Beware; for I am fearless, and therefore powerful.
Quote
Beware; for I am fearless, and therefore powerful.
The story behind this quote
The scene takes place in Volume III, chapter 3 of Frankenstein, on a remote Orkney island, where Victor has been making a female companion for the creature he brought to life. In horror, he has destroyed the unfinished work before the creature’s eyes. The creature confronts him: “You are my creator, but I am your master;—obey!” Victor refuses. Shall every man have a wife and every beast its mate, cries the creature, “and I be alone?” Revenge will henceforth be “dearer than light or food”.
The threat follows: he will watch “with the wiliness of a snake”. As he leaves, he adds: “I shall be with you on your wedding-night.” Victor believes his own life is at stake; it is his bride, Elizabeth, the creature will kill.
Mary Shelley began the novel in 1816, near Geneva, when Lord Byron proposed that each of his companions write a ghost story; she was eighteen. It was published anonymously in 1818. Rejected by all, the creature fears nothing because he has nothing left to lose.
The source
Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, Volume III, chapter 3 (the creature), 1818
Checked word for word in the work itself.
Author
Mary Shelley
Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein (1818) at the age of twenty, after a summer on Lake Geneva with Byron and Percy Shelley. The novel is considered a founding work of science fiction.
Quotes by Mary Shelley