Transformation (short story)
Transformation is a short story written by Mary Shelley and first published in 1831 for The Keepsake. Guido, the narrator, tells the story of his encounter with a strange, misshapen creature when he was a young man living in Genoa, Italy, around the turn of the fifteenth century. He makes a deal with the creature to exchange bodies, but the creature does not reappear at the appointed time to take his own body back. Guido discovers that the creature is pretending to be him, kills it and therefore 'himself', and eventually awakens in his own body.
Juliet, the illustration for "Transformation" in The Keepsake for 1831. Painted by Louisa Sharpe and engraved by J. C. Edwards. From the University of Victoria Libraries Special Collections, call number AY13 K4 1831.
Louisa Sharpe was a British miniature painter who was one of four gifted sisters
Portrait of Louisa and her sister Eliza Sharpe by George Henry Harlow
Louisa Sharpe's Portrait of a Turkish lady holding a Rose