VICTOR

My name is Victor Frankenstein. I was born in Geneva, Switzerland. When I was seventeen, I was sent to the great University of Ingolstadt. I was an ardent student, my restless mind hungry for knowledge and new ideas. It was the mystery of life itself that eventually became my sole occupation. How is lifeless matter miraculously transformed into a living being? If I could solve this mystery, what glory would attend this discovery!

I entered into the search for the elixir of life. Winter, spring, and summer passed in a haze of labor and fatigue. And then a sudden light broke in upon me-a light so brilliant, yet so simple. When I found so astonishing a power placed within my hands, I hesitated. Should I attempt the creation of a being like myself? But so excited was I, that any doubts were easily overcome. 

So it was that on a dreary night in November, I beheld the accomplishment of my toils. I collected the instruments of life around me, that I might infuse a spark of being into the lifeless thing that lay at my feet.

VICTOR

By the glimmer of the nearly burnt out candle, I saw the dull yellow eye of the creature open and his limbs begin to stir. Now animated with life his appearance was hideous, a grotesque parody of human beauty. I fled in terror from the creature I created and left him to find his own way in the world.