable of terrible violence now. He says,

00:41:57.960 --> 00:41:59.659
if you will comply with my conditions, I will

00:41:59.659 --> 00:42:01.440
leave them in you at peace. But if you refuse,

00:42:01.619 --> 00:42:04.400
I will glut the maw of death until it be satiated

00:42:04.400 --> 00:42:06.480
with the blood of your remaining friends. The

00:42:06.480 --> 00:42:08.920
creature argues fundamentally that his malevolence

00:42:08.920 --> 00:42:12.159
is not innate, but learned. He states, I was

00:42:12.159 --> 00:42:14.460
benevolent, and good misery made me a fiend,

00:42:14.739 --> 00:42:17.179
make me happy, and I shall again be virtuous.

00:42:17.519 --> 00:42:19.980
He demands that Victor listen to his story before

00:42:19.980 --> 00:42:23.280
passing judgment. He invokes the idea of basic

00:42:23.280 --> 00:42:25.900
human law, that even the most guilty criminals

00:42:25.900 --> 00:42:28.079
are allowed to speak in their own defense before

00:42:28.079 --> 00:42:31.400
they are condemned to die. Victor hates him with

00:42:31.400 --> 00:42:33.800
every fiber of his being, but as the creature

00:42:33.800 --> 00:42:37.300
speaks, Victor realizes something profound. He

00:42:37.300 --> 00:42:39.079
actually doesn't know what happened to the creature

00:42:39.079 --> 00:42:41.460
after that night in Ingolstadt. For two years

00:42:41.460 --> 00:42:44.019
this being has been navigating the world alone.

00:42:44.699 --> 00:42:47.159
Victor feels the weight of the duties of a creator

00:42:47.159 --> 00:42:50.099
for the very first time. the realization that

00:42:50.099 --> 00:42:52.219
he ought to render his creation happy before

00:42:52.219 --> 00:42:54.539
complaining of his wickedness. So Victor agrees

00:42:54.539 --> 00:42:56.840
to listen. They cross the ice together, enter

00:42:56.840 --> 00:42:59.639
a small desolate hut on the mountain, sit by

00:42:59.639 --> 00:43:01.980
a fire the monster has lit, and the creature

00:43:01.980 --> 00:43:05.059
begins his tale. The creature's narrative, spanning

00:43:05.059 --> 00:43:08.579
chapters 11 through 15, is a master class in

00:43:08.579 --> 00:43:11.139
developmental psychology and societal critique.

00:43:12.079 --> 00:43:14.079
Mary Shelley essentially explores the concept

00:43:14.079 --> 00:43:17.150
of the tabula rasa, the blank slate. The creature

00:43:17.150 --> 00:43:19.750
has to explain how he went from a newborn mind

00:43:19.750 --> 00:43:23.010
trapped in a gigantic, powerful adult body to

00:43:23.010 --> 00:43:26.289
a highly articulate, deeply aggrieved, and violent

00:43:26.289 --> 00:43:29.250
outcast. In chapter 11, he describes his very

00:43:29.250 --> 00:43:31.829
first days of sensory awakening. It is just a

00:43:31.829 --> 00:43:35.349
confusing, overwhelming wash of input. He sees,

00:43:35.510 --> 00:43:38.110
feels, hears, and smells all at the same time.

00:43:38.329 --> 00:43:39.909
He doesn't know how to distinguish anything.

00:43:40.230 --> 00:43:41.929
The light of the sun is oppressive, so he shuts

00:43:41.929 --> 00:43:45.090
his eyes. Darkness comes, and that troubles him.

00:43:45.239 --> 00:43:47.539
He wanders instinctively into the forest near

00:43:47.539 --> 00:43:50.139
Ingolstadt, finds some berries to eat, drinks

00:43:50.139 --> 00:43:52.460
from a cold brook, and falls asleep. When he

00:43:52.460 --> 00:43:54.519
wakes up, it's dark, he's freezing, and he's

00:43:54.519 --> 00:43:56.380
wearing practically nothing, just a few garments

00:43:56.380 --> 00:43:58.639
he snatched from Victor's lab. He sits down by

00:43:58.639 --> 00:44:01.280
the stream and just weeps. He's an eight -foot

00:44:01.280 --> 00:44:04.500
tall giant, but emotionally he's a poor, helpless,

00:44:04.940 --> 00:44:07.320
miserable infant. What's fascinating here is

00:44:07.320 --> 00:44:10.360
his gradual mastery over his environment, especially

00:44:10.360 --> 00:44:13.320
his discovery of fire. He finds a fire left behind

00:44:13.320 --> 00:44:16.599
by some wandering beggars. He's immediately overcome

00:44:16.599 --> 00:44:19.280
with delight at the warmth it provides against

00:44:19.280 --> 00:44:22.420
the freezing winter air. But acting purely on

00:44:22.420 --> 00:44:24.659
naive instinct, he thrusts his hand directly

00:44:24.659 --> 00:44:27.159
into the live embers and cries out in intense

00:44:27.159 --> 00:44:30.039
pain. This is a crucial moment of cognitive development.

