Clervalstein - Blog Posts

Victor Frankenstein and Henry Clerval with their hair down, to show off those beautiful long 18th century locks! ♥

(Also this is pretty much how I imagined their height difference too)

Henry Clerval is part Hobbit. You can't change my mind.

as i was reading the 1818 annotated text of mary shelley’s frankenstein, i noticed that one of my favorite lines, “Clerval was a being formed in the very poetry of nature”, had an annotation by Shelley connecting it to The Story Of Rimini by Leigh Hunt.

i obviously checked it out, and found out that that line was describing PAOLO from dante’s inferno… as in paolo and francesca… THE star-crossed lovers… francesca was in an arranged marriage (familiar?) and sinned by falling in love with paolo… and theyre together in hell and regret nothing…

i’m actually weeping over this being a canon parallel. go stream francesca by hozier one billion times

I need me a clerval

SPOILERS FOR FRANKENSTEIN!!!!!!

HE’S DEAD???? he was the 2th best character wtf

Why do they describe Frankenstein that way like I keep imagining him as like a skinny short pretty guy....help??? also the romantic tension was crazy...bro called his friend a good boy after he sat down for him and shared a dirty wineglass....kind of love them tbh

This might become a new interest of mine might go read the whole thing...at least it might pay off in the future

clervalstein my beloved

reading frankensteins monster for class. my ass is not reading that whole thing (even though we were given the rly dumbed down stage play version) so instead i read act 1 and now im just gonna read the clerval/ frankenstein yaoi on ao3 and hope that gives me an idea of what its about ^^

(help im bout to fail english class T0T)

@jasperinthemachine

my thoughts exactly

gay people can never be normal they always gotta say some shit like "he was a being formed in the very poetry of nature. his wild and enthusiastic imagination was chastened by the sensibility of his heart. his soul overflowed with ardent affections, and his friendship was of that devoted and wondrous nature that the worldly-minded teach us to look for only in the imagination".

ORION HELP MEEE IM BACK ON MY CLERVALSTEIN BS ITS BEEN A YEAR AND A HALF!!!! THEY HAUNT ME!!!!!! im literally rereading and annotating my copy at 12:50 am to organ music ugh im going insane

*i roll you out in fromt of my followers like one of those old tvs on carts they had in elementary school*

see, kids? annotation is a good skill to learn!

but in all seriousness, my reccomendation is to lean into it until it fades again. use passion while you have it.

i want to preface this with this is all courtesy of @dykensteinery's genius and not my own, i am merely putting his ideas into words for her!!!

so charlie brought to my attention that this quote from frankenstein, where victor refers to clerval as essentially his "other half":

“I agree with you,” replied the stranger; “we are unfashioned creatures, but half made up, if one wiser, better, dearer than ourselves—such a friend ought to be—do not lend his aid to perfectionate our weak and faulty natures. I once had a friend, the most noble of human creatures, and am entitled, therefore, to judge respecting friendship."

was an allusion to plato's symposium. in the symposium, aristophanes presents a mythological account of human origins: that humans were once spherical beings—complete wholes—until they were split in two by zeus. ever since, each human being has wandered the world searching for their missing "other half." this myth explains not only the drive for romantic love but the deeper longing for union, for completion, for the return to an original state of wholeness. specifically, it was an allusion to this line (any quotes pulled from the symposium are from percy shelley's translation):

"From this period, mutual Love has naturally existed in human beings; that reconciler and bond of union of their original nature, which seeks to make two, one, and to heal the divided nature of man. Every one of us is thus the half of what may be properly termed a man…the imperfect portion of an entire whole, perpetually necessitated to seek the half belonging to him.”

considering this line is present in the 1831 edition but not the 1818 edition, after percy's death, during a time where his works were being edited and published by mary posthumously in 1826 and forward, it feels like a much more deliberate allusion. furthermore, i don’t think it’s reaching to say this revision, this framing of love as something that completes a person, was colored by that loss.

it's crucial, also, that aristophanes’ speech does not limit this yearning for your "other half" to heterosexual couples but rather includes and legitimizes same-sex love, particularly between men, as a natural expression of a desire for one’s “own kind":

