Frankissstein

Mary and Percy stop in Pisa, and Mary is three months pregnant. Mary thinks about the way society judges women differently from men. When men take risks, go on adventures, or decide to be promiscuous, they do not suffer any consequences. Mary suffers insults and damage to her reputation for writing, which she loves. She laments Harriet, Percy’s first wife, who died by suicide. Mary drifts in and out of her love for Percy, and she knows Percy is not faithful to her. He spends many days with Jane Williamson on his boat, and Mary sometimes finds Percy’s bed empty.

When Percy decides to take his boat to see Byron, the boat capsizes. Percy dies, and the law prevents his body from being moved from the beach. Byron visits, and Mary can hardly believe her life. Mary is 25 years old, and Percy was 29.

The chapter ends with a quote from Google co-founder Larry Page, saying the perfect search engine would be omniscient and know even the thoughts and feelings of users.

Victor tells Polly, Claire, Ry, and Ron about the discovery of ancient texts in Egypt, one of which discusses Sophia. Sophia is the name of the Hanson robot, but she is also the supposed creator of the world. In the story, Sophia is part of a perfect world. She creates Earth in an experiment, then leaves the Judeo-Christian God in charge of her creation. Claire is offended by the implication that the Christian God is not all-powerful, but Victor ignores her. He says the common thread in all mythology is the idea of superhuman deities, especially beings born from both immortal and mortal parents. For Victor, discarding the body is the culmination of the human dream to see reality as it really is. Ry realizes there is water on the ground, and Victor says he activated the flood barrier, trapping them in the tunnels. He suggests that everyone but Ry go to a 1950s pub in the tunnels. Alone, Victor expresses his love for Ry, mixed with his fetishization of Ry’s transgender identity. Ry feels like Victor is saying goodbye.

The chapter ends with a quote from Percy Shelley’s “Adonais: An Elegy on the Death of John Keats”:  “I am chained to Time, and cannot depart!” (301).

In the Bedlam narrative, a servant wakes Wakefield to say that Frankenstein has disappeared. The servant says he saw a light like a fire under Frankenstein’s door, but Frankenstein was not in the room when he unlocked it. With guards at the gates, it seems impossible for Frankenstein to have left. Wakefield writes to Mary to tell her that Frankenstein has escaped.

The chapter ends with a quote from The Eagles’ “Take it Easy”: “Looking for a lover who won’t blow my cover” (307).

Polly thinks the pub is a replica, and Ry explains it is the actual pub from when the tunnels were used by the military. Polly thinks about what it means to not have a body, and Ry thinks about how he must fight with his body to retain his masculinity. Claire says she is accustomed to her relationship with God, who does not have a body, so the idea of relationships without physical form is normal to her. Ron tells Ry that Ry never understood the purpose of bots. Ron tells a story about a man who orders a bot, and the bot learns through the man. They live a long, happy life together. The man dies, and his family sells the bot online. The new owner does not wipe the bot’s software, but the bot cannot cry.

The chapter ends with a quote from Ovid’s Metamorphoses regarding the changing nature of life.

Mary stays in Genoa with her son, Percy, for one year after her husband’s death. Mary moves back to England, and Byron dies in 1824. Mary remembers the days by Lake Geneva, noting how neither Byron nor Polidori acknowledged how banning women from education, career, and property might affect their “active principle.” Years later, Mary receives an invitation to a party at Babbage’s home, at which Byron’s legitimate daughter, Ada Lovelace, is aiding Babbage in presenting the Analytical Engine. Mary meets Ada, curious about Byron’s daughter, and Ada laments that she never met Byron in person. Ada shows Mary the Analytical Engine, explaining that it understands a mathematical language. Ada says the Analytical Engine could hold all the knowledge any human ever had, but it would likely be the size of London. Mary is amazed, recalling how Claire joked about a loom writing poetry, and Ada shows Mary an excerpt from Punch magazine making the same joke. Ada suggests that the machine can make a kind of music, but it would lack the creative spark of humanity. Mary notes that many men lack the spark of empathy, including men like Byron, Percy, and William Godwin, Mary’s father. Ada suggests that people could live in the machine if it was large enough, and Mary says she would be willing to do so if she could still have books.

A man stares at Mary, but she struggles to identify him. He introduces himself, saying they have met before. The man is Victor Frankenstein.

The chapter ends with a passage from Frankenstein, in which Victor animates his monster with electricity.

The power goes out in the tunnels, and Ron, Claire, Polly, and Ry panic. Ry suggests linking arms to find the door, and Claire sings a gospel hymn. Ron hears an engine turning over, and he says Victor must be turning on the generators. The generators come on, and dust sprays from the vents. They find the door to Victor’s control room sealed, but the flood doors are open. Ry tries to stay behind, but Ron carries him out. They go to Ron’s hotel, noting the blackout across town. Ry and Polly stay together, and Polly kisses Ry on the lips. Ry leaves the hotel to check on Victor, finding the door to the tunnels closed. Ry climbs the fire escape outside Victor’s apartment and goes inside. Victor is not there, but Ry is confident he will return.

The chapter ends with the statement: “Humanity is not a steady-state system” (335).

The chapter begins with a description of the human heart. Victor has been missing for eight days, and Ry and Polly investigate his disappearance. His bills are still paid, and his data was wiped in the blackout. Polly tracks Victor’s apartment and contacts to Switzerland. Ry and Polly return to the tunnels, but they find all of Victor’s equipment missing. A new tenant occupies Victor’s apartment, and Ry laments the loss of a t-shirt he left at Victor’s home. Thinking about the private Bedlam he carries in his mind, Ry agrees to go to dinner with Polly.

The chapter ends with the repeated quote from Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 53”: “What is your substance, whereof are you made, / That millions of strange shadows on you tend?” (341).

When Percy was cremated, a friend rescued his heart from the funeral pyre. Mary muses on the cheap cost of hearts, contrasting the price against the value humans place on them. Mary thinks grief is living with a person who is no longer there. Mary thinks about the Buddhist concept of reincarnation, which implies that Percy could be in any body, including that of a bird overhead or a cat whose feral eyes she notices as it walks past her. Mary remembers Ada saying that the Analytical Engine, with enough information, could bring someone back to life. Mary imagines reanimating Percy, but when he greets her in the daydream, she asks if he is Victor. They decide to start the human dream again.

After the chapter is a note from the author. Winterson says some of the characters and settings in the story were or are real, but that her depictions of them are fictional. She hopes she has not offended anyone, living or dead.