00:44:30.900 --> 00:44:34.699
He deduces that the exact same cause, fire, can

00:44:34.699 --> 00:44:37.840
produce opposite effects, wonderful warmth and

00:44:37.840 --> 00:44:40.480
terrible pain. He learns through trial and error

00:44:40.480 --> 00:44:43.280
to gather wood, to dry wet branches, to keep

00:44:43.280 --> 00:44:45.519
the fire alive overnight by covering it with

00:44:45.519 --> 00:44:48.059
leaves. And eventually he discovers that fire

00:44:48.059 --> 00:44:50.920
can be used to roast nuts and roots, making them

00:44:50.920 --> 00:44:53.739
far more savory than raw food. It's the Prometheus

00:44:53.739 --> 00:44:55.940
myth playing out in real time. He is learning

00:44:55.940 --> 00:44:58.219
to harness the power of the gods, but eventually

00:44:58.219 --> 00:45:00.480
the food in the forest runs out and he is forced

00:45:00.480 --> 00:45:03.059
to migrate. He leaves the woods, enters the open

00:45:03.059 --> 00:45:05.699
snowy country, and finds a small shepherd's hut.

00:45:06.199 --> 00:45:08.849
He enters, seeking shelter. The old man inside

00:45:08.849 --> 00:45:11.349
takes one look at him, shrieks loudly, and runs

00:45:11.349 --> 00:45:13.590
away across the fields as fast as he can. The

00:45:13.590 --> 00:45:15.489
creature doesn't understand why the man ran,

00:45:15.550 --> 00:45:17.889
but he loves the hut. It protects him from the

00:45:17.889 --> 00:45:20.510
snow and rain. He eats the shepherd's breakfast

00:45:20.510 --> 00:45:23.309
of bread and cheese and sleeps peacefully. This

00:45:23.309 --> 00:45:25.769
is his first encounter with human prejudice based

00:45:25.769 --> 00:45:28.469
solely on physical appearance. The next day,

00:45:28.690 --> 00:45:30.960
he encounters an entire village. The reaction

00:45:30.960 --> 00:45:34.079
is violently escalated. Children shriek. A woman

00:45:34.079 --> 00:45:36.619
faints. The whole village is roused in a panic.

00:45:36.980 --> 00:45:39.500
They attack him. Some flee, but others attack

00:45:39.500 --> 00:45:41.519
him with stones and missile weapons until he

00:45:41.519 --> 00:45:43.579
is forced to escape back into the open country.

00:45:44.039 --> 00:45:46.659
Bruised, battered, and deeply traumatized, he

00:45:46.659 --> 00:45:50.300
fearfully takes refuge in a low hovel, essentially

00:45:50.300 --> 00:45:53.679
a wooden shed or pigsty, attached to the back

00:45:53.679 --> 00:45:56.280
of a neat cottage in the country. He hides in

00:45:56.280 --> 00:45:58.960
this freezing hovel, absolutely terrified of

00:45:58.960 --> 00:46:01.500
humans. He resolves never to show himself again.

00:46:01.719 --> 00:46:03.800
And from this hidden spot, looking through a

00:46:03.800 --> 00:46:06.320
tiny chink in the boarded -up window, he begins

00:46:06.320 --> 00:46:08.599
to secretly observe the family living in the

00:46:08.599 --> 00:46:11.079
attached cottage. This takes us into his intense

00:46:11.079 --> 00:46:14.599
period of observation. He sees a blind old man,

00:46:15.139 --> 00:46:17.739
a younger man named Felix, and a young woman

00:46:17.739 --> 00:46:20.980
named Agatha. And through watching them day after

00:46:20.980 --> 00:46:24.059
day, he experiences a vicarious socialization.

00:46:24.159 --> 00:46:27.019
He watches them interact and is profoundly moved

00:46:27.019 --> 00:46:29.780
by their gentle manners. He sees the old man

00:46:29.780 --> 00:46:32.199
play a musical instrument that produces divine

00:46:32.199 --> 00:46:35.800
sounds. He watches Agatha and Felix perform every

00:46:35.800 --> 00:46:38.219
little office of affection and duty for their

00:46:38.219 --> 00:46:41.400
father with incredible gentleness. But he also

00:46:41.400 --> 00:46:43.940
notices that despite their love, they're often

00:46:43.940 --> 00:46:46.820
sad. and he eventually discovers the cause is

00:46:46.820 --> 00:46:48.900
deep poverty. They are suffering from hunger,

00:46:49.300 --> 00:46:51.280
often reserving their scanty food for the blind

00:46:51.280 --> 00:46:53.239
father while the younger two go without. And

00:46:53.239 --> 00:46:55.579
when the creature realizes this, it absolutely

00:46:55.579 --> 00:46:57.579
breaks your heart, because prior to this realization,