“Those who are a section of what in the beginning was entirely male seek the society of males…When they arrive at manhood they still only associate with those of their own sex; and they never engage in marriage and the propagation of the species from sensual desire but only in obedience to the laws…Such as I have described is ever an affectionate lover and a faithful friend, delighting in that which is in conformity with his own nature…Whenever, therefore, any such as I have described are impetuously struck, through the sentiment of their former union, with love and desire and the want of community, they are ever unwilling to be divided even for a moment.”

looking at this within the context of frankenstein, to me, this invites further reflection on a queer reading of the novel. the language of this passage—and others like it—have homoromantic subtext, especially when looking at it through this context. aristophanes describes those descended from the original male-male whole who pursue other men as “affectionate lover[s] and faithful friend[s]," which finds obvious parallels in the language mary uses to describe victor's idealization of clerval: victor constantly refers to him as noble, pure, good, better than himself. the language of friendship in the 18th and 19th century was often emotionally demonstrative in ways we don't see now, yes—but here, in light of the aristophanic frame, it rings a little different.

so basically? clervalstein real

as i was reading the 1818 annotated text of mary shelley’s frankenstein, i noticed that one of my favorite lines, “Clerval was a being formed in the very poetry of nature”, had an annotation by Shelley connecting it to The Story Of Rimini by Leigh Hunt.

i obviously checked it out, and found out that that line was describing PAOLO from dante’s inferno… as in paolo and francesca… THE star-crossed lovers… francesca was in an arranged marriage (familiar?) and sinned by falling in love with paolo… and theyre together in hell and regret nothing…

i’m actually weeping over this being a canon parallel. go stream francesca by hozier one billion times

FRANKENSTEIN, Mary Shelley | WISHBONE CLASSICS FRANKENSTEIN, Micheal Burgan | THE ROOM WHERE THE CORPSE LAY, Bernie Wrightson | FRANKENSTEIN, Alexander Utz | FRANKENSTEIN, Director Kevin Connor | THE MODERN PROMETHEUS, Nicole Mello | FRANKENSTEIN, Deborah Tempest | | FRANKENSTEIN, Mary Shelley.

victor's grief for henry

FRANKENSTEIN, Mary Shelley | THE MODERN PROMETHEUS, Nicole Mello | FRANKENSTEIN, Alexander Utz | MONSTER, Neal Bell | FRANKENSTEIN, Mary Shelley | HENRY CLERVAL SCOLDING VICTOR FRANKENSTEIN: AUTOETHNOGRAPHIC POEM ABOUT GRADUATE STUDENTS AND THEIR DAEMONS, Adam D. Henze | FRANKENSTEIN, Alexander Utz | FRANKENSTEIN: A NEW MUSICAL, Mark Baron | FRANKENSTEIN, Mary Shelley.

clervalstein, over several adaptations

gay people can never be normal they always gotta say some shit like "he was a being formed in the very poetry of nature. his wild and enthusiastic imagination was chastened by the sensibility of his heart. his soul overflowed with ardent affections, and his friendship was of that devoted and wondrous nature that the worldly-minded teach us to look for only in the imagination".

"some destiny of the most horrible kind hangs over me, or surely i should have died on the coffin of henry" son or "i wish that i were to die with you; i cannot live in this world of misery" daughter

fellas is it gay to nurse your friend back to health from his nervous fever which incapacitates him for several months despite making a promise to yourself to study languages and then later embark on a joyful and exciting journey through britain with said friend before parting ways and eventually getting killed by said friend's rogue creation because the monster recognised you as one of the things your friend holds most dear, leaving him in a state of near-death at the grief of your loss

imagine: victor drawing a portrait of henry during their studying-oriental-languages-together arc (i think he'd be good at art from practice during anatomical studies) and midway through henry glances up at him and victor goes “i’m not doing this for you. i’m doing this to deconstruct the planes of the face, and using it to further my studies” but the whole time he’s swooning and gets to stare at him unabashedly under the guise of drawing

imagine: picture of henry and walton staring at each other intensely. captioned “team jacob vs team edward”

