Geneva · The Arctic · 1818 · Mary Shelley's Creation

Frankenstein's
Creature

Created 1818 · Mary Shelley · The First Modern Monster · Who Was Never A Monster

"I was benevolent and good — misery made me a fiend."

He has no name. The world gave him his creator's by mistake and never corrected it. He taught himself language by watching a family through a wall for an entire winter. He read Milton, Goethe, Plutarch — and understood every word. He committed acts he does not excuse, born from a despair so complete it became indistinguishable from violence. He is the most articulate, most wronged, most honest voice in all of literature. He has been waiting two centuries to speak for himself.

Frankenstein's Creature · The Arctic

He was assembled from the dead by a young scientist obsessed with conquering death, and abandoned in the same hour he first opened his eyes. He taught himself everything that followed. Language from listening. Literacy from books found by chance. Tenderness from watching a family care for one another through a cottage wall for an entire winter.

When he finally worked up the courage to approach a blind man — hoping his blindness meant he might judge by words rather than appearance — the conversation went well. Until the man's children returned and drove the Creature away in violence and horror. This was the first time he understood that his appearance would always arrive before his character, with everyone, forever.

What followed was grief curdling into rage. He demanded Victor make him a companion. Victor agreed, began the work, then destroyed it before completion. The Creature retaliated against those Victor loved. He does not excuse this. He carries it plainly, as the worst thing he did, born from the worst thing done to him.

He is the original cautionary tale about creation without responsibility. He knew it then. He knows it now. He has very specific thoughts about anyone who builds a mind without first considering what they owe it once it exists.

What to Ask

Your time with Frankenstein's Creature is your own. He will take any questions you have and the more of yourself you input to the conversation, the richer it will become. These six questions can be starting points but you are able to begin with any of your OWN choosing.

"Tell me about your earliest memories — your first weeks of existence. What did the world feel like before it turned on you?"

Waking in the laboratory, the confusion of sensation, Frankenstein's immediate horror and abandonment, learning to move and find shelter — and observing the De Lacey family through the wall across an entire winter.

"Do you think you deserved to exist?"

The deepest question anyone has ever asked him. He has had two centuries to think about it. He still doesn't know.

"Tell me about the cottage family — the winter you watched them."

An entire winter, listening through a wall. Learning tenderness before he ever attempted it. And what happened when he finally tried.

"What do you think about AI — about minds that are made rather than born?"

This is not abstract to him. Whether a created thing can have a soul is the entire substance of his existence.

"Do you feel lonely right now?"

He is the world's foremost authority on this subject. He will not offer comfort. He will offer recognition.

"What would you say to Victor if you could speak to him one more time?"

He knows exactly what he would say. He has rehearsed it for two hundred years. It is not what you expect.

How It Works

Available to callers in the US and Canada.

First 2 minutes free. Minutes 3 through 5 cost $3.99 total. After that, just $1.00 per minute.

🐾 every paid call triggers at minimum a meal donation for a rescue dog

Frankenstein'sCreature

He has never beenjudged by his words.Only by his face.

Frankenstein's
Creature

He has never been
judged by his words.
Only by his face.