00:46:57.760 --> 00:46:59.659
he had been sneaking out at night and stealing

00:46:59.659 --> 00:47:02.139
some of their food to survive. But the moment

00:47:02.139 --> 00:47:04.380
he realizes he is causing these gentle people

00:47:04.380 --> 00:47:07.539
pain, he completely stops. He goes back to eating

00:47:07.539 --> 00:47:09.639
tough berries and nuts from the woods, even though

00:47:09.639 --> 00:47:12.090
he's starving. Not only that, he nurses Felix

00:47:12.090 --> 00:47:14.429
spends a lot of time exhaustingly chopping wood

00:47:14.429 --> 00:47:16.849
for the fire. So at night, while they sleep,

00:47:16.989 --> 00:47:19.150
the creature takes Felix's tools and chops enough

00:47:19.150 --> 00:47:21.750
wood for several days, leaving it neatly piled

00:47:21.750 --> 00:47:24.929
by the door. He performs these intense physical

00:47:24.929 --> 00:47:28.250
labors invisibly, acting as a benevolent protective

00:47:28.250 --> 00:47:31.769
spirit for the family. The cottagers are astonished

00:47:31.769 --> 00:47:34.170
to wake up and find the work done, calling it

00:47:34.170 --> 00:47:36.550
the work of a good spirit. During this time of

00:47:36.550 --> 00:47:39.199
observation, the creature makes a discovery of

00:47:39.199 --> 00:47:41.840
monumental importance. He discovers language.

00:47:42.420 --> 00:47:44.679
He realizes these people communicate their complex

00:47:44.679 --> 00:47:47.539
feelings and experiences through articulate sounds.

00:47:48.079 --> 00:47:50.679
He views it as a godlike science. He applies

00:47:50.679 --> 00:47:52.760
his whole mind to learning it. Over many months

00:47:52.760 --> 00:47:54.699
listening through the wall he learns nouns like

00:47:54.699 --> 00:47:57.800
fire, milk, bread, and wood. He learns their

00:47:57.800 --> 00:48:01.639
names. Father, sister, Agatha, brother, Felix.

00:48:01.900 --> 00:48:04.099
He feels absolute delight when he can match the

00:48:04.099 --> 00:48:06.519
sound he hears to the object or idea it represents.

00:48:07.019 --> 00:48:09.519
But his growing awareness of the world also leads

00:48:09.519 --> 00:48:12.719
to a devastating He begins to understand the

00:48:12.719 --> 00:48:15.340
contrast between the perfect, beautiful forms

00:48:15.340 --> 00:48:18.800
of the cottagers and his own body. One day he

00:48:18.800 --> 00:48:21.400
views his own reflection in a transparent pool

00:48:21.400 --> 00:48:41.789
of water. He says, He internalizes the visual

00:48:41.789 --> 00:48:45.210
bias of humanity. He realizes his own hideousness.

00:48:45.590 --> 00:48:47.949
He decides that he cannot possibly reveal himself

00:48:47.949 --> 00:48:50.030
to the cottagers until he completely masters

00:48:50.030 --> 00:48:52.269
their language, hoping that if they hear his

00:48:52.269 --> 00:48:54.530
eloquent words first, they might overlook his

00:48:54.530 --> 00:48:56.949
physical deformity. So he spends the entire winter

00:48:56.949 --> 00:48:59.110
shivering in the hovel, just listening and learning.

00:48:59.769 --> 00:49:01.469
Spring arrives and the dynamic in the cottage

00:49:01.469 --> 00:49:03.409
shifts dramatically because a stranger arrives

00:49:03.409 --> 00:49:06.199
on horseback. A lady in a dark suit with a thick

00:49:06.199 --> 00:49:09.079
black veil. When she lifts the veil, she reveals

00:49:09.079 --> 00:49:11.780
a countenance of angelic beauty shining raven

00:49:11.780 --> 00:49:15.400
black hair, dark gentle eyes. Felix is absolutely

00:49:15.400 --> 00:49:17.659
ravished with delight. He calls her his sweet

00:49:17.659 --> 00:49:20.679
Arabian. Her name is Safi. Safi's arrival is

00:49:20.679 --> 00:49:23.340
the perfect narrative device for the creature's

00:49:23.340 --> 00:49:26.059
formal education. Because Safi is a foreigner

00:49:26.059 --> 00:49:28.280
and does not speak French, the language of the

00:49:28.280 --> 00:49:31.460
cottagers, Felix begins to instruct her systematically.

00:49:31.679 --> 00:49:34.070
And the creature? listening intently from his

00:49:34.070 --> 00:49:37.989
hovel, learns alongside her. Felix uses a specific

00:49:37.989 --> 00:49:41.010
historical text to teach her, Volney's Ruins

00:49:41.010 --> 00:49:44.010
of Empires. What exactly is Ruins of Empires?

00:49:44.250 --> 00:49:46.530
Because the creature says this book blows his

00:49:46.530 --> 00:49:49.190
mind and teaches him about the whole world. Constantine

00:49:49.190 --> 00:49:52.070
de Volney's Ruins of Empires, published in 1791,

00:49:52.610 --> 00:49:55.349
was a highly influential philosophical and historical

