Frankenstein's monster, commonly referred to as Frankenstein, is a fictional character that first appeared in

Mary Shelley Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley ( , ; ; 30 August 1797 – 1 February 1851) was an English novelist who wrote the Gothic novel ''Frankenstein, Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus'' (1818), which is considered an History of science fiction# ...

's 1818 novel '' Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus'' as its main

antagonist An antagonist is a character in a story who is presented as the main enemy or rival of the protagonist and is often depicted as a villain.Victor Frankenstein, to the mythological character

Prometheus In Greek mythology, Prometheus (; , , possibly meaning "forethought")Smith"Prometheus". is a Titans, Titan. He is best known for defying the Olympian gods by taking theft of fire, fire from them and giving it to humanity in the form of technol ...

, who fashioned humans out of clay and gave them fire. In Shelley's Gothic story, Victor Frankenstein builds the creature in his laboratory through an ambiguous method based on a scientific principle he discovered. Shelley describes the monster as tall and emotional. The monster attempts to fit into human society but is shunned, which leads him to seek revenge against Frankenstein. According to the scholar Joseph Carroll, the monster occupies "a border territory between the characteristics that typically define protagonists and antagonists". Frankenstein's monster became iconic in popular culture, and has been featured in various forms of media, including films, television series,

merchandise Merchandising is any practice which contributes to the sale of Product (business), products ("merch" colloquially) to a retail consumer. At a retail in-store level, merchandising refers to displaying products that are for sale in a creative w ...

and video games. The most popularly recognized version is

Boris Karloff William Henry Pratt (23 November 1887 – 2 February 1969), known professionally as Boris Karloff () and occasionally billed as Karloff the Uncanny, was a British actor. His portrayal of Frankenstein's monster in the horror film ''Frankenstei ...

's portrayal in the 1930s films ''

Frankenstein ''Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus'' is an 1818 Gothic novel written by English author Mary Shelley. ''Frankenstein'' tells the story of Victor Frankenstein, a young scientist who creates a Sapience, sapient Frankenstein's monster, crea ...

'', '' Bride of Frankenstein'', and '' Son of Frankenstein''.

Names

Mary Shelley's original novel does not give the character a specific name. In the novel, Victor Frankenstein variously refers to his creation as the "creature", "fiend", "spectre", "dæmon", "wretch", "devil", "thing", "being", and "ogre". Frankenstein's creation referred to himself as a "monster" at least once, as did the residents of a hamlet who saw the creature towards the end of the novel. As in Shelley's story, the creature's namelessness became a central part of the stage adaptations in London and Paris during the decades after the novel's first appearance. In 1823, Shelley herself attended a performance of Richard Brinsley Peake's ''

Presumption In law, a presumption is an "inference of a particular fact". There are two types of presumptions: rebuttable presumptions and irrebuttable (or conclusive) presumptions. A rebuttable presumption will either shift the burden of production (requir ...

'', the first successful stage adaptation of her novel. "The play bill amused me extremely, for in the list of dramatis personae came, -------- by Mr T. Cooke," she wrote to her friend

Leigh Hunt James Henry Leigh Hunt (19 October 178428 August 1859), best known as Leigh Hunt, was an English critic, essayist and poet. Hunt co-founded '' The Examiner'', a leading intellectual journal expounding radical principles. He was the centre ...

. "This nameless mode of naming the unnameable is rather good." Within a decade of publication, the name of the creator, "Frankenstein", was used to refer to the creature, but it did not become firmly established until much later. The story was adapted for the stage in 1927 by Peggy Webling, and Webling's Victor Frankenstein does give the creature his name. However, the creature has no name in the Universal film series starring

during the 1930s, which was largely based upon Webling's play. The 1931 Universal film treated the creature's identity in a similar way as Shelley's novel: in the opening credits, the character is referred to merely as "The Monster" (the actor's name is replaced by a question mark, but Karloff is listed in the closing credits). However, in the sequel '' Bride of Frankenstein'' (1935), the frame narration by a character representing Shelley's friend

Lord Byron George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824) was an English poet. He is one of the major figures of the Romantic movement, and is regarded as being among the greatest poets of the United Kingdom. Among his best-kno ...

does refer to the monster as Frankenstein. Nevertheless, the creature soon enough became best known in the popular imagination as "Frankenstein". This usage is sometimes considered erroneous, but some usage commentators regard the monster sense of "Frankenstein" as well-established and not an error. Modern practice varies somewhat. For example, in '' Dean Koontz's Frankenstein'', first published in 2004, the creature is named "Deucalion", after the character from

Greek mythology Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of ancient Greek folklore, today absorbed alongside Roman mythology into the broader designation of classical mythology. These stories conc ...

