Th e speaker indicates that he is traveling
(a) from england to st. petersburgh
(b) from london to russia
(c) to a place that may or may not exist
(d) to heaven
(e) north

passage 4. mary shelley, frankenstein
st. petersburgh, dec. 11th, 17—
to mrs. saville, england
you will rejoice to hear that no disaster has accompanied the commencement
of an enterprise which you have regarded with such evil forebodings. i arrived here
yesterday, and my fi rst task is to assure my dear sister of my welfare and increasing
confi dence in the success of my undertaking.
i am already far north of london, and as i walk in the streets of petersburgh, i
feel a cold northern breeze play upon my cheeks, which braces my nerves and fi lls
me with delight. do you understand this feeling? th is breeze, which has travelled
from the regions towards which i am advancing, gives me a foretaste of those icy
climes. inspirited by this wind of promise, my daydreams become more fervent
and vivid. i try in vain to be persuaded that the pole is the seat of frost and desolation;
it ever presents itself to my imagination as the region of beauty and delight.
th ere, margaret, the sun is forever visible, its broad disk just skirting the horizon
and diff using a perpetual splendour. th ere—for with your leave, my sister, i will
put some trust in preceding navigators—there snow and frost are banished; and,
sailing over a calm sea, we may be wafted to a land surpassing in wonders and in
beauty every region hitherto discovered on the habitable globe. its productions
and features may be without example, as the phenomena of the heavenly bodies
undoubtedly are in those undiscovered solitudes. what may not be expected in a
country of eternal light? i may there discover the wondrous power which attracts
the needle and may regulate a thousand celestial observations that require only this
voyage to render their seeming eccentricities consistent forever. i shall satiate my
ardent curiosity with the sight of a part of the world never before visited, and may
tread a land never before imprinted by the foot of man. th ese are my enticements,
and they are suffi cient to conquer all fear of danger or death and to induce me to
commence this laborious voyage with the joy a child feels when he embarks in a
little boat, with his holiday mates, on an expedition of discovery up his native river.
but supposing all these conjectures to be false, you cannot contest the inestimable
benefi t which i shall confer on all mankind, to the last generation, by discovering a
passage near the pole to those countries, to reach which at present so many months
are requisite; or by ascertaining the secret of the magnet, which, if at all possible,
can only be eff ected by an undertaking such as mine.