forever funny to me that when lamenting on henry’s death victor reminisces on how long his eyelashes were. and the word choice of ORBS. bro had it bad

victor describing himself as “always having been imbued with a fervent longing to penetrate the secrets of nature” and then a few chapters later saying "[henry] was a being formed in the very poetry of nature". 🤨🤨 i know what you are

characters in frankenstein commonly to refer to each other as “dear” or “my dear” throughout the novel, but victor and henry are the only ones who mutually address eachother as “my dearest”

we as people should be more like robert walton and henry clerval (hopelessly in love with victor frankenstein)

here u go clervalstein enjoyers 😍😳😼

Two Distinct Arts: A Clervalstein Fanfic

Clerval

“Hey, hey, wake up idiot.” I heard a snooty voice call for me, I opened my eyes and looked over to find my dear Frankenstein poking at my arm. He was poking so much that it started to hurt, I quickly sat up. “Okay okay! I’m up! Sheesh Vic..” rubbing my eyes Victor stood up, he was already all dressed up. Vic looked nice in that vest and button up, “Good,” He said, “You're lucky I even bothered waking you, we’re going to be late if you don’t hurry it up!” “You really didn’t have to break into my dorm for me, dear Victor.” He halted at the door for a moment and was quiet for a minute, which I found strange since he’s always been so assertive. “Well I’m your friend aren’t I?” For whatever reason his words made me feel like I had just drowned in a river, and a flourishing garden at the same time. I don’t quite understand but I’m sure with time it’ll come to me, “Yes of course! And you know what, as your friend I appreciate it.” I smiled, soon enough I arrived at Victor’s side and together we left the room and down the halls, both of us practically rushed into the classroom.

Our Statistics teacher was fuming when he saw us both, the old man paused class to lecture us before demanding us to our seats for interrupting class. As soon as me and Victor sat down we both eyed each other and laughed as quietly as we could. But not a minute later, Victor went back to focusing on class. Today was exactly like the other days, I noticed that there’s a common pattern with school, everyday of the year seems to go by like the others. It repeats and repeats over and over again, going down in a loop until it’s summer. Summer was different, it didn’t repeat, it never had to when I spent it with my dear Frankenstein. I believe that’s why for me summer has always been more fun, but Victor clearly never felt the same. He saw school as a hobby and a priority at the same time, he’s always been more interested in education then just freetime; he’s even admitted to me before on how much during the summer he'd rather keep going to school then have to stop in the middle, it frustrates him. It’s quite puzzling, what does he see so much of in school? I can’t imagine anyone who’d enjoy being stuck in that loop but Victor. He’s always been an odd one, but a part of me wants to give myself to that. My thoughts were interrupted by the bell and Vic looked over to me, that’s when I realized that for the majority of class I had been staring off into space in his direction. Both of us quickly got up to leave the classroom.

I nudged Vic’s elbow and teased as we walked down the hall, “My dear Frankenstein, where do you see the fun in classes? I just don’t get it.” “You probably never will.” Victor sighed, “But I am currently working on something amazing, and to achieve it I need the tools. More education I have, the more I can understand how to finish this project.” Huh, I studied his facial expressions as he spoke about this project, his eyes were cold but yet curious. I could praise Victor endlessly for his scientific intellect, that’s what made Victor Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein. And just thinking about how cold he looks, but how warm he really is makes me feel warm myself, and my chest feels so much like blooming lilies. I’m jealous of myself for how much I get to see Victor for him. “You’re right, I don’t think I’ll ever understand you but I quite enjoy a good mystery my dear friend!” We both laughed as we continued on with our day. Another day just like any other, but that feeling isn’t so bad when I’m with Victor; I could still do without it though.

Victor

Clerval will never cease to confuse me, all throughout statistics class I noticed how he was staring at me, but what made me curious the most was how he could so easily just forget about class and focus on nothing. It angered me a little but it doesn’t matter anyway, he’s always been like that. And I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t jealous of it, I can’t be as carefree as him. Not if I want to do what I want to do in the end, Clerval has his own path and I have mine, of course we’d be vastly different. Clerval said that poetry was the science he would pursue, I argued that writing simple literature isn’t science but that was what we disagreed on. After me and Clerval parted ways we went to our respective dormitories, and I began continuing the progress on my project.

