Victor Frankenstein is from Frankenstein
Lily Bart is from The House of Mirth
Victor Frankenstein shambled down an alley way, ignoring the stares of ignorant people. They had no idea what hard work went in to being a scientist, and then for your own creation to turn on you! The illness that was in control of his life was terrible, but there was one thing worse then that. His grief was all consuming; the monster had killed everyone he ever cared about. First he killed William, his younger brother and next came poor Henry an innocent friend. The final straw was when the monster killed his wife, and indirectly his father too. That sent Victor into a downward spiral, one that he could never recover from.
Lily Bart, a young woman with no husband, had set her eyes on a few eligible bachelors. With several gone out the window she had invested in stock markets with a man named Gus Trenor. After an affair scandal, started by a woman who was cheating on her husband, Lily’s social status goes down. From there on her status was completely and utterly ruined. At one point when she sees a man that had asked her to marry him, she tells him that she will. But her status has been soured to the point where even the man she despised says no. No one has ever heard the story about how the two depressed people met, at least until now.
One dark and gloomy night a man waited impatiently on an iron bench. His timing had been off and it cost him a whole day, a day spent waiting. His annoyance was growing by the hour, and with nothing to occupy him it was getting foul. As his mind wondered to people of the pass, he spotted a woman walking through the train station. She walked as though she were gliding over the cobblestone, and looked as though she could be part of a dream. She was of medium height and build, but of great beauty and magnificent elegance. Victor pondered for a time why such a woman would be out at this hour or on such a dark night. He did not ponder long for she made her way over to him, stepping with care as to not break a heel. She sat down silently and did not speak a word, a strange silence stretched on, only to be broken by an owl’s hoot. Victor sighed inwardly; women were so complicated to begin a conversation with. Getting up the courage to speak he hesitated, not sure of how to tread with such a woman.
“My name is Lily Bart, what’s yours?” she asked suddenly.
Startled by the sudden noise of conversation Victor jumped in his seat.
“Victor is my name, Dr. Victor Frankenstein.” He responded.
With a nod of her head she acknowledged his response, and looked the other way as if hoping the train would arrive at that moment. Lily was nervous about talking to such a sophisticated man, it was all too obvious just how educated he was. She had never really talked to a doctor, at least not in too much detail. Victor seemed nice enough and there was nothing better to do, he didn’t seem to care about talking to someone with a no status. Then again he may be a dangerous man, being out at a time like this, just waiting on an iron bench. That made her laugh, the same could be said about a woman at a time like this, yet here she was.
“Why fair one, do you sit upon this bench at such an early hour? Should you not be in bed or at least in your own home? Do you not have a husband who would be worried of your whereabouts?” Victor inquired softly, choking up on the last question.
Lily thought about what she was going to say, should she lie in order to make it sound as if she really was cared about. Or should she speak the truth to this stranger, a person whom she strangely had the urge to open up to. As she looked up into the man’s eyes for the first time, she saw pain and guilt. He would understand her situation and perhaps she would her out his. That way they each had the possibility of helping out each other with uplifting words or a plan of action.
“I was once a woman with status; I had friends and a family member that actually cared about my welfare. Now I am…….”
Lily continued her story well passed and ended close to in the morning. When she was finished recounting her tale she gave a big sigh and looked down at her feet. Victor sat in a thinking state for a few minutes before finally placing a hand on top of Lily’s.
“Young woman you seem just shy of thirty years of age, you have time to find a husband and make a nice living for yourself. He should not necessarily be rich, but you should definitely love him for what he is.” was Victor’s intelligent reply.
Lily smiled at this; Victor definitely was a man of great intelligence and ingenuity. While she herself felt slightly better, Lily wondered what Victor’s problem was. As she found out, she did not have long to wait for he began his tale about half pass three.
“When I was younger I fell in love with science and the secret of life. I had an experiment that I desperately wanted to perform, in order to see if I could construct an animate creature, a superior being if you will….”
Victor’s story was short then Lily’s because he could not go into the level of detail that she did. It was too painful and some graphic details just weren’t for the ears of a lady to hear. Lily was on the fringe of tears because of how sad Victor’s life has been, which was extremely unusual because she doesn’t get emotional often. She also felt bad in a way; she had not words of wisdom for Victor like he did for her. As she looked off to the east, for the first time she noticed just how light it was getting. With a disappointed sigh she stood up and stretched ever so slightly. Victor looked up at the sun, just beginning to peek up behind the church several streets away. Just as the clock tower rung out, indicating it was , a train whistle could be heard in the distance. Victor looked to Lily and Lily looked back at Victor, each knowing that they would most likely never see each other again.
“I’m sorry that I have no words of wisdom to bestow upon you but I do wish you luck in your hunting of the allusive creature. I shall never forget the words that you said to me Dr. Frankenstein. I thank you with all of my heart.” Lily commented quietly.
Victor nodded and headed towards the loading dock, “Farewell, Lily my dear.” He called.
Lily waited until Dr. Frankenstein had gone onto the train before she walked away; still pondering all that was said that night.
Those two never met again and unfortunately they both died before accomplishing their desires. Lily overdosed on sleeping medicine and Dr. Frankenstein died of an illness cause by his grief.