, who is the son of the Titan

, a reference to the original novel's title. Another example is the 2014 film '' I, Frankenstein'', where the Queen of the Gargoyles Leonore gives him the name "Adam" after understanding Victor never gave him one. The creature is also referred to as Adam in the 2017 novel '' The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter'' by Theodora Goss. In the second episode of Showtime's ''

Penny Dreadful Penny dreadfuls were cheap popular Serial (literature), serial literature produced during the 19th century in the United Kingdom. The pejorative term is roughly interchangeable with penny horrible, penny awful, and penny blood. The term typical ...

'', also from 2014, Victor Frankenstein briefly considers naming his creation "Adam", before deciding instead to let the monster "pick his own name". Thumbing through a book of the works of

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

, the monster chooses "Proteus" from '' The Two Gentlemen of Verona''. It is later revealed that Proteus is actually the ''second'' monster Frankenstein has created, with the first, abandoned creation having been named "Caliban", from ''

The Tempest ''The Tempest'' is a Shakespeare's plays, play by William Shakespeare, probably written in 1610–1611, and thought to be one of the last plays that he wrote alone. After the first scene, which takes place on a ship at sea during a tempest, th ...

'', by the theatre actor who took him in and later, after leaving the theatre, named himself after the English poet

John Clare John Clare (13 July 1793 – 20 May 1864) was an English poet. The son of a farm labourer, he became known for his celebrations of the English countryside and his sorrows at its disruption. His work underwent major re-evaluation in the late 20t ...

. Another example is an attempt by

Randall Munroe Randall Patrick Munroe (born October 17, 1984) is an American cartoonist, author, and engineer best known as the creator of the webcomic ''xkcd''. Munroe has worked full-time on the comic since late 2006. In addition to publishing a book of the ...

webcomic Webcomics (also known as online comics or Internet comics) are comics published on the internet, such as on a website or a mobile app. While many webcomics are published exclusively online, others are also published in magazines, newspapers, or ...

xkcd ''xkcd'' is a serial webcomic created in 2005 by American author Randall Munroe. Sometimes styled ''XKCD'', the comic's tagline describes it as "a webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language". Munroe states on the comic's website that the ...

'' to make "Frankenstein" the canonical name of the monster, by publishing a short derivative version which directly states that it is.

Shelley's plot

Victor Frankenstein builds the creature over a two-year period in the attic of his

boarding house A boarding house is a house (frequently a family home) in which lodging, lodgers renting, rent one or more rooms on a nightly basis and sometimes for extended periods of weeks, months, or years. The common parts of the house are maintained, and ...

Ingolstadt Ingolstadt (; Austro-Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian: ) is an Independent city#Germany, independent city on the Danube, in Upper Bavaria, with 142,308 inhabitants (as of 31 December 2023). Around half a million people live in the metropolitan ...

after discovering a scientific principle which allows him to create life from non-living matter. Frankenstein is disgusted by his creation, however, and flees from it in horror. Frightened, and unaware of his own identity, the monster wanders through the wilderness. He finds solace beside a remote cottage inhabited by an older, blind man and his two children. Eavesdropping, the creature familiarizes himself with their lives and learns to speak, whereby he becomes an eloquent, educated, and well-mannered individual. During this time, he also finds Frankenstein's journal in the pocket of the jacket he found in the laboratory and learns how he was created. The creature eventually introduces himself to the family's blind father, De Lacey, who treats him with kindness. When the rest of the family returns, however, they are frightened of him and drive him away. Enraged, the creature feels that humankind is his enemy and begins to hate his creator for abandoning him. Although he despises Frankenstein, he sets out to find him, believing that he is the only person who will help him. On his journey, the creature rescues a young girl from a river but is shot in the shoulder by the child's father, believing the creature intended to harm his child. Enraged by this final act of cruelty, the creature swears revenge on humankind for the suffering they have caused him. He seeks revenge against his creator in particular for leaving him alone in a world where he is hated. Using the information in Frankenstein's notes, the creature resolves to find him. The monster kills Victor's younger brother William upon learning of the boy's relation to his creator and frames Justine Moritz, a young woman who lives with the Frankensteins, as the culprit (causing her execution afterwards). When Frankenstein retreats to the Alps, the monster approaches him at the summit, recounts his experiences, and asks his creator to build him a female mate. He promises, in return, to disappear with his mate and never trouble humankind again, but threatens to destroy everything Frankenstein holds dear should he fail or refuse. Frankenstein agrees, and eventually constructs a female creature on a remote island in

Orkney Orkney (), also known as the Orkney Islands, is an archipelago off the north coast of mainland Scotland. The plural name the Orkneys is also sometimes used, but locals now consider it outdated. Part of the Northern Isles along with Shetland, ...

