chapter 68

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弗兰肯斯坦的健康每况愈下，沃尔顿的船也遭遇困难，面对冰层断裂的危险，船员们请求沃尔顿改变航向...

-chapter 68-

This speech troubled me.  I had not despaired, nor had I yet conceived

the idea of returning if set free.  Yet could I, in justice, or even in

possibility, refuse this demand?  I hesitated before I answered, when

Frankenstein, who had at first been silent, and indeed appeared hardly

to have force enough to attend, now roused himself; his eyes sparkled,

and his cheeks flushed with momentary vigour.  Turning towards the men,

he said,

“What do you mean? What do you demand of your captain? Are you, then,

so easily turned from your design? Did you not call this a glorious

expedition? “And wherefore was it glorious? Not because the way was

smooth and placid as a southern sea, but because it was full of dangers and

terror, because at every new incident your fortitude was to be called forth

and your courage exhibited, because danger and death surrounded it, and

these you were to brave and overcome. For this was it a glorious, for this

was it an honourable undertaking. You were hereafter to be hailed as the

benefactors of your species, your names adored as belonging to brave men

who encountered death for honour and the benefit of mankind. And now,

behold, with the first imagination of danger, or, if you will, the first

mighty and terrific trial of your courage, you shrink away and are content

to be handed down as men who had not strength enough to endure cold and

peril; and so, poor souls, they were chilly and returned to their warm

firesides. Why, that requires not this preparation; ye need not have come

thus far and dragged your captain to the shame of a defeat merely to prove

yourselves cowards. Oh! Be men, or be more than men. Be steady to your

purposes and firm as a rock. This ice is not made of such stuff as your

hearts may be; it is mutable and cannot withstand you if you say that it

shall not. Do not return to your families with the stigma of disgrace

marked on your brows. Return as heroes who have fought and conquered and

who know not what it is to turn their backs on the foe.”

He spoke this with a voice so modulated to the different feelings expressed

in his speech, with an eye so full of lofty design and heroism, that can

you wonder that these men were moved? They looked at one another and were

unable to reply. I spoke; I told them to retire and consider of what had

been said, that I would not lead them farther north if they strenuously

desired the contrary, but that I hoped that, with reflection, their courage

would return.

They retired and I turned towards my friend, but he was sunk in languor and

almost deprived of life.

How all this will terminate, I know not, but I had rather die than

return shamefully, my purpose unfulfilled.  Yet I fear such will be my

fate; the men, unsupported by ideas of glory and honour, can never

willingly continue to endure their present hardships.

September 7th.

The die is cast; I have consented to return if we are not destroyed.

Thus are my hopes blasted by cowardice and indecision; I come back

ignorant and disappointed.  It requires more philosophy than I possess

to bear this injustice with patience.

September 12th.

It is past; I am returning to England.  I have lost my hopes of utility

and glory; I have lost my friend.  But I will endeavour to detail these

bitter circumstances to you, my dear sister; and while I am wafted

towards England and towards you, I will not despond.

September 9th, the ice began to move, and roarings like thunder were heard

at a distance as the islands split and cracked in every direction. We were

in the most imminent peril, but as we could only remain passive, my chief

attention was occupied by my unfortunate guest whose illness increased in

such a degree that he was entirely confined to his bed. The ice cracked

behind us and was driven with force towards the north; a breeze sprang from

the west, and on the 11th the passage towards the south became perfectly

free. When the sailors saw this and that their return to their native

country was apparently assured, a shout of tumultuous joy broke from them,

loud and long-continued. Frankenstein, who was dozing, awoke and asked the

cause of the tumult. “They shout,” I said, “because they

will soon return to England.”

“Do you, then, really return?”

“Alas!  Yes; I cannot withstand their demands.  I cannot lead them

unwillingly to danger, and I must return.”

“Do so, if you will; but I will not.  You may give up your purpose, but

mine is assigned to me by Heaven, and I dare not.  I am weak, but

surely the spirits who assist my vengeance will endow me with

sufficient strength.”  Saying this, he endeavoured to spring from the

bed, but the exertion was too great for him; he fell back and fainted.

It was long before he was restored, and I often thought that life was

entirely extinct.  At length he opened his eyes; he breathed with

difficulty and was unable to speak.  The surgeon gave him a composing

draught and ordered us to leave him undisturbed. In the meantime he

told me that my friend had certainly not many hours to live.

His sentence was pronounced, and I could only grieve and be patient. I sat

by his bed, watching him; his eyes were closed, and I thought he slept; but

presently he called to me in a feeble voice, and bidding me come near,

said, “Alas! The strength I relied on is gone; I feel that I shall

soon die, and he, my enemy and persecutor, may still be in being. Think

not, Walton, that in the last moments of my existence I feel that burning

hatred and ardent desire of revenge I once expressed; but I feel myself

justified in desiring the death of my adversary. During these last days I

have been occupied in examining my past conduct; nor do I find it blamable.

In a fit of enthusiastic madness I created a rational creature and was

bound towards him to assure, as far as was in my power, his happiness and

well-being. This was my duty, but there was another still paramount to

that. My duties towards the beings of my own species had greater claims to

my attention because they included a greater proportion of happiness or

misery. Urged by this view, I refused, and I did right in refusing, to

create a companion for the first creature. He showed unparalleled malignity

and selfishness in evil; he destroyed my friends; he devoted to destruction

beings who possessed exquisite sensations, happiness, and wisdom; nor do I

know where this thirst for vengeance may end. Miserable himself that he may

render no other wretched, he ought to die. The task of his destruction was

mine, but I have failed. When actuated by selfish and vicious motives, I

asked you to undertake my unfinished work, and I renew this request now,

when I am only induced by reason and virtue.

（1222）

今日短语

1. be hailed as...被誉为...，被称赞为...

2. be deprived of sth.被剥夺...

3. the die is cast 木已成舟

4. assign sth. to sb.将...分配给...

5. a fit of 一阵...

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