Excercise V. Mary Shelley's Interjections

Interjections from Frankenstein, by Mary Wollestonecraft (Godwin) Shelley

These are unpunctuated passages that involve interjections -- that is, the narrator interrupts himself. You may find some of them somewhat awkward even after punctuation.

i will not lead you on unguarded and ardent as i then was
to your destruction and infallible misery


i did not watch the blossom or the expanding leaves sights
which before always yielded me supreme delight so deeply
was i engrossed in my occupation.

there for with your leave my sister i will put some trust in preceding navigators snow and frost are banished

the cold is not excessive if you are wrapped in furs a dress which i have already adopted for there is a great difference between walking the deck and remaining seated motionless for hours when no exercise prevents the blood from actually freezing in the veins

i am practically industrious painstaking a workman to execute with perseverance and labour but besides this there is a love for the marvellous a belief in the marvellous intertwined in all my projects which hurries me out of the common pathways of men even to the wild sea and unvisited regions i am about to explore

in the majestic and wondrous scenes which surrounded our swiss home the sublime shapes of the mountains the changes of the seasons tempest and calm the silence of winter and the life and turbulence of our alpine summers she found ample scope for admiration and delight

chance or rather the evil influence the angel of destruction which asserted omnipotent sway over me from the moment i turned my reluctant steps from my fathers door led me first to m krempe professor of natural philosophy

such were the professors words rather let me say such the words
of the devil of the fate enounced to destroy me.

for a long time i was their only care my mother had much desired to have a daughter but i continued their single offspring when i was about five years old while making an excursion beyond the frontiers of italy they passed a week on the shores of the lake of como their benevolent disposition often made them enter the cottages of the poor this to my mother was more than a duty it was a necessity a passion remembering what she had suffered and how she had been relieved for her to act in her turn
the guardian angel to the afflicted during one of their walks a poor cot in the foldings of a vale attracted their notice as being singularly disconsolate while the number of half clothed children gathered about it spoke of penury in its worst shape one day when my father had gone by himself to milan my mother accompanied by me visited this abode she found a peasant and his wife hard working bent down by care and labour distributing a scanty meal to five hungry babes among these there was one which attracted my mother far above all the rest she appeared of a different stock the four others were darkeyed hardy little vagrants this child was thin and very fair her hair was the brightest living gold and despite the poverty of her clothing seemed to set a crown of distinction on her head her brow was clear and ample her blue eyes cloudless and her lips and the moulding of her face so expressive of sensibility and sweetness that none could behold her without looking on her as of a distinct species a being heaven sent and bearing a celestial stamp in all her features


Paragraph - 137 words.

when my father returned from milan he found playing with me
in the hall of our villa a child fairer than pictured cherub
a creature who seemed to shed radiance from her looks and whose form
and motions were lighter than the chamois of the hills the apparition
was soon explained with his permission my mother prevailed
on her rustic guardians to yield their charge to her they were fond
of the sweet orphan her presence had seemed a blessing to them
but it would be unfair to her to keep her in poverty and want
when providence afforded her such powerful protection
they consulted their village priest and the result was
that elizabeth lavenza became the inmate of my parents' house
my more than sisterthe beautiful and adored companion
of all my occupations and my pleasures

Paragraph 185 words

such were the professors words rather let me say such the words of the fate enounced to destroy me as he went on i felt as if my soul were grappling with a palpable enemy one by one the various keys were touched which formed the mechanism of my being
chord after chord was sounded and soon my mind was filled with one thought one conception one purpose so much has been done exclaimed the soul of frankenstein more far more will i achieve treading in the steps already marked i will pioneer a new way
explore unknown powers and unfold to the world the deepest mysteries of creation

i closed not my eyes that night my internal being was in a state of insurrection and turmoil i felt that order would thence arise but i had no power to produce it by degrees after the mornings dawn sleep came i awoke and my yesternights thoughts were as a dream there only remained a resolution to return to my ancient studies and to devote myself to a science for which i believed myself to possess a natural talent