00:49:55.349 --> 00:49:57.949
text of the Enlightenment. It surveys the rise

00:49:57.949 --> 00:50:00.570
and fall of ancient civilizations, detailing

00:50:00.570 --> 00:50:02.699
human history, the formation of governments,

00:50:03.139 --> 00:50:05.440
the division of property, the bloody reality

00:50:05.440 --> 00:50:08.000
of human wars and religious conflicts. Through

00:50:08.000 --> 00:50:10.460
this book, the creature learns the grand violent

00:50:10.460 --> 00:50:12.639
history of the world. He learns about the Greeks,

00:50:12.840 --> 00:50:15.199
the Romans, the discovery of the Americas. He

00:50:15.199 --> 00:50:17.300
hears about wars and the slaughter of entire

00:50:17.300 --> 00:50:20.880
species. It confuses him deeply. He asks himself,

00:50:21.480 --> 00:50:24.960
was man Indeed, at once so powerful, so virtuous

00:50:24.960 --> 00:50:28.159
and magnificent, yet so vicious in base. He is

00:50:28.159 --> 00:50:30.079
learning that humanity is capable of incredible

00:50:30.079 --> 00:50:33.119
beauty, but also horrific cruelty. But the societal

00:50:33.119 --> 00:50:35.500
education he receives from Volney is even more

00:50:35.500 --> 00:50:38.039
painful on a personal level. He learns about

00:50:38.039 --> 00:50:40.320
the division of property, immense wealth, and

00:50:40.320 --> 00:50:43.539
squalid poverty, rank, and noble blood. He learns

00:50:43.539 --> 00:50:46.400
that in human society, a man without unsullied

00:50:46.400 --> 00:50:48.699
descent or riches is considered a vagabond and

00:50:48.699 --> 00:50:51.559
a slave, doomed to waste his powers for the profits

00:50:51.559 --> 00:50:54.239
of the chosen few. This brutally forces the creature

00:50:54.239 --> 00:50:56.360
to turn his reflections upon himself. He asks,

00:50:56.559 --> 00:50:58.849
and what was I? He realizes he has no money,

00:50:58.989 --> 00:51:01.210
no friends, no property, and a hideously deformed

00:51:01.210 --> 00:51:04.030
figure. He understands he is completely and permanently

00:51:04.030 --> 00:51:06.469
shut out from the entirety of human social structures.

00:51:06.750 --> 00:51:08.510
He talks about the burden of this knowledge.

00:51:08.630 --> 00:51:11.429
He says, of what a strange nature is knowledge.

00:51:11.650 --> 00:51:13.929
It clings to the mind when it is once seized

00:51:13.929 --> 00:51:16.269
on it, like a lichen on the rock. He actually

00:51:16.269 --> 00:51:17.969
wishes he could shake off all thought and feeling

00:51:17.969 --> 00:51:19.829
and just go back to being an ignorant beast in

00:51:19.829 --> 00:51:22.170
the woods, because understanding his isolation

00:51:22.170 --> 00:51:24.909
is agonizing. He learns about the concept of

00:51:24.909 --> 00:51:28.780
family. how fathers dode on infants, the unconditional

00:51:28.780 --> 00:51:31.659
love of a mother. And he realizes he never had

00:51:31.659 --> 00:51:34.280
any of that. No father watched his infant days.

00:51:34.699 --> 00:51:36.920
No mother blessed him with smiles. He remembers

00:51:36.920 --> 00:51:39.400
nothing of his creation except waking up fully

00:51:39.400 --> 00:51:42.159
grown and abandoned. To deepen his understanding

00:51:42.159 --> 00:51:45.019
of human injustice, the creature manages to piece

00:51:45.019 --> 00:51:47.239
together the history of the cottagers themselves.

00:51:47.800 --> 00:51:50.699
This backstory is not just filler. It is critical

00:51:50.699 --> 00:51:53.119
because it teaches the creature about systemic

00:51:53.119 --> 00:51:56.340
human betrayal. The old man, De Lacy, was once

00:51:56.340 --> 00:51:59.099
a highly affluent and respected citizen of Paris.

00:51:59.519 --> 00:52:01.480
Safi's father was a wealthy Turkish merchant

00:52:01.480 --> 00:52:04.099
living in Paris who became obnoxious to the government.

00:52:04.780 --> 00:52:07.360
He was unjustly condemned to death, largely due

00:52:07.360 --> 00:52:09.639
to prejudice against his religion and his immense

00:52:09.639 --> 00:52:12.780
wealth. Felix was at the trial. He was outraged

00:52:12.780 --> 00:52:15.260
by the blatant injustice and he vowed to free

00:52:15.260 --> 00:52:17.710
the merchant. He visited the prison grate where

00:52:17.710 --> 00:52:20.090
the Turk promised him great wealth and eventually

00:52:20.090 --> 00:52:22.449
the hand of his beautiful daughter Safi in marriage.

