A Sentence of Sorts

The Pseudoscientists, Act II, scene 2: Frankenstein Wakes Up

(Summary: Jekyll learns that Frankenstein is not quite the same man that he knew before. The two get off to a very rocky start and Jekyll finds himself physically and mentally exhausted. Hyde learns how take advantage of Jekyll’s weakness.)

Jekyll hurries along with Rachel to Frankenstein’s side, with Hyde following along after in a kind of daze. Frankenstein seems half awake, caught in the midst of a fever dream, murmuring incoherently to himself. Occasionally he reaches out as if trying to grasp for something, but he doesn’t seem to realize where he is or who he is talking to. The Creature sits looming over him, glaring imploringly at Jekyll.

Jekyll tries to talk to the unconscious man. “Dr. Frankenstein, can you hear me? Dr. Frankenst– Victor?” For a moment Frankenstein seems to see him, but his eyes are glassy and unfocused. He mutters something in German and then cries out in pain. Jekyll tends to him, finding a small vial of lavender-colored liquid (a painkiller of his own making) and injecting its contents into Frankenstein’s arm. The formula takes a few moments to kick in, but after a time Frankenstein stiffens … and then relaxes.

He murmurs, “Elizabeth,” and falls still, breathing softly. Jekyll and Rachel let out a sigh of relief, and the Creature regards Jekyll with just the slightest air of approval. 

“Who’s Elizabeth?” asks Rachel.

Jekyll knows this one, but it takes him a minute to jog his memory. “His wife,” he says hesitantly. “Or … his fiancee perhaps? I don’t recall exactly, but she’s dead now. He used to talk about her a lot when I knew him.”

“It’s funny that you never mentioned you knew him.”

“It was a very long time ago! I don’t think I’ve thought of the man in, oh, fifteen years now.”

“You told Mr. Hyde though.” Rachel seems a little hurt.

“I suppose I mentioned it in passing.”

A pause. “You talk to Mr. Hyde a lot, don’t you?" 

Hyde’s shadow sulks in the background. "Talked. Used to talk, bloody traitor.”

Jekyll begins to realize a small hole exists in his alibi. “Well, not excessively. But one does end up chatting with one’s assistant now and again.”

Sheepishly: “I know, but … it’s not the sort of subject you get to on a casual chat, is it? The weather, the local gossip, deep dark stories about your past… .”

“Miss Rachel, must you be so melodramatic?” He laughs, embarrassed. “It is only a funny old story from my university days. I hadn’t even thought about it for years. It’s all rather fuzzy to me, to be honest.”

Rachel presses him to hear more of the story: Hyde didn’t explain what happened to Frankenstein after the two became friends. Why haven’t they seen each other in so long? 

Jekyll explains that he continued to take care of Frankenstein for a few weeks. After that, the Creature showed up and took him away. “I always assumed the Creature had killed him. And I … don’t suppose it’s worth asking him what was going through his head at the time… .” He glances up at the Creature, who regards him warily, as though trying to figure something out about him. “I didn’t think so. I had tried to contact him once or twice but I guess … he can explain everything when he wakes up.” He looks at Frankenstein’s face, much in the same way the Creature was looking at him. “It’s funny. It’s been so long yet he looks so much the same!”

Hyde’s shadow, pacing along the wall, carries a guarded, wounded expression, as though immensely embarrassed by this show of vulnerability. 

Rachel, picking up on Jekyll’s nervousness: “He must have wanted to see you. Before now, I mean.” Jekyll looks up at her. “Why else would he have come back? He must have remembered what a nice thing you did for him." 

Jekyll seems touched by her reassurance. He turns back to Frankenstein and finds … that his eyes are wide open, and he is staring blinkingly back at him. Jekyll jumps back a spot and sputters: "G– good afternoon … !”

Frankenstein rasps, “Vhere am I … ?”

Jekyll begins to explain that he is in London, in his own Society for Experimental Scientists, and he is perfectly– But as he is speaking, Frankenstein topples out of his bed and totters across the floor. Jekyll is flabbergasted. “What on earth … ?”

He goes to help Frankenstein up, but once on two feet Frankenstein wobbles, slowly, towards the window. He intends to push Jekyll off of him but hasn’t the strength, so awkwardly the two men wobble slowly across the room. Frankenstein babbles geriatrically: “Get off!” “Need to breathe… .”

From his shadow space, Hyde is momentarily relieved of his infinite sulk by the strangeness of the scene. He watches Frankenstein–and Jekyll’s reaction to him–carefully.

Presently, the Creature intervenes and drags Frankenstein kicking and punching back to his bed. There, dizziness and sickness overtakes him and he falls back on his pillow. 

Jekyll takes this opportunity to start their reunion again, turning on his gentleman’s charm to 11. He greets Frankenstein like the old friends they are and welcomes him to his Society, promising him the very best medical care in all of Britain. 

But Frankenstein seems barely to hear him. “I did not vant to come here. He made me!” He points to the Creature. “He says I am sick.” (Jekyll and Rachel exchange glances–that Creature can’t really talk, can he?) “And it is true. I am. But I am not–” He has to stop in order to have a massive coughing attack, and begins again faintly, “… all right. I am needing help. My Creature says that perhaps I am needing the medicine you made for me. I had some but … not anymore.” He digs into his massive overcoat and pulls out a small empty beaker with the initials “HJ” on the glass*.

