Final Creative Writing Assignment as an Undergrad

Writing Prompt 1: Create a dialogue between three or four characters (no more, except walk-ons) from our books (all from different books).  Situate them in a locale of your imaginative choice. Your dialogue may be serious, philosophical, psychological, or amusing, as you like. Stay in character! When someone speaks, be certain it is *that* person and no one else. While writing, go back to the books to get into your characters’ heads. Be inventive!

Books: The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde , Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

Wisdom is the Tree of Life

[In a beautiful, lush garden]

Dorian Gray: Where in heaven’s name am I?

Henry Jekyll: Heaven? Am I in heaven…No I cannot be. I was too wretched of a man…

Dorian Gray: [notices Henry Jekyll and turns around] I was not so much of a saint myself. The last thing I remember…[he touches his chest]

Victor Frankenstein: [pushes aside a thick, green branch] Well gentlemen, this is certainly not hell.

Dorian Gray: Then where are we? And better yet, who might you be?

Victor Frankenstein: It seems that I know as much as you do. And, from my experience, perhaps it is better that we do not know.

Henry Jekyll: Yes, but you don’t expect…

[A bright figure appears.]

Victor Frankenstein: [covering his eyes] oh! The light is blinding me.

[The three men look away, trembling]

The Light: Victor is wise in saying that it is better that you do not know where you are.
This place is to make amends with who you once were.

Henry Jekyll: Sir…may I ask what you mean by that?

The Light: You have all been given the opportunity to either choose a moment in your life to return to -

Dorian Gray: Any moment?  

The Light: Yes, any moment. You will be taken there as if any moment beyond that one never existed and you had never died.

Henry Jekyll: Oh! This cannot be true. To think that we could rewrite our pasts. Why, I already know exactly which moment I would return to.

Victor Frankenstein: My Lord, and what may the other opportunity be?

The Light: You may choose to enter the dreams of the writers of your time and reveal your stories to them.  

Dorian Gray: And what would happen to us afterwards? Would we be forever trapped in their dreams?

[The Light vanishes from their presence.]

Dorian Gray: Wait! Where did he go? Well it does not matter. If what he said was indeed true, then we have been given a golden opportunity. To be able to change our past. We have conquered time! Not all of my fortunes could have bought an opportunity like this. [He addresses Dr. Jekyll.] You mentioned that you already knew what moment you would return to. What moment would that be? But first, who are you? Or who were you.

Henry Jekyll: My name is Henry Jekyll, and in my life I was a doctor.

Dorian Gray: A doctor? Well that is quite respectable. Why did you refer to yourself as a wretched man earlier?

Henry Jekyll: [He sighs and sits on a marble bench] I see no point in hiding it now. If you must know, I have blood on my hands.

[Silence]

Victor Frankenstein: [He places his hand on Dr. Jekyll’s left shoulder.] Brother, I do as well. [He gazes at Dorian.]  

Dorian Gray: As do I...

Henry Jekyll: [He looks up at the men and his surroundings] Well, I suppose then that that is the reason that we are all here in this place.

Dorian Gray: How did you commit the murders…

Henry Jekyll: Well, I did not murder anyone directly. But it was him…

Victor Frankenstein: Him?

Henry Jekyll: [Sighs] Yes him. Edward Hyde. That part of myself that I could never accept. See in my zealous pursuit of purity I attempted to detach myself from the “darkness” in me. As you said son, [turning to Dorian] I was a respectable man in my town, I even did some charitable work in order to prove that I was a moral and decent man. But there was an evil in me that delighted stolen wine, recklessness, the “freedom” to fulfill every sinful passion and evil thought in my mind.  Without the knowledge of even my closest companions, I conjured a potion to separate myself from that wretched part of me. But things did not go as I had expected…I didn't mean for it to happen, I swear.  Oh it was just –

Victor Frankenstein: An experiment gone wrong.  