00:52:22.789 --> 00:52:25.289
Felix orchestrated a daring escape, successfully

00:52:25.289 --> 00:52:27.750
getting the Turk out of Paris and to leghorn

00:52:27.750 --> 00:52:30.630
Italy safely away from the executioner. But the

00:52:30.630 --> 00:52:34.110
French government discovered the plot. In retaliation,

00:52:34.429 --> 00:52:36.590
they threw the blind old De Lacy and his daughter

00:52:36.590 --> 00:52:40.260
Agatha into a noisome, terrible dungeon. Felix,

00:52:40.320 --> 00:52:42.940
out of profound devotion to his family, turned

00:52:42.940 --> 00:52:45.500
himself in to face the law, hoping to free his

00:52:45.500 --> 00:52:48.099
father and sister. Instead, the government kept

00:52:48.099 --> 00:52:50.159
them all in prison for five months, stripped

00:52:50.159 --> 00:52:53.000
them of all their wealth and property, and condemned

00:52:53.000 --> 00:52:55.539
them to perpetual exile. They lost everything

00:52:55.539 --> 00:52:57.699
because Felix tried to do the right thing. And

00:52:57.699 --> 00:52:59.679
here is the brutal kicker that teaches the creature

00:52:59.679 --> 00:53:02.500
about human hypocrisy. The Turkish merchant,

00:53:02.639 --> 00:53:04.760
after promising Felix everything and being saved

00:53:04.760 --> 00:53:07.460
by him, totally betrays him. When the merchant

00:53:07.460 --> 00:53:10.739
finds out Felix is ruined, impoverished and exiled,

00:53:11.119 --> 00:53:12.880
he decides he doesn't want his daughter marrying

00:53:12.880 --> 00:53:15.880
a poor Christian anymore. He insultingly sends

00:53:15.880 --> 00:53:18.679
Felix a tiny pittance of money and prepares to

00:53:18.679 --> 00:53:21.780
take Safi back to Turkey against her will. Safi,

00:53:21.780 --> 00:53:24.260
however, was raised by a Christian Arab mother

00:53:24.260 --> 00:53:26.880
who taught her to aspire to independence and

00:53:26.880 --> 00:53:29.019
higher intellect, things forbidden to women in

00:53:29.019 --> 00:53:31.820
her father's culture. She refuses to return to

00:53:31.820 --> 00:53:34.260
Turkey to be locked in a harem. Taking some jewels

00:53:34.260 --> 00:53:38.079
and a trusted attendant, she flees, travels dangerously

00:53:38.079 --> 00:53:40.539
across Europe, and eventually finds her way to

00:53:40.539 --> 00:53:43.579
Felix's exile cottage in Germany. This entire

00:53:43.579 --> 00:53:45.840
saga deepens the creature's understanding of

00:53:45.840 --> 00:53:48.760
profound virtue and love, but also of profound

00:53:48.760 --> 00:53:52.039
human treachery and institutional injustice.

00:53:52.480 --> 00:53:54.440
This brings us to the intellectual climax of

00:53:54.440 --> 00:53:57.039
the creature's story. One night in August, while

00:53:57.039 --> 00:53:59.320
scavenging in the woods, he finds a leathern

00:53:59.320 --> 00:54:02.400
courtmanteau, a traveling bag containing clothes

00:54:02.400 --> 00:54:05.119
and three specific books. Because he has been

00:54:05.119 --> 00:54:07.940
studying alongside Safi for months, he can read

00:54:07.940 --> 00:54:10.960
them and these three books become his entire

00:54:10.960 --> 00:54:13.670
psychological foundation. We really need to break

00:54:13.670 --> 00:54:16.510
down why Mary Shelley chose these three exact

00:54:16.510 --> 00:54:26.579
books. Each imparts a distinct, profound lesson

00:54:26.579 --> 00:54:28.860
that shapes the creature's soul. From the Sorrows

00:54:28.860 --> 00:54:31.360
of Young Werther, a highly emotional novel about

00:54:31.360 --> 00:54:33.380
a sensitive young man who eventually commits

00:54:33.380 --> 00:54:35.820
suicide out of unrequited love, the creature

00:54:35.820 --> 00:54:38.619
learns about deep interpersonal emotions, domestic

00:54:38.619 --> 00:54:42.239
manners, despondency, and gloom. He deeply identifies

00:54:42.239 --> 00:54:44.639
with Werther's intense feelings and questions

00:54:44.639 --> 00:54:47.360
about life, but Werther had friends who loved

00:54:47.360 --> 00:54:50.579
him. The creature realizes his own profound,

00:54:50.920 --> 00:54:53.590
unbridgeable isolation. Then he reads Plutarch's

00:54:53.590 --> 00:54:56.090
Lives, which is all about the founders of ancient

00:54:56.090 --> 00:54:58.610
republics and great military leaders of Greece

00:54:58.610 --> 00:55:01.690
and Rome. This book elevates him above his own

00:55:01.690 --> 00:55:04.429
wretchedness. It teaches him high thoughts, public

00:55:04.429 --> 00:55:07.840
affairs, and the heroes of history. He learns

00:55:07.840 --> 00:55:10.400
to admire peaceable law -givers like Numa and

00:55:10.400 --> 00:55:13.400
Solon over violent conquerors. He feels this

00:55:13.400 --> 00:55:16.559
intense ardor for virtue and a deep abhorrence

00:55:16.559 --> 00:55:19.800
for vice. He wants to be good. But the most consequential

