St. Bernard's Well

St. Bernard's Well is a minor but evocative location in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, mentioned only once in the novel, during Victor Frankenstein's account of his travels through Scotland with Henry Clerval. The reference occurs in Chapter 19, as the two friends journey northward after their time in England, and it serves as a small but telling detail in a passage that contrasts Clerval's capacity for delight with Victor's pervasive despair. Though the well itself is not described in any detail, its inclusion in a list of Edinburgh's attractions—alongside Arthur's Seat and the Pentland Hills—marks it as a site of natural and picturesque interest, one that Clerval, with his keen appreciation for beauty, finds genuinely cheering. For Victor, however, the same scene offers no relief; he records that he visited Edinburgh with "languid eyes and mind," indifferent to the very sights that so please his friend. This brief mention thus encapsulates a central dynamic of their relationship: Clerval's ability to find joy in the world, even amid hardship, stands in stark contrast to Victor's inner torment, which no external beauty can assuage.

Setting and Context

The reference to St. Bernard's Well occurs during the latter part of Victor's narrative, after he has agreed to create a female companion for the monster and has traveled to England and then Scotland to pursue his dreadful task. He and Clerval have left London, visited Windsor, Oxford, and Matlock, and spent two months in Cumberland and Westmorland before proceeding to Edinburgh. The well is situated in the vicinity of Edinburgh, a city that Victor describes as having a "romantic castle and its environs, the most delightful in the world." The specific mention of St. Bernard's Well, along with Arthur's Seat and the Pentland Hills, suggests a place of natural springs and scenic walks, typical of the picturesque landscapes that Clerval so admires. The name itself evokes a sense of healing and refreshment, qualities that Victor, in his misery, cannot perceive or accept.

Clerval's Delight and Victor's Despair

The passage in which St. Bernard's Well appears is a study in contrast. Clerval, who had not liked Edinburgh as much as Oxford because of the latter's antiquity, is nonetheless "filled with cheerfulness and admiration" by the beauty and regularity of the new town, its castle, and its surroundings. The well is part of this catalogue of delights that "compensated him for the change." Victor, by contrast, is "impatient to arrive at the termination of my journey," his mind wholly occupied by the impending creation and the threat of the monster. He records that he visited Edinburgh with "languid eyes and mind," and that even a city that "might have interested the most unfortunate being" failed to move him. This juxtaposition underscores the novel's theme of the sublime and the beautiful: Clerval, with his "wild and enthusiastic imagination," can still respond to nature's charms, while Victor, burdened by guilt and dread, has become insensible to them. The well, as a symbol of natural beauty and potential healing, thus becomes a marker of what Victor has lost—his capacity for simple pleasure and peace.

Narrative Significance

The brief mention of St. Bernard's Well serves a larger narrative purpose. It is part of the novel's intricate geography, which traces Victor's flight from his responsibilities and his pursuit by the monster. The Scottish journey, with its remote and desolate landscapes, mirrors Victor's inner state, and the well's appearance in this context highlights the contrast between the world's beauty and Victor's internal desolation. Moreover, the passage foreshadows the tragedy to come: Victor's impatience to leave Edinburgh leads him to part from Clerval, to seek solitude in the Orkneys, and ultimately to destroy the female creature, an act that precipitates the monster's revenge and the deaths of Clerval and Elizabeth. The well, though a minor detail, thus participates in the novel's broader meditation on the relationship between human beings and the natural world, and on the consequences of a mind so consumed by its own obsessions that it can no longer see the beauty around it. In this way, St. Bernard's Well, though mentioned only once, contributes to the novel's rich texture of place and meaning, reminding the reader of the world that Victor has turned away from and the cost of his ambition.