As a storyteller, I’m always looking for new approaches to old stories. I don’t know how many times I’ve read Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, but one episode in particular never fails to shock and horrify me.

Poor Justine Moritz! Rescued by the Frankenstein family from poverty as a child, she grows up to become their loyal servant. But after Victor Frankenstein’s creature vengefully murders the family’s youngest child, Justine finds herself accused of the crime. Victor knows that she’s innocent, but can’t bring himself to come forward with the truth. Justine is tried, found guilty, and hanged for murder.

I decided to write a play about Justine called The Harrowing, subtitling it “A Rhapsody on a Theme by Mary Shelley.” In my retelling, Justine is a bitterly alienated young woman, exploited horribly by the Frankenstein family and all too aware of her lowly status. One night she encounters the monster (called the Demon in my version) who shows her the murdered boy’s body. She reacts with horror at first, but soon recognizes the Demon as a kindred spirit, a fellow casualty of a cruel and unjust world. Before the night is over, they have become lovers.

The first half of The Harrowing was presented via Zoom in 2022, with the late Everett Quinton as the Demon. A staged reading of the entire play was performed in New York on October 2, 2023, at the Theater for the New City in New York. You can download the complete script for The Harrowing here.

In the following scene, the Justine and the Demon hold a macabre picnic near the murdered boy’s body.

(JUSTINE and DEMON sit on the spread-out blanket, eating berries and nuts in the moonlight. DEMON is drinking straight from a bottle of wine. JUSTINE looks over at William’s dead body and smiles.)

JUSTINE. Willy, dear, won’t you wake up? You must be hungry. Would you like to join us for something to eat?

DEMON. He isn’t asleep.

JUSTINE. I know. But let me have my little lie. I have so few of them left. The world is getting crowded with truth. Sleep on, sweet Willy, don’t let us grownups disturb you.

(JUSTINE and DEMON eat a few bites.)

JUSTINE. Where did you get these nuts?

DEMON. I took them.

JUSTINE. From where?

DEMON. A tree.

(JUSTINE and DEMON eat some more.)

JUSTINE. What about these berries?

DEMON. I took them.

JUSTINE. From where?

DEMON. Some bushes.

(DEMON passes the bottle to JUSTINE, and she drinks from it.)

JUSTINE. Where did you get this wine?

DEMON. From a house.

JUSTINE. Inside a house?

DEMON. Yes.

JUSTINE. How did you get inside?

DEMON. I just went in.

JUSTINE. Did you take the wine, or did you … ask somebody for it?

DEMON. I don’t understand.

JUSTINE. Was anybody in the house?

DEMON. No.

JUSTINE. Where did you find the wine in the house?

DEMON. On a table.

JUSTINE. You shouldn’t take things from houses like that.

DEMON. But I took nuts from the tree.

JUSTINE. I know, but—

DEMON. I took berries from the bushes.

JUSTINE. I mean from people. You shouldn’t take things from people like that.

DEMON. Oh. (drinks from the bottle) I don’t think I understand. I was hungry, and I needed something to eat. There were nuts on the tree and berries in the bushes. What could I do but take them? I was thirsty and I needed something to drink. There was wine in the house, so I took it. What was I supposed to do?

JUSTINE. You should have asked the people who lived there if you could have it.

DEMON. Would they have given it to me?

JUSTINE. I … don’t know.

DEMON. Do people … often … give things to others?

(Silence; JUSTINE takes the bottle from him and drinks from it.)

JUSTINE. You were right and I was wrong. It’s best to take. Everybody takes, and nobody’s likely to give you anything, even if you ask. People have been taking things from me my whole life without asking. They don’t give anything back, even when I ask.
I suppose that’s why I have so little. 
I don’t do enough taking.
I should have known, the truth was all around me.
Taking is the way the world works.
What a fool I was.

(JUSTINE takes long swallow of wine, then passes the bottle to the DEMON.)

JUSTINE. I’m going to be drunk. You should get drunk too.

DEMON. Drunk?

JUSTINE. You’ll know it when you feel it.

—Wim