00:55:19.800 --> 00:55:22.840
text by far is Paradise Lost. The creature reads

00:55:22.840 --> 00:55:25.739
Mildon's epic theological poem about the creation

00:55:25.739 --> 00:55:28.079
of the world, the fall of man, and the rebellion

00:55:28.079 --> 00:55:30.820
of Satan. Crucially, Because he has no concept

00:55:30.820 --> 00:55:33.260
of fiction versus non -fiction, he reads it as

00:55:33.260 --> 00:55:35.800
literal history. He compares his own situation

00:55:35.800 --> 00:55:37.980
to the figures in the poem searching for his

00:55:37.980 --> 00:55:40.320
place in the cosmos. He analyzes his existence

00:55:40.320 --> 00:55:42.980
through Milton's lens. He says, like Adam, I

00:55:42.980 --> 00:55:45.099
was apparently united by no link to any other

00:55:45.099 --> 00:55:47.360
being in existence. But the comparison stops

00:55:47.360 --> 00:55:49.559
right there. Adam came from the hands of God

00:55:49.559 --> 00:55:52.619
as a perfect creature, happy, prosperous, guarded

00:55:52.619 --> 00:55:54.920
by his creator's care, and allowed to converse

00:55:54.920 --> 00:55:57.760
with angelic beings. The creature realizes he

00:55:57.760 --> 00:56:00.760
is wretched, helpless, and alone. So he finds

00:56:00.760 --> 00:56:03.719
a far more accurate, much darker comparison.

00:56:04.300 --> 00:56:06.800
Many times I considered Seton as the fitter emblem

00:56:06.800 --> 00:56:09.639
of my condition, for often, like him, when I

00:56:09.639 --> 00:56:12.260
viewed the bliss of my protectors, the bitter

00:56:12.260 --> 00:56:15.000
gall of envy rose within me. To connect this

00:56:15.000 --> 00:56:17.239
back to your earlier analogy about modern tech

00:56:17.239 --> 00:56:20.159
founders and artificial intelligence, imagine

00:56:20.159 --> 00:56:23.260
creating a highly intelligent, self -aware AI.

00:56:23.449 --> 00:56:26.289
and the only text it has to understand its relationship

00:56:26.289 --> 00:56:29.829
to its creator is Paradise Lost. It recognizes

00:56:29.829 --> 00:56:32.070
that it has been abandoned by its god, and it

00:56:32.070 --> 00:56:34.530
begins to identify with a fallen angel who declares

00:56:34.530 --> 00:56:37.730
war on heaven out of pure, envious spite. This

00:56:37.730 --> 00:56:40.210
tragic self -realization is compounded by one

00:56:40.210 --> 00:56:42.769
final, devastating discovery the creature makes.

00:56:43.070 --> 00:56:44.769
In the pocket of the clothes he took from Victor's

00:56:44.769 --> 00:56:46.949
laboratory the night he fled, the creature finds

00:56:46.949 --> 00:56:49.170
Victor's journal. It's the journal detailing

00:56:49.170 --> 00:56:51.469
the four months preceding his creation. Because

00:56:51.469 --> 00:56:54.039
he can read now, he deciphers it. He reads the

00:56:54.039 --> 00:56:57.119
exact minute descriptions of his own odious and

00:56:57.119 --> 00:56:59.860
loathsome construction written in language that

00:56:59.860 --> 00:57:02.139
paints Victor's absolute horror and disgust at

00:57:02.139 --> 00:57:04.639
what he was building. The creature is devastated.

00:57:05.079 --> 00:57:07.380
He reads firsthand how disgusted his own creator

00:57:07.380 --> 00:57:10.039
was by him. He cries out, hateful day when I

00:57:10.039 --> 00:57:12.960
received life, God in pity made man beautiful

00:57:12.960 --> 00:57:16.239
and alluring after his own image. But my form

00:57:16.239 --> 00:57:19.119
is a filthy type of yours, more horrid even from

00:57:19.119 --> 00:57:22.119
the very resemblance. Satan had his companions,

00:57:22.400 --> 00:57:25.199
fellow devils, to admire and encourage him, but

00:57:25.199 --> 00:57:28.099
I am solitary and abhorred. Despite this overwhelming

00:57:28.099 --> 00:57:30.440
despair, despite knowing his creator hates him,

00:57:30.599 --> 00:57:33.320
the creature clings to one final desperate hope.

00:57:34.059 --> 00:57:36.539
He has spent an entire year observing the Dalacies.

00:57:36.840 --> 00:57:39.119
He knows their benevolence. He reasons that the

00:57:39.119 --> 00:57:42.170
old man Dalacy is completely blind. A blind man

00:57:42.170 --> 00:57:44.550
cannot be prejudiced by unnatural hideousness.

00:57:44.989 --> 00:57:47.110
The creature forms a brilliant desperate plan.

00:57:47.550 --> 00:57:49.230
He will approach the old man when the younger

00:57:49.230 --> 00:57:51.670
family members are away, win his sympathy through

00:57:51.670 --> 00:57:53.889
his eloquent gentle voice, and have the father

00:57:53.889 --> 00:57:56.269
mediate on his behalf with the younger generation.

