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My life might have been passed in ease and luxury; but I preferred glory to every enticement that wealth placed in my path.
My courage and my resolution is firm; but my hopes fluctuate, and my spirits are often depressed.
I have no friend, Margaret: when I am glowing with the enthusiasm of success, there will be none to participate my joy; if I am assailed by disappointment, no one will endeavour to sustain me in dejection.
I desire the company of a man who could sympathize with me; whose eyes would reply to mine. You may deem me romantic, my dear sister, but I bitterly feel the want of a friend. I have no one near me, gentle yet courageous, possessed of a cultivated as well as of a capacious mind, whose tastes are like my own, to approve or amend my plans.
Continue to write to me by every opportunity; I may receive your letters (though the chance is very doubtful) on some occasions when I need them most to support my spirits. I love you very tenderly. Remember me with affection, should you never hear from me again.
im gonna start saying this to people, watch 😂 “should you never hear from me again” meanwhile its just me going to work
a being which had the shape of a man, but apparently of gigantic stature, sat in the sledge, and guided the dogs.
“To seek one who fled from me.”
I said in one of my letters, my dear Margaret, that I should find no friend on the wide ocean; yet I have found a man who, before his spirit had been broken by misery, I should have been happy to have possessed as the brother of my heart.
Of these I was the eldest, and the destined successor to all his labours and utility.
infant Elizabeth,
OH THEY WERE COUSINS??
These indications, and a desire to bind as closely as possible the ties of domestic love, determined my mother to consider Elizabeth as my future wife; a design which she never found reason to repent.
oh this was premeditated…. stay tuned for more notes
I delighted in investigating the facts relative to the actual world; she busied herself in following the aerial creations of the poets. The world was to me a secret, which I desired to discover; to her it was a vacancy, which she sought to people with imaginations of her own.
But the latter obtained my undivided attention: wealth was an inferior object; but what glory would attend the discovery, if I could banish disease from the human frame, and render man invulnerable to any but a violent death!
Neither of us possessed the slightest pre-eminence over the other; the voice of command was never heard amongst us; but mutual affection engaged us all to comply with and obey the slightest desire of each other.
I will endeavour to resign myself cheerfully to death, and will indulge a hope of meeting you in another world.”
this lowkey was really sweet to say… like she’s actively dying in the moment and she’s hopeful to see her family in her next life
why should I describe a sorrow which all have felt, and must feel? The time at length arrives, when grief is rather an indulgence than a necessity;
I, who had ever been surrounded by amiable companions, continually engaged in endeavouring to bestow mutual pleasure, I was now alone.
Thus ended a day memorable to me; it decided my future destiny.
the more fully I entered into the science, the more exclusively I pursued it for its own sake.
In other studies you go as far as others have gone before you, and there is nothing more to know; but in a scientific pursuit there is continual food for discovery and wonder.
I succeeded in discovering the cause of generation and life; nay, more, I became myself capable of bestowing animation upon lifeless matter.
What had been the study and desire of the wisest men since the creation of the world, was now within my grasp.
how dangerous is the acquirement of knowledge, and how much happier that man is who believes his native town to be the world, than he who aspires to become greater than his nature will allow.
It was with these feelings that I began the creation of a human being.
Life and death appeared to me ideal bounds, which I should first break through, and pour a torrent of light into our dark world.
A human being in perfection ought always to preserve a calm and peaceful mind, and never to allow passion or a transitory desire to disturb his tranquillity.
I had worked hard for nearly two years, for the sole purpose of infusing life into an inanimate body. For this I had deprived myself of rest and health. 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.
2 years of working towards this and ending up hating your own work is crazy…
Like one who, on a lonely road, Doth walk in fear and dread, And, having once turn’d round, walks on, And turns no more his head; Because he knows a frightful fiend Doth close behind him tread.
in a moment forgot my horror and misfortune; I felt suddenly, and for the first time during many months, calm and serene joy.
when I became assured that my enemy had indeed fled, I clapped my hands for joy,
How could you suppose that my first thought would not fly towards those dear, dear friends whom I love, and who are so deserving of my love.”
A selfish pursuit had cramped and narrowed me, until your gentleness and affection warmed and opened my senses;
this line is romantic ngl.. like i would put this in a love letter
the print of the murderer’s finger was on his neck.
Enter the house of mourning, my friend, but with kindness and affection for those who love you, and not with hatred for your enemies.
open and capacious forehead gave indications of a good understanding, joined to great frankness of disposition.
The tortures of the accused did not equal mine; she was sustained by innocence, but the fangs of remorse tore my bosom, and would not forego their hold.
Dear lady, I had none to support me; all looked on me as a wretch doomed to ignominy and perdition.
We rest; a dream has power to poison sleep. We rise; one wand’ring thought pollutes the day. We feel, conceive, or reason; laugh, or weep, Embrace fond woe, or cast our cares away; It is the same: for, be it joy or sorrow, The path of its departure still is free. Man’s yesterday may ne’er be like his morrow; Nought may endure but mutability!
the tortures of hell are too mild a vengeance for thy crimes.
yup, adding this to my list of insults
Every where I see bliss, from which I alone am irrevocably excluded.
relieve me from the sight of your detested form.”
A BAR OF AN INSULT BTW
I was a poor, helpless, miserable wretch;
dude was only like 2 hours old and already feeling how i feel being 26 years okd
I longed to join them, but dared not.
My spirits were elevated by the enchanting appearance of nature; the past was blotted from my memory, the present was tranquil, and the future gilded by bright rays of hope, and anticipations of joy.”
Of my creation and creator I was absolutely ignorant; but I knew that I possessed no money, no friends, no kind of property.
“Of what a strange nature is knowledge! It clings to the mind, when it has once seized on it, like a lichen on the rock.
Why did you form a monster so hideous that even you turned from me in disgust? God in pity made man beautiful and alluring, after his own image; but my form is a filthy type of your’s, more horrid from its very resemblance. Satan had his companions, fellow-devils, to admire and encourage him; but I am solitary and detested.’
These amiable people to whom I go have never seen me, and know little of me. I am full of fears; for if I fail there, I am an outcast in the world for ever.’
be friendless is indeed to be unfortunate; but the hearts of men, when unprejudiced by any obvious self-interest, are full of brotherly love and charity. Rely, therefore, on your hopes; and if these friends are good and amiable, do not despair.’
my youthful days discontent never visited my mind; and if I was ever overcome by ennui, the sight of what is beautiful in nature, or the study of what is excellent and sublime in the productions of man, could always interest my heart, and communicate elasticity to my spirits.
