The Modern Prometheus modern design twist on Mary Shelley's Frankenstein | Page 24

R. Walton

the most noble of human creatures, and am entitled, therefore,
to judge respecting friendship. You have hope, and the world
before you, and have no cause for despair. But I— I have lost
everything and cannot begin life anew.”
As he said this his countenance became expressive of a calm,
settled grief that touched me to the heart. But he was silent and
presently retired to his cabin.
Even broken in spirit as he is, no one can feel more deeply than
he does the beauties of nature. The starry sky, the sea, and every
sight afforded by these wonderful regions seems still to have
the power of elevating his soul from earth. Such a man has a
double existence: he may suffer misery and be overwhelmed
by disappointments, yet when he has retired into himself, he
will be like a celestial spirit that has a halo around him, within
whose circle no grief or folly ventures.
Will you smile at the enthusiasm I express concerning this
divine wanderer? You would not if you saw him. You have
been tutored and refined by books and retirement from the
world, and you are therefore somewhat fastidious; but this
only renders you the more fit to appreciate the extraordinary
merits of this wonderful man. Sometimes I have endeavoured
to discover what quality it is which he possesses that elevates
him so immeasurably above any other person I ever knew. I
believe it to be an intuitive discernment, a quick but neverfailing power of judgment, a penetration into the causes of
things, unequalled for clearness and precision; add to this a
facility of expression and a voice whose varied intonations are
soul-subduing music.
August 19, 17Yesterday the stranger said to me, “You may easily perceive,
Captain Walton, that I have suffered great and unparalleled
misfortunes. I had determined at one time that the memory
of these evils should die with me, but you have won me to
alter my determination. You seek for knowledge and wisdom,