00:57:56.610 --> 00:58:00.119
It is a profound test of human nature. Will the

00:58:00.119 --> 00:58:02.599
spoken word, the content of the creature's character,

00:58:02.820 --> 00:58:05.880
overcome the visual prejudice of humanity? Autumn

00:58:05.880 --> 00:58:08.760
passes, winter arrives, and the perfect moment

00:58:08.760 --> 00:58:12.219
finally comes. Felix, Agatha, and Safi go on

00:58:12.219 --> 00:58:14.960
a long country walk. The blind old man is left

00:58:14.960 --> 00:58:17.539
alone in the cottage playing his guitar. The

00:58:17.539 --> 00:58:19.559
creature gathers all his courage, walks up to

00:58:19.559 --> 00:58:22.400
the door, and knocks. The conversation that ensues

00:58:22.400 --> 00:58:25.139
is incredibly tense. The creature enters and

00:58:25.139 --> 00:58:27.320
introduces himself as a traveler in want of a

00:58:27.320 --> 00:58:30.980
little rest. DeLacy welcomes him warmly, offering

00:58:30.980 --> 00:58:33.840
him a chair and a fire. The creature slowly begins

00:58:33.840 --> 00:58:36.659
to explain his situation. He says he is going

00:58:36.659 --> 00:58:38.820
to claim the protection of some friends he dearly

00:58:38.820 --> 00:58:40.940
loves, but he fears they are prejudiced against

00:58:40.940 --> 00:58:42.840
him because although his life has been entirely

00:58:42.840 --> 00:58:45.400
harmless, and he has even performed secret favors

00:58:45.400 --> 00:58:48.119
for them, they behold him only as a detestable

00:58:48.119 --> 00:58:51.280
monster. DeLacy, acting as the ideal of blind

00:58:51.280 --> 00:58:54.489
justice and compassion, is deeply moved. He says

00:58:54.489 --> 00:58:57.710
the hearts of men, when unprejudiced by any obvious

00:58:57.710 --> 00:59:00.389
self -interest, are full of brotherly love and

00:59:00.389 --> 00:59:03.510
charity. He tells the creature not to despair

00:59:03.510 --> 00:59:06.329
and offers to help undeceive these friends, noting

00:59:06.329 --> 00:59:07.989
that there is something in the creature's words

00:59:07.989 --> 00:59:10.409
that persuades him of its absolute sincerity.

00:59:10.690 --> 00:59:12.929
The creature feels a massive surge of hope. He

00:59:12.929 --> 00:59:14.889
thinks he's about to secure his place in the

00:59:14.889 --> 00:59:18.170
human family. He calls DeLacy his best and only

00:59:18.170 --> 00:59:21.050
benefactor. But then the old man asks for the

00:59:21.050 --> 00:59:23.320
names and residents of these friends. The creature

00:59:23.320 --> 00:59:25.980
hesitates, overwhelmed by the magnitude of the

00:59:25.980 --> 00:59:28.800
moment. He sinks to the ground, sobbing. And

00:59:28.800 --> 00:59:31.039
just at that exact moment, he hears the steps

00:59:31.039 --> 00:59:33.659
of Felix, Safi, and Agatha returning from their

00:59:33.659 --> 00:59:35.900
walk. The creature panics. The window of opportunity

00:59:35.900 --> 00:59:38.059
is closing. He grabs the blind old man's hand

00:59:38.059 --> 00:59:40.360
and cries out, Now is the time. Save and protect

00:59:40.360 --> 00:59:42.119
me. You and your family are the friends whom

00:59:42.119 --> 00:59:45.139
I seek. The old man, suddenly realizing the mysterious

00:59:45.139 --> 00:59:48.340
benefactor is in his house, exclaims, Great God!

00:59:48.739 --> 00:59:52.059
Who are you? The door flies open. and the reaction

00:59:52.059 --> 00:59:54.900
from the younger generation is absolute violent

00:59:54.900 --> 00:59:58.260
chaos. It is heartbreaking. Agatha takes one

00:59:58.260 --> 01:00:01.500
look at the giant and faints dead away. Safi,

01:00:01.719 --> 01:00:03.960
the brave woman who crossed Europe alone, is

01:00:03.960 --> 01:00:06.739
so terrified she rushes out of the cottage. Felix,

01:00:06.780 --> 01:00:09.139
seeing this horrifying giant monster clinging

01:00:09.139 --> 01:00:11.739
to his blind father's knees, assumes his father

01:00:11.739 --> 01:00:14.820
is being attacked. Felix darts forward with supernatural

01:00:14.820 --> 01:00:17.420
force, tears the creature away from the old man,

01:00:17.780 --> 01:00:19.679
and begins violently beating him with a heavy

01:00:19.679 --> 01:00:22.539
stick. The creature explicitly notes that he

01:00:22.539 --> 01:00:25.340
was vastly stronger. He could have torn Felix

01:00:25.340 --> 01:00:27.820
limb from limb in a second, but his heart is

01:00:27.820 --> 01:00:30.800
so utterly broken by this ultimate violent rejection

01:00:30.800 --> 01:00:33.400
from the very people he loved that he does not

01:00:33.400 --> 01:00:36.139
strike back. He simply covers his face, flees

01:00:36.139 --> 01:00:39.039
the cottage, and takes refuge in his hovel. And

01:00:39.039 --> 01:00:41.639
that agonizing moment of shattered hope is where

01:00:41.639 --> 01:00:43.920
the source material we are examining today concludes.

