Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus cover art

580 KC · Lights Out · ON THE AIR

Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus

by Mary Shelley · 1818

Adapted for radio by Aster Morrow and collaborators.

A ship held in the Arctic ice takes aboard a dying traveller—and a story that will not stay in its teller's keeping. Mary Shelley's original 1818 novel, performed as a complete ten-part radio adaptation by the Continental Radio Players.

Full-story radio adaptation · About 16–32 minutes per episode

Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus Select a chapter below

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THE PROGRAMME

01 Episode One — A Country of Eternal Light Robert Walton sails towards the North Pole seeking discovery and a friend who can share his ambition. After sighting a gigantic traveller crossing the ice, his company rescues a second man pursuing the first. As trust grows between them, Victor Frankenstein offers the history of his affectionate childhood, his mother's death and the scientific education that brought him to a secret discovery. Years of solitary labour follow, until a November night finds him beside the human form he has constructed, certain that the next moment belongs to him. 29′42″
02 Episode Two — The Dull Yellow Eye Victor gives life to the body he has constructed, then flees from it in horror. Its disappearance brings relief, anguish and unanswered questions. Henry Clerval arrives from Geneva and nurses him through months of fever without learning its cause. After recovering, Victor searches privately for his creation but finds no trace; secrecy and dread gradually wear down his efforts. Letters, friendship and the returning seasons draw him back towards ordinary life, until news of William's murder calls him home. Outside Geneva, lightning reveals his abandoned creation, and Victor becomes certain that it killed his brother. Inside the city he discovers that Caroline's missing miniature has been found in Justine Moritz's clothes, and that Justine is about to stand trial. 32′10″
03 Episode Three — The Work of Your Hands Justine's account and Elizabeth's defence cannot overcome the evidence of Caroline's miniature. Condemned to death, Justine confesses under threats from her confessor, then tells Elizabeth and Victor that her confession was a lie. Her execution leaves the household mourning and Victor consumed by guilt. A journey into the Alps briefly quiets his distress, but on a glacier above Chamounix his creation confronts him. Against Victor's threats, the Creature demands the justice of a hearing, and leads his maker to a mountain hut to tell his story. 28′57″
04 Episode Four — The Room Beyond the Wall In the mountain hut, the Creature tells Victor of his first confused sensations, his discovery of fire and his flight from human violence. Hidden in a low shelter adjoining a cottage, he watches a blind father and his two children care for one another. Their hunger teaches him to stop stealing their food; their labour gives him a way to help them unseen. Through the winter he begins to learn their words and names, while his reflection teaches him why his appearance may frighten them. Spring brings a growing hope that speech might one day win him a place among them. 21′32″
05 Episode Five — The Friends Whom I Seek Safie's arrival transforms the cottage and gives its hidden listener lessons in language, history and human belonging. The Creature learns how the De Laceys lost their home through Felix's rescue of Safie's father, and how Safie chose to find them despite her father's commands. Books enlarge his imagination, while Victor's journal reveals the circumstances of his creation and his maker's disgust. Hoping that speech can overcome appearance, he approaches the blind father alone and receives his first welcome. The returning family discovers an unknown figure beside the old man; Felix attacks, and the Creature escapes without using his greater strength against him. 24′06″
06 Episode Six — The Price of Peace The Creature returns to the cottage hoping to repair his failed appeal, only to learn that the family has abandoned it for ever. He burns the empty house and turns towards Geneva in search of his maker. A girl he saves from a river is taken from him by an armed man who shoots him. Near Geneva, his attempt to seize a child as a companion becomes William's murder, and he plants Caroline's miniature on the unsuspecting Justine. Having confessed these acts to Victor, he demands a female companion and promises permanent exile from human society. Victor consents, then returns to his family carrying the secret bargain. 18′58″
07 Episode Seven — The Promise Broken Victor affirms his love for Elizabeth but postpones marriage while he travels with Henry Clerval to obtain the knowledge needed for his secret undertaking. Their journey carries them from the Rhine to England and Scotland, where Victor leaves Henry and establishes a workroom on a remote Orkney island. As the second creation advances, he recognizes that the proposed companion might reject the bargain, her intended mate or humanity itself. He destroys the unfinished body before the watching Creature, who threatens to be with him on his wedding-night. After disposing of the remains at sea, Victor falls asleep in his boat and is driven to Ireland, where strangers require him to answer for a murder. 26′19″
08 Episode Eight — The Hand That Remains At Kirwin's house, witnesses describe a strangled man and a boat resembling Victor's. Taken to identify the body, Victor discovers Henry Clerval and collapses into a prolonged fever. He recovers in prison, where suspicion and ordinary care exist side by side. Kirwin has written to Geneva after finding letters in Victor's clothes, and Alphonse arrives to support his son. Evidence from the Orkneys defeats the murder charge, but freedom does not relieve Victor's grief or concealed guilt. Father and son leave Ireland; after a night of troubled sleep at sea, Alphonse wakes Victor as their ship enters Holyhead. 16′10″
09 Episode Nine — The Day After Elizabeth offers Victor freedom from their intended marriage unless he chooses it for himself. He affirms his love but postpones the truth about his suffering until the day after their wedding. Armed against the attack he expects upon his own life, he marries her and travels with her to Evian. At the inn he sends her away while he searches for the Creature; her screams reveal the mistake. Elizabeth is murdered, the Creature escapes, and Alphonse dies after hearing the news. Months of confinement follow. On his release, Victor finally tells a Genevan magistrate the truth and demands pursuit, but the hearing ends without the action he seeks. 21′55″
10 Episode Ten — Darkness and Distance Victor leaves his surviving brother Ernest in Geneva despite his appeal to stay, then swears at the family graves to pursue his creation. The Creature answers by drawing him north, leaving a trail that sustains the chase. On the frozen ocean, breaking ice separates them and brings Victor to Walton's ship. His completed history becomes a warning Walton cannot easily reconcile with his own ambition. When the surviving crew demands a return, Walton gives his word and turns south. Victor dies before his pursuit is fulfilled. At midnight the Creature comes to his body, acknowledges his murders and remorse, and declares that he will destroy himself. He leaves alive upon an ice raft and disappears from Walton's sight. 24′18″