, but aghast at the possibility of creating a race of monsters, destroys the female creature before it is complete. Horrified and enraged, the creature immediately appears, and gives Frankenstein a final threat: "I will be with you on your wedding night." After leaving his creator, the creature goes on to kill Victor's best friend, Henry Clerval, and later kills Frankenstein's bride, Elizabeth Lavenza, on their wedding night, whereupon Frankenstein's father dies of grief. With nothing left to live for but revenge, Frankenstein dedicates himself to destroying his creation, and the creature goads him into pursuing him north, through Scandinavia and into Russia, staying ahead of him the entire way. As they reach the

Arctic Circle The Arctic Circle is one of the two polar circles, and the northernmost of the five major circle of latitude, circles of latitude as shown on maps of Earth at about 66° 34' N. Its southern counterpart is the Antarctic Circle. The Arctic Circl ...

and travel over the pack ice of the Arctic Ocean, Frankenstein, suffering from severe exhaustion and

hypothermia Hypothermia is defined as a body core temperature below in humans. Symptoms depend on the temperature. In mild hypothermia, there is shivering and mental confusion. In moderate hypothermia, shivering stops and confusion increases. In severe ...

, comes within a mile of the creature, but is separated from him when the ice he is traveling over splits. A ship exploring the region encounters the dying Frankenstein, who relates his story to the ship's captain, Robert Walton. Later, the monster boards the ship, but upon finding Frankenstein dead, is overcome by grief and pledges to incinerate himself at "the Northernmost extremity of the globe". He then departs, never to be seen again.

Appearance

Shelley described Frankenstein's monster as an creature of hideous contrasts:

His limbs were in proportion, and I had selected his features as beautiful. Beautiful! Great God! His yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath; his hair was of a lustrous black, and flowing; his teeth of a pearly whiteness; but these luxuriances only formed a more horrid contrast with his watery eyes, that seemed almost of the same colour as the dun-white sockets in which they were set, his shrivelled complexion and straight black lips.

A picture of the creature appeared in the 1831 edition. Early stage portrayals dressed him in a toga, shaded, along with the monster's skin, a pale blue. Throughout the 19th century, the monster's image remained variable according to the artist.

Universal Pictures films

The best-known image of Frankenstein's monster in popular culture derives from

's portrayal in the 1931 movie ''

,'' in which he wore makeup applied and designed by Jack P. Pierce, who based the monster's face and iconic flat head shape on a drawing Pierce's daughter (whom Pierce feared to be psychic) had drawn from a dream.

Universal Studios Universal Studios may refer to: * Universal Studios, Inc., an American media and entertainment conglomerate ** Universal Pictures, an American film studio ** Universal Studios Lot, a film and television studio complex * Various theme parks operat ...

, which released the film, was quick to secure ownership of the copyright for the makeup format. Karloff played the monster in two more Universal films, '' Bride of Frankenstein'' and '' Son of Frankenstein''; Lon Chaney Jr. took over the part from Karloff in '' The Ghost of Frankenstein;''

Bela Lugosi Blaskó Béla Ferenc Dezső (; October 20, 1882 – August 16, 1956), better known by the stage name Bela Lugosi ( ; ), was a Hungarian–American actor. He was best remembered for portraying Count Dracula in the horror film classic Dracula (19 ...

portrayed the role in '' Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man;'' and Glenn Strange played the monster in the last three

films to feature the character – '' House of Frankenstein,'' '' House of Dracula,'' and '' Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein.'' However, the makeup worn by subsequent actors replicated the iconic look first worn by Karloff. The image of Karloff's face is currently owned by his daughter's company, Karloff Enterprises, secured for her in a lawsuit for which she was represented by attorney Bela G. Lugosi (Bela Lugosi's son), after which Universal replaced Karloff's features with those of Glenn Strange in most of their marketing. In 1969, the

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

mistakenly ran a photograph of Strange for Karloff's obituary. Since Karloff's portrayal, the creature almost always appears as a towering,

undead The undead are beings in mythology, legend, or fiction that are deceased but behave as if they were alive. A common example of an undead being is a cadaver, corpse reanimated by supernatural forces, by the application of either the deceased's o ...

