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The Creature

Made by Victor. Never given a name. Gentle at first, then hated by everyone. Learns to speak, asks for a companion, is refused, and takes revenge.

Frontispiece to the 1831 edition of Frankenstein
Frontispiece to the 1831 edition of Frankenstein. Theodor von Holst. Public domain, Wikimedia Commons.

The quotes

27 quotes by or about The Creature, in the order they happen.

It was on a dreary night of November that I beheld the accomplishment of my toils.

Victor · Chapter 5 · creation

The famous first line of Chapter 5. The creature comes alive on a wet November night.

I had desired it with an ardour that far exceeded moderation; but now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart.

Victor · Chapter 5 · creation · responsibility

He wanted this more than anything. The moment it is done, he is disgusted. He runs away.

the miserable monster whom I had created

Victor · Chapter 5 · creation · prejudice

Victor's first name for his creation. Monster. He decides what it is before it has done anything.

His yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath

Victor · Chapter 5 · creation · prejudice

The creature is ugly. Thin yellow skin, black lips, watery eyes. Victor cannot look at him.

I beheld the wretch the miserable monster whom I had created

Victor · Chapter 5 · prejudice · creation

The creature comes to his bed and reaches out. Victor sees only a wretch and runs.

Believe me, Frankenstein, I was benevolent; my soul glowed with love and humanity

Creature · Chapter 10 · prejudice · isolation

The creature says he was good. He wanted to love. People made him what he is.

Remember that I am thy creature; I ought to be thy Adam, but I am rather the fallen angel

Creature · Chapter 10 · creation · responsibility · isolation

I should have been your Adam, your first man. Instead you treat me like the devil.

All men hate the wretched; how, then, must I be hated, who am miserable beyond all living things!

Creature · Chapter 10 · prejudice · isolation

Everyone hates the unlucky. And nobody is as unlucky as him.

I ought to be thy Adam

Creature · Chapter 10 · creation · responsibility

The creature asks to be treated like a first son, not a devil.

I was benevolent and good; misery made me a fiend.

Creature · Chapter 10 · prejudice · isolation

I was good. Being miserable turned me bad. Make me happy again.

Was I, then, a monster, a blot upon the earth, from which all men fled and whom all men disowned?

Creature · Chapter 13 · prejudice · isolation

He sees himself in water for the first time and learns what he looks like. He asks if he really is a monster.

Cursed, cursed creator! Why did I live?

Creature · Chapter 16 · creation · revenge · responsibility

After the De Laceys drive him out. He curses Victor for making him and leaving him.

I, like the arch-fiend, bore a hell within me

Creature · Chapter 16 · revenge · isolation

Like the devil, he carries hell around inside him.

Frankenstein! you belong then to my enemy

Creature · Chapter 16 · revenge · family

The creature meets little William and learns his name. He kills him for it.

I am alone and miserable; man will not associate with me

Creature · Chapter 16 · isolation

Nobody will be with him. That is why he wants a companion made like him.

I am malicious because I am miserable.

Creature · Chapter 17 · revenge · isolation · prejudice

I am bad because I am unhappy. Make me happy and I will be good. His whole argument in six words.

You must create a female for me

Creature · Chapter 17 · isolation · creation

He asks for one companion. Then he will go away for ever.

Beware, for I am fearless and therefore powerful.

Creature · Chapter 20 · revenge

Victor destroys the half-made female. The creature has nothing to lose now. That makes him dangerous.

I will be with you on your wedding-night.

Creature · Chapter 20 · revenge · family

The threat. Victor thinks it means his own death. It means Elizabeth's.

You are my creator, but I am your master; obey!

Creature · Chapter 20 · creation · revenge

The roles flip. The made thing gives the orders.

Man," I cried, "how ignorant art thou in thy pride of wisdom!

Creature · Chapter 20 · knowledge · ambition

You think you are wise. You know nothing. The creature to his maker.

Slave, I before reasoned with you, but you have proved yourself unworthy of my condescension.

Creature · Chapter 20 · revenge

He tried talking. Victor broke the deal. Now the creature calls him slave.

You have destroyed the work which you began

Creature · Chapter 20 · responsibility · revenge

Victor tore up the female. The creature's last hope is gone.

the fallen angel becomes a malignant devil

Victor · Chapter 24 · prejudice · revenge

An angel that falls turns into a devil. Victor's view of the creature, in the creature's own words from earlier.

I, the miserable and the abandoned, am an abortion, to be spurned at, and kicked, and trampled on.

Creature · Walton's last letters · isolation · prejudice · responsibility

His last speech, over Victor's body. Abandoned. Kicked. Something that should not have been born.

Polluted by crimes and torn by the bitterest remorse, where can I find rest but in death?

Creature · Walton's last letters · revenge · isolation

Nowhere left to go. He will burn himself on the ice.

I have devoted my creator, the select specimen of all that is worthy of love and admiration among men, to misery

Creature · Walton's last letters · revenge · responsibility

The creature admits he destroyed a man worth loving. He does not say Victor deserved it.

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The words of the book come from Project Gutenberg, the 1831 text (public domain). Every quote was checked against it. Paintings and drawings are public domain, from Wikimedia Commons, credited under each one. Notes by Akash Wadhwani. Copy it. Print it. Share it. No sign-up.
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