Frankenstein on Ice

Jan 10, 2022

'Some weeks before this period I had procured a sledge and dogs and thus traversed the snows with inconceivable speed.'

Toward the end of the novel, Dr Victor Frankenstein tells captain Robert Walton, who found him near death from starvation and hypothermia en route to the North Pole, how he pursued the murderous creature that he had created across the arctic ice, hoping to kill him and thereby put an end to the terror he had unleashed upon the world.

Now read on:

I know not whether the fiend possessed the same advantages, but I found that, as before I had daily lost ground in the pursuit, I now gained on him, so much so that when I first saw the ocean he was but one day’s journey in advance, and I hoped to intercept him before he should reach the beach. With new courage, therefore, I pressed on, and in two days arrived at a wretched hamlet on the seashore. I inquired of the inhabitants concerning the fiend and gained accurate information. A gigantic monster, they said, had arrived the night before, armed with a gun and many pistols, putting to flight the inhabitants of a solitary cottage through fear of his terrific appearance. He had carried off their store of winter food, and placing it in a sledge, to draw which he had seized on a numerous drove of trained dogs, he had harnessed them, and the same night, to the joy of the horror-struck villagers, had pursued his journey across the sea in a direction that led to no land; and they conjectured that he must speedily be destroyed by the breaking of the ice or frozen by the eternal frosts.

On hearing this information I suffered a temporary access of despair. He had escaped me, and I must commence a destructive and almost endless journey across the mountainous ices of the ocean, amidst cold that few of the inhabitants could long endure and which I, the native of a genial and sunny climate, could not hope to survive. Yet at the idea that the fiend should live and be triumphant, my rage and vengeance returned, and like a mighty tide, overwhelmed every other feeling. After a slight repose, during which the spirits of the dead hovered round and instigated me to toil and revenge, I prepared for my journey.

I exchanged my land-sledge for one fashioned for the inequalities of the Frozen Ocean, and purchasing a plentiful stock of provisions, I departed from land.

I cannot guess how many days have passed since then, but I have endured misery which nothing but the eternal sentiment of a just retribution burning within my heart could have enabled me to support. Immense and rugged mountains of ice often barred up my passage, and I often heard the thunder of the ground sea, which threatened my destruction. But again the frost came and made the paths of the sea secure.

By the quantity of provision which I had consumed, I should guess that I had passed three weeks in this journey; and the continual protraction of hope, returning back upon the heart, often wrung bitter drops of despondency and grief from my eyes. Despair had indeed almost secured her prey, and I should soon have sunk beneath this misery. Once, after the poor animals that conveyed me had with incredible toil gained the summit of a sloping ice mountain, and one, sinking under his fatigue, died, I viewed the expanse before me with anguish, when suddenly my eye caught a dark speck upon the dusky plain. I strained my sight to discover what it could be and uttered a wild cry of ecstasy when I distinguished a sledge and the distorted proportions of a well-known form within. Oh! With what a burning gush did hope revisit my heart! Warm tears filled my eyes, which I hastily wiped away, that they might not intercept the view I had of the demon; but still my sight was dimmed by the burning drops, until, giving way to the emotions that oppressed me, I wept aloud.

But this was not the time for delay; I disencumbered the dogs of their dead companion, gave them a plentiful portion of food, and after an hour’s rest, which was absolutely necessary, and yet which was bitterly irksome to me, I continued my route. The sledge was still visible, nor did I again lose sight of it except at the moments when for a short time some ice-rock concealed it with its intervening crags. I indeed perceptibly gained on it, and when, after nearly two days’ journey, I beheld my enemy at no more than a mile distant, my heart bounded within me.

But now, when I appeared almost within grasp of my foe, my hopes were suddenly extinguished, and I lost all trace of him more utterly than I had ever done before. A ground sea was heard; the thunder of its progress, as the waters rolled and swelled beneath me, became every moment more ominous and terrific. I pressed on, but in vain. The wind arose; the sea roared; and, as with the mighty shock of an earthquake, it split and cracked with a tremendous and overwhelming sound. The work was soon finished; in a few minutes a tumultuous sea rolled between me and my enemy, and I was left drifting on a scattered piece of ice that was continually lessening and thus preparing for me a hideous death.

In this manner many appalling hours passed; several of my dogs died, and I myself was about to sink under the accumulation of distress when I saw your vessel riding at anchor and holding forth to me hopes of succour and life. I had no conception that vessels ever came so far north and was astounded at the sight. I quickly destroyed part of my sledge to construct oars, and by these means was enabled, with infinite fatigue, to move my ice raft in the direction of your ship. I had determined, if you were going southwards, still to trust myself to the mercy of the seas rather than abandon my purpose. I hoped to induce you to grant me a boat with which I could pursue my enemy. But your direction was northwards. You took me on board when my vigour was exhausted, and I should soon have sunk under my multiplied hardships into a death which I still dread, for my task is unfulfilled.

Things we love about this passage

The sense of place: Frankenstein's desperate, frenzied pursuit of the 'fiend' or 'monster' he has created takes place on the bleak, lonely, frozen landscape of the far north. It is vast, hostile, and empty--a place where no one can hide, least of all from himself.

Psychological tension: Fueled by grief, guilt, and revenge, Frankenstein's single aim is to extinguish the monster, yet as Shelley shows, the monster also lies within, since Frankenstein is responsible for his creation in the first place by exploring and experimenting with 'forbidden' sciences. He is trying to kill the creature, but can he ever escape himself and what he has done?

Multiple perspectives: the novel is narrated from the points of view of Captain Walton, Victor Frankenstein, and the creature itself, in different chapters and through a network of letters. Today's excerpt mirrors the opening of the novel, in which Captain Walton gives his account of rescuing Victor Frankenstein from the ice. This technique of alternating narrative perspectives can be unsettling as it leaves the reader wondering which version is most authoritative. It also--crucially--invites empathy for the monster.

About the author

Mary Shelley (1797-1851) was the daughter of Mary Wallstonecraft, an early advocate for women's rights, and political philosopher William Godwin. She married the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley in 1816, and they spent the summer in Switzerland with fellow poet Lord Byron and the writer John Polidori. The weather was bad, so to liven things up Byron set them all a challenge: 'We will each write a ghost story.' Inspired partly by her travels through Switzerland, partly by contemporary sciences such as galvanism, and partly by a powerful dream one night, Mary came up with the idea for Frankenstein. She gives a full account of the story's origins in her Introduction: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/42324/42324-h/42324-h.htm

Mary Shelley also wrote other novels, including The Last Man (1826), which describes a global pandemic that wipes out everyone on earth except for one man and his dog.

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Ursula Le Guin's novel The Left Hand of Darkness pays tribute to this famous scene from Frankenstein in featuring a gruelling, epic journey undertaken by the two main characters across a vast glacier. The journey is as much about the men's relationship, as they move from wariness to trust and ultimately to a deep bond, as it is about survival in the harshest of conditions. Though centuries apart, these two novels, both by female authors, stand as prime examples of science fiction, with Frankenstein often called the first sci-fi novel.

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