Original artwork, not a still
Frankenstein ‧ 1818
It was on a dreary night of November that I beheld the accomplishment of my toils.
Behind the line
What it means
Our interpretation.
The line is a sentence of dread: Victor's triumph and his regret arrive in the same moment. Almost everything people remember about the novel starts here, and the creature's open yellow eye is the image that cinema borrowed. It is also why the book is as much about Victor as the monster, since his failure is that he walks away from what he made.
Context reviewed
In context
Spoilers for FrankensteinShow the scene
Chapter 5 of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1818), in Ingolstadt. After nearly two years of work, Victor Frankenstein has finally finished his creature. At one in the morning, with rain on the panes and his candle nearly burnt out, he sees its dull yellow eye open. Horror and disgust fill him at once. He rushes from the room and dreams that Elizabeth turns into his dead mother's corpse. He wakes to find the creature at his bed, and flees into the courtyard.
Sources (1)
- Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, Project GutenbergChapter 5 (opening pages)Reference checked
Context reviewed