Henry Jekyll: You seem to understand Mr…

Victor Frankenstein: Frankenstein. Victor Frankenstein. I was a scientist in my time. And in my zealous pursuit of knowledge, you could say that I created a monster. It was my first creation. I imagined that I would marvel at it. But when it came to “life” I despised it. I refused to comply with its request for a mate, and my bitterness led it to revenge. It destroyed all that I loved, everything and everyone around me. Including myself.

Dorian Gray: It was as if you were responsible for your own deaths…

Henry Jekyll: And you, my son?

Dorian Gray: I was known as Dorian Gray. And I would consider myself the worst among us all because I was responsible for the suicides of two beings, a death of a man seeking revenge against me, and I myself killed a man in cold blood. A friend. A close friend. I am also responsible for my own death. [He points to his heart.] A knife to my own heart.

Henry Jekyll: With an innocent and beautiful demeanor as yours, I would have never expected such acts. But I myself cannot judge you, my son. What drove you to do such things?

Dorian Gray: [He looks at Dr. Jekyll] You chased after purity. [At Frankenstein] Knowledge. I foolishly thirsted for the idea that I could stay young and beautiful forever.

Henry Jekyll: But how…

Dorian Gray: A portrait. Not my own experiment or creation. But an admirer of mine. Or an admirer of my youth and beauty. The irony. In the heat of emotions, I wished that the portrait would change but that I would remain the same. The portrait began to reflect my sins, grow older and more hideous each day, but I, I still maintained my glorious beauty. I never aged a single day. But my soul became poisoned day by day until the night came when I tried to destroy that portrait that haunted me so.

Victor Frankenstein: But in the end you destroyed yourself.

Henry Jekyll: Yes, we all did. What do you reckon we should do now? I would go back to the moment before I ever created that vile potion.

Dorian Gray: The moment before I made that wish. No, the moment before I met the eyes of Basil. I should have never sat for that portrait. To have allowed myself to have heard that melodious, deep voice of Lord Henry…

[Frankenstein said nothing.]

Henry Jekyll: [To Frankenstein] And you? I’m guessing the moment before you created that “monster” of yours.

Victor Frankenstein: [Pauses] Brothers, we have pursued after dangerous things. Ideas that were once glorious to us, but now we realize that the pursuit of such unsearchable concepts will destroy a man. Yet the world does not know. Our world is still under the deception that the zealous pursuit of knowledge, purity, and beauty are glorious endeavors.  The man who spoke to us before. He had also given us the option to tell our stories. Stories that may one day lead men to life and not destruction. I have now learned the only truth that should have mattered to me before. Only God should know all things. Only can He create beings. Only is He completely pure. And Only is His beauty everlasting.

Dorian Gray: But we do not know what will happen once we enter the minds of those writers…

Frankenstein: It is not for us to know. But for us to trust that this is right.

Henry Jekyll: [To Dorian] My son, I have spent my life searching for what is right. I thought I knew, but I still have yet to understand. [To Frankenstein] But your words seem to hold truth. I do not know if it is right to share my story, but I am willing to take that risk. To spare a man from the hypocrisy of my days. I am willing to sacrifice my life.

[The Light reappears. The three men look away.]

The Light: Have we made a decision.

Henry Jekyll: Yes, but I have a request. I would like to enter the dreams of a writer who has gone through many trouble and hardships in his life. One who would understand my pain.

The Light: Very well. And you? [To Dorian]

Dorian Gray: [Pause] I suppose I will as well. And I would also like to make a request. I want to enter the dreams of a writer who has the ability to write with beauty and eloquence. The work of art I destroyed, for him to create anew.

The Light: Very well. [He looks at Victor] Victor, my friend. What would you like.

Victor: I would like to enter a dream of a writer who is a young woman. I want her name to be Mary.  I picture a woman similar to Mary Magdalene. A woman who had endured much troubles and shame from her society. A woman who would not judge my actions or my creation. Perhaps, she will even have compassion for him.  

The Light: [To the three men] Very well. I will grant your requests. And for your faith, I do not condemn you either. Your sins are forgiven.

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