The next day I get up and get dressed, exiting my room I see Clerval waiting outside the door, “Vic! Hey!” He waved, “I see you’re actually up in time for once.” I huffed. Clerval gave an awkward laugh, “Well I wanted to make it up to you for yesterday.. and last week hehe, I realized that it wasn’t very fair to you that I got in your way of getting to class on time..” I held Clerval’s hand, “It’s fine, it always was fine, you know that. It’s what friends do.” “Right.” For some reason, I wasn’t expecting to grab his hand. It was almost as if it was an instinct to do so. We walk down the halls hand in hand, actually making it to class on time and sitting in our seats. The day repeated once again and I could return to work, entering the dormitory’s basement. I picked up my scalpel out of my series of tools and began getting a brain in a small jar out from the cabinet, then I began messing with it. It was fun to experiment for a while, I ended up staying up all night and falling asleep on my desk face first.

The next morning Clerval came down to get me, he grumbled as he stomped down the stairs. “Victor! Victor! We’re going to be late, what're you doing down here, you can’t be so hypocritical like this!” I awoke from the loud noise and looked up to find Clerval walking down the stairs, in a panic I stood up and rushed that way but it was far too late. He had seen what I was planning, all it took was a quick glance around my laboratory. “Vic..?” He looked completely dumbstruck, “What.. What is all this?” “Henry, listen I know-“ Clerval interjected, “Why are you toying with God?” He grabbed one of the blueprints of the project and looked at it in puzzlement. “A man? Victor please this is absolute folly of you! I know you're smarter than this!” “Henry, you have to understand, the only God I believe in is science.” “I’m not worried about your beliefs Victor.. I’m worried about you! You always worry me so much! I always worry! Always! I don’t want you getting hurt!” He gripped me by the shoulders, gazing at me seriously but I could see the glint of fear and melancholy in his eyes. I don’t want to jump to conclusions. I don’t, but am I a burden to him? Am I hurting my dearest friend? I don’t want to. I don’t mean too. “Clerval, am I hurting you? Am I burdening you? Please be honest with me..” He stopped, he stopped for a long while before ignoring my question, “How far are you with this?” I didn’t want to bring up my question again so I just answered him. “I just need to implant the brain and close and fix the headspace and I’m finished.” Clerval sighed and just walked away in disbelief I think. I haven't heard from Clerval since.

It was a long year, Clerval started ignoring me in class whenever I sat by him, and when summer came I still didn’t hear anything from him. And my creation was also on pause since then. I was laying in my bed now, back home in Geneva for the summer, I didn’t have much to do until my cousin Elizabeth called from downstairs. “Victor!” “I’m coming! Hold on!” I grumbled, making my way to the living room, I sat down facing Liza. “Well?” Elizabeth looked to the side and the housemaid Justine came to Elizabeth’s side, “I just wanted to let you know that I’m dating Justine now! I’m very excited to go test the waters into the relationship pool again.” She grinned, I blinked, I didn’t know my cousin liked the same sex. It was common but I definitely wasn’t expecting it from my cousin. I stood up and congratulated them both before returning to my room to process. That’s when I realized something, something interesting. I had never in my life looked at the opposite sex in such a way, Justine and Liza were always best friends so they must’ve liked each other romantically for a long time. I guess I’d always known because now that I look back, their body language was suggesting something more than a simple friendship when I saw the two. I suddenly had another realization, me and Clerval also share that body language quite frequently, does that mean Clerval wants something more? Do I want something more? Questions were racing in my mind but again, I can’t jump to conclusions.

Clerval

I wasn’t mad about Victor’s plan. I was mad that he worried me so much and I don’t understand why. I worry about him more than just any friend would, sure we’re close but it’s not the same as other friendships clearly. I’m not mad at Victor. I’m mad at myself for being so stupid of not thinking about this before, the only reason I’m avoiding Victor is because I need this space right now to think. I was sitting in the backyard against our tree, thinking. Why do I worry over him so much? Why do I like how he looks and acts more than a friend would? What is this? I’ve certainly never felt it before.