01:00:44.340 --> 01:00:46.570
It's... Just devastating. We've gone on this

01:00:46.570 --> 01:00:49.809
incredible journey from Victor's isolated unchecked

01:00:49.809 --> 01:00:52.429
ambition in a laboratory in Ingleshot, creating

01:00:52.429 --> 01:00:55.349
life purely out of scientific hubris to the creature's

01:00:55.349 --> 01:00:57.949
forced agonizing isolation, culminating in this

01:00:57.949 --> 01:00:59.949
violent rejection by the only people he sought

01:00:59.949 --> 01:01:03.909
to serve. The tragic arc is perfectly symmetrically

01:01:03.909 --> 01:01:07.670
mirrored. Victor chose isolation to acquire God

01:01:07.670 --> 01:01:10.730
-like power, actively neglecting his family and

01:01:10.730 --> 01:01:13.010
abandoning his ethical responsibilities. The

01:01:13.010 --> 01:01:15.590
creature, thrust into existence without his consent,

01:01:15.949 --> 01:01:18.230
desperately seeks the warmth of family and social

01:01:18.230 --> 01:01:20.869
connection, only to be violently denied it at

01:01:20.869 --> 01:01:23.250
every turn solely because of the physical form

01:01:23.250 --> 01:01:26.230
his creator gave him. I want you, the learner.

01:01:26.429 --> 01:01:28.929
to really think about this, because this text

01:01:28.929 --> 01:01:31.449
completely flips the script on who the real monster

01:01:31.449 --> 01:01:34.329
is. Is the monster the eight foot tall being

01:01:34.329 --> 01:01:37.050
who was born entirely benevolent, who spent a

01:01:37.050 --> 01:01:38.889
year learning language just to make friends,

01:01:39.230 --> 01:01:41.409
who chopped wood for a starved family in the

01:01:41.409 --> 01:01:43.909
dead of winter, and who only considered violence

01:01:43.909 --> 01:01:46.829
after being subjected to relentless physical

01:01:46.829 --> 01:01:49.150
and emotional misery? Or is the true monster

01:01:49.150 --> 01:01:51.829
the brilliant, privileged creator who brought

01:01:51.829 --> 01:01:54.289
a conscious life into the world and then immediately

01:01:54.289 --> 01:01:56.900
abandoned it in terror? because it wasn't aesthetically

01:01:56.900 --> 01:01:59.300
pleasing. This raises an important question,

01:01:59.699 --> 01:02:02.079
one that resonates heavily today in our age of

01:02:02.079 --> 01:02:05.780
rapid technological innovation. Victor Frankenstein

01:02:05.780 --> 01:02:08.820
represents the profound danger of knowledge pursued

01:02:08.820 --> 01:02:11.460
without empathy, without foresight, and without

01:02:11.460 --> 01:02:13.719
a commitment to the consequences of what is created.

01:02:13.920 --> 01:02:16.260
We are constantly pushing the boundaries of science,

01:02:16.539 --> 01:02:18.840
whether it's artificial intelligence, bioengineering,

01:02:18.940 --> 01:02:22.519
or data collection. But like Victor, are we preparing

01:02:22.519 --> 01:02:24.940
ourselves for the immense responsibility of caring

01:02:24.940 --> 01:02:27.579
for, regulating, and integrating what we create?

01:02:27.960 --> 01:02:30.320
Or are we simply intoxicated by the power of

01:02:30.320 --> 01:02:33.199
the spark? It is the ultimate cautionary tale

01:02:33.199 --> 01:02:35.280
for innovators. And I want to leave you with

01:02:35.280 --> 01:02:37.480
one final provocative thought to mull over on

01:02:37.480 --> 01:02:40.340
your own. It all comes back to that dreary rain

01:02:40.340 --> 01:02:43.320
-soaked night in November. If Victor had not

01:02:43.320 --> 01:02:45.679
run away in terror, if he had fought his flinch

01:02:45.679 --> 01:02:48.280
reflex, stayed in that room, if when that newborn

01:02:48.280 --> 01:02:50.480
creature reached out a massive hand and muttered,

01:02:50.760 --> 01:02:52.679
Victor had offered it a single look of parental

01:02:52.679 --> 01:02:55.579
love or even just basic human compassion, would

01:02:55.579 --> 01:02:57.480
the murders of little William and Justine Moritz

01:02:57.480 --> 01:02:59.599
have ever happened? Was the creature destined

01:02:59.599 --> 01:03:01.840
for violence from the moment his dead parts were

01:03:01.840 --> 01:03:04.539
stitched together, or was his violence entirely

01:03:04.539 --> 01:03:07.500
manufactured by his creator's superficial disgust

01:03:07.500 --> 01:03:10.619
and abandonment? It is a question that challenges

01:03:10.619 --> 01:03:13.539
the very nature of creation, responsibility,

01:03:13.880 --> 01:03:15.980
and the social contracts that bind us all together.

01:03:16.460 --> 01:03:18.500
Thank you so much for joining us on this deep

01:03:18.500 --> 01:03:21.199
dive into the true heart of Mary Shelley's masterpiece.

01:03:21.920 --> 01:03:24.159
Until next time, keep questioning, keep learning,

01:03:24.400 --> 01:03:26.159
and remember to always look beyond the myth.