Jekyll stares at the glass. “You kept that … all this time?”

Frankenstein does not seem to share Jekyll’s sentimentality over the beaker. He seems impatient: “Yes. Vell. I am needing more of it." 

Jekyll explains that he has not touched that particular formula for years. It would take at least a week for him to order all the necessary ingredients, and then to mix it… . Frankenstein seems appalled by the idea of having to stay here for more than a few hours. Jekyll tries to explain that he will offer Frankenstein the best care he knows, and that his stay will be a very pleasant one, but this only seems to upset Frankenstein further. He begins to rant:

Everything here is disgusting: London’s filthy streets, the unbreathable air, the industrial hustle and bustle of the Society, and most of all Dr. Jekyll himself, who according to Victor has become a stuffy, pompous city rat. 

Frankenstein’s last comment has hit Jekyll hard enough that it seems to break through his tough shell. For a moment, he looks truly hurt. Hyde notices this and a plan begins to form in his mind.

Jekyll is left overwhelmed by this entire situation. Firstly, he is not used to being disliked by ANYONE. He can’t handle the idea that he can’t win Frankenstein over with his natural charm. Secondly, this new Frankenstein clashes with his own image of what a scientist ought to look like. Whereas Jekyll wants all scientists to have a socially-acceptable, clean image, Frankenstein embodies the wild, raving mad scientist. Thirdly, the last time Jekyll had met Frankenstein, they had become close friends. This new Victor seems barely to remember him.

Jekyll is desperate for Frankenstein to like him, but since that goal seems impossible to him now, he settles for more practical concerns. Firstly, he must find a room for Frankenstein … and to keep him there long enough to treat him.

He retreats briefly to his study on the pretense of needing to look over the room arrangements. This is true by itself, but what he really came for is a glass of wine. He grabs for the bottle and, unthinkingly, lets his hand linger over one of the vials of the transformation potion on his desk. He hesitates, then shakes his head and pours himself a generous glass of wine, which he downs in seconds.

This little slip has not gone unnoticed by Hyde. Settling into his spot in the mirror, he watches his other self carefully.

Jekyll chooses an easily accessible room close to his office which Frankenstein naturally dislikes. He is at first outnumbered by Jekyll and the Creature, but then Frankenstein finds himself a new ally: the Society lodgers. The lodgers are all very excited to hear that Frankenstein is awake. He is, to them, an almost mythical character, one of the great mad scientists of the past.

Frankenstein takes advantage of their adoration when arguing with Jekyll. He demands that, if he is to be held prisoner in the building, he must at least have a room that suits him. He wants to live in the unused attic, which Jekyll has left untouched because its decrepid, cobweb-strewn atmosphere clashed with the picture-perfect look he wanted for the Society. Jekyll predictably refuses, but the lodgers take Frankenstein’s side, enamored by his gothic scientist’s mystique.

Jekyll gives in to Frankenstein, watching grudgingly as Victor hacks and wheezes his way up the long staircase to the attic. After a beat, the Creature takes pity on him and carries him the rest of the way. The Lodgers trail up and down the staircase, readying his bedroom.

Jekyll does his best to supervise them, but his morale is waning by the minute. He pops into his study again for another glass of wine. Hyde takes note.

Here we see Rachel now and again, helping out here and there. Perhaps she shares some of the nerdy excitement that the Lodgers have with Frankenstein, which strikes Jekyll as unusual—why would a nice girl like her have an interest in mad scientists? Before the day is out, he asks if she can go to the chemist’s an order the necessary ingredients for Frankenstein’s medicine. He apologizes for the extra work–ordinarily this sort of job would go to Mr. Hyde. Rachel agrees readily.

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Over the next couple days, Jekyll becomes increasingly exhausted and demoralized by Frankenstein. He copes with this by drinking at every opportunity he gets–he is never visibly drunk, but he relies on the wine to steady his nerves and give him the courage to continue on.

Every time he takes a new drink, Hyde notices. He also notices that whenever he takes a new drink, he can’t help his eyes wandering over to the transformation potion. The more tired he gets, and the less sober, the longer his eyes linger. 

Finally Hyde gets the idea to give Jekyll a little push: after such a difficult day, wouldn’t it be nice to unwind with a nice nightly adventure?

Jekyll offers weary resistance: It would be nice, but he can’t just let Hyde out now. He hasn’t forgotten the events of the morning–it’s too dangerous.

But Hyde persists, subtlely guiding Jekyll away from the lodgers and back into his office. There, the temptation of the potion is immediate and irresistible. Hyde tells Jekyll that he has worked so hard today and undergone so much stress. Today of all days would be a terrible time to give up the transformation cold turkey! Why, he already had a little slip-up today when he was talking with Frankenstein. What else might slip through his facade if he continued this way?

Surely it would be wiser to wean himself off a little more slowly? He could afford to give Hyde just one last night out… . Hyde is adamant o this point: He wants just one more night to himself. Is that really so much to ask? 

Finally Jekyll gives in.

*this may not be the best time to introduce this prop