As usual when I’m conflicted like this, I write. So I went into my room and began writing as I picked up my quill; poetry has always been soothing to my soul, a way for me to release anguish or conflicted emotions, or just for fun. This has always been my escape, my escape from the real world and into the sea of my feelings, into myself. I usually write about romantic antics, as those are fun to create, but those are with fiction. Fictional stories, but then a thought suddenly overwhelms my mind and I scavenge through my drawer. Scanning and reading through my poems I compare them to what I recently wrote. Now I understand these feelings, I know what I need to do.

Victor

I cannot believe I’m in love with my dear friend, this is absurd, it’s madness, dare I say it’s even more folly then my creation. This cannot happen, I am very worried, and I hate to admit it, I really do. But I’m also scared, what if this distracts me from my path? And what could this do to me and Clerval if he doesn’t reciprocate and I misread him? There are too many things that could happen, so I will not allow myself to keep falling. I can’t, I won’t fall for my delusions of grandeur, I’m going to continue on my project, I can’t let anyone get in the way. No one will get in my way.

Soon enough summer finally ended, and I could return to my project. The first thing I did when returning to my dormitory was entering my laboratory and continuing with work as soon as I equipped the proper gear before class for a bit before having to go. After class I worked endlessly on my creation, until finally, it was complete. And no one will get in my way to restore mankind, I am the modern Prometheus. I am the savior of man, Victor Frankenstein.

Clerval

I waited out for a couple of days, I had to make sure I was ready. I wasn’t even looking for perfection, I just don’t want to look like a bumbling fool. After finally being prepared I knocked on Vic’s dormitory door, quickly the door opened, it was Victor in a white lab coat and black gloves and goggles, dripping with blood. Victor raised his goggles from his eyes and peered at me before beginning to slam the door. Acting quickly I stopped the door with my foot, but instead of it looking dramatically assertive and dedicated, I looked like the fool I didn’t want to look like, the door pushed my foot hard into the door frame and it hurt like hell. I yelped quietly and held my foot, sinking to the floor, Vic looked down on me and sighed before dragging me inside. He thankfully helped my foot feel better, all it did was bruise it a little, Vic then stood up and was about to push me out again. But this time I turned and stopped him by grabbing his wrists, “There's a reason that I came here Vic.” He didn’t answer, he hasn’t since I got here, “Please let me talk to you.” We both sat down, Vic peered again at me with his arms crossed, “Talk.” I took a deep inhale and exhaled for a moment. We sat there in silence for a good two minutes before I could actually form the words, “Thank you for being patient with me, I needed to prepare myself but Victor.. I can’t get you out of my mind. I worry about you, more than a friend would. And I didn’t understand, I didn’t for a long time but now I know. Victor I’m so sorry for seeming like I wasn’t caring about you when that was the opposite. Victor, you’re the most important person in my life, I care about you the most. I always have.”

Victor

I didn’t know how to take this information, I wanted to give in, I wanted to let everything go. But that’s not the smart thing to do, I know it isn’t, I can’t fall for this. This is a trap for failure, I tell myself this but yet the words are coming out against my wishes, “I care about you too Clerval, you are also the most important person in my life. You’re the only one who has brought me into the depths of such confusion, only you have made me sit and think about my life with someone else. Only you have made me feel like.. well whatever this is.” “Victor, nothing has to change if you don’t want it too, even if we did enter a romantic relationship.. we don’t have to change anything. I don’t care either way so I’ll leave it up to you.” He grasped my hand, do I want things to change? Was I okay with what we did before? It took me a moment before answering, hesitantly I responded, “I think.. I want to experience new things with you as my romantic interest, but I wouldn’t mind if most of it stayed the same.. are you okay with that Henry?” “Of course my dear Frankenstein.” Clerval wrapped his arms around me in a warm embrace, I reciprocated and we both stood there embracing for a moment in the silence.

I wrote this fic two days ago, and was like, “Should I post this on Tumblr??” So I asked my book club friends what they think.

And there you have it. So enjoy the next post!

Victor experiences an emotion.

I drew this at 5 AM instead of studying so that’s cool