-like figure, often with a flat-topped angular head and bolts on his neck to serve as electrical connectors or grotesque electrodes. He wears a dark, usually tattered, suit having shortened coat sleeves and thick, heavy boots, causing him to walk with an awkward, stiff-legged gait (as opposed to the novel, in which he is described as much more flexible than a human). The tone of his skin varies (although shades of green or gray are common), and his body appears stitched together at certain parts (such as around the neck and joints). This image has influenced the creation of other fictional characters, such as the Hulk. File:FrankensteinLobbyCardKarloffandClive.png, Colin Clive and Karloff in ''

'' (1931) File:Museo Nazionale del Cinema, Turin (5282830195).jpg, Frankenstein's monster's bust, based on Boris Karloff, in the National Museum of Cinema of Turin, Italy File:BrideOfFrankenseinCrop.png, Colored publicity shot of '' Bride of Frankenstein'' (1935). File:BrideofFrankenstein13B.jpg, Another colored publicity shot of '' Bride of Frankenstein'' (1935). File:Son-of-frankensteinCropped.jpg, Colored publicity shot of '' Son of Frankenstein'' (1939). File:The-ghost-of-frankenstein-lobby-card001.jpg, Evelyn Ankers, Lon Chaney Jr. as the monster and

as Ygor in '' The Ghost of Frankenstein'' (1942) File:LugosiChaney001.jpg, Re-release

lobby card A film poster is a poster used to promote and advertise a film primarily to persuade paying customers into a theater to see it. Studios often print several posters that vary in size and content for various domestic and international markets. The ...

for '' Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man'' (1943) with Bela Lugosi and Lon Chaney Jr. File:HouseOfDraculaCrop003a.png, Glenn Strange as the monster in '' House of Dracula'' (1945) File:HouseOfDracula003Crop.png, Onslow Stevens and Glenn Strange in ''House of Dracula'' (1945)

Hammer Films Productions version

In the 1957 film '' The Curse of Frankenstein'', Christopher Lee was cast as the creature. The producers Hammer Film Productions refrained from duplicating aspects of Universal's 1931 film, and so Phil Leakey designed a new look for the creature bearing no resemblance to the

design created by Jack Pierce. For his performance as the creature Lee played him as a loose-limbed and childlike, fearful and lonely, with a suggestion of being in pain. Author Paul Leggett describes the creature as being like an abused child; afraid but also violently angry. Christopher Lee was annoyed on getting the script and discovering that the monster had no dialogue, for this creature was totally mute. According to Marcus K. Harmes in contrasting Lee's creature with the one played by Karloff, ''"Lee's actions as the monster seem more directly evil, to judge from the expression on his face when he bears down on the helpless old blind man but these are explained in the film as psychopathic impulses caused by brain damage, not the cunning of the literary monster. Lee also evokes considerable pathos in his performance."'' In this film the aggressive and childish demeanour of the monster are in contrast with that of the murdered Professor Bernstein, once the "finest brain in Europe", from whom the creature's now damaged brain was taken. The sequels to ''The Curse of Frankenstein'' would feature Victor Frankenstein creating various different Frankenstein monsters, none of which would be played by Christopher Lee: * The film ''

The Revenge of Frankenstein ''The Revenge of Frankenstein'' is a 1958 Technicolor British horror film directed by Terence Fisher and starring Peter Cushing, Francis Matthews (actor), Francis Matthews, Michael Gwynn, Oscar Quitak, Eunice Gayson and Michael Ripper. Made by H ...

'' has Victor Frankenstein placing the brain of a hunchback named Karl (portrayed by

Oscar Quitak Oscar Morris Quitak (10 March 1926 – 31 December 2023) was a British television actor. Quitak's stage work includes roles at the Old Vic and the National Theatre; as well as the original West End and Broadway productions of the musical '' ...

) into a makeshift body (portrayed by Michael Gwynn). Though the procedure works, Karl starts to redevelop his deformities and later dies in front of Victor. * The film '' The Evil of Frankenstein'' reveals that Victor Frankenstein had made a prototype version of his monster which was kept in a frozen cave. After being thawed out and reanimated, the Monster (portrayed by Kiwi Kingston) has his brain awakened by a hypnotist named Zoltan (portrayed by Peter Woodthorpe). When Frankenstein's lab went off the cliff, it apparently killed Victor and the Monster. * The film '' Frankenstein Created Woman'' has Victor Frankenstein surviving the lab's destruction and making a female monster from the remains of a cowardly innkeeper's half-disfigured daughter Christina Kleve (portrayed by Susan Denberg) after she threw herself in the river following the death of Victor's ally Hans. He and Dr. Hertz transferred Hans' soul into Christina's body causing her to become possessed by him. After coming to her senses, Christina commits suicide by drowning herself in the river. * The film '' Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed'' has Victor Frankenstein making a monster out of the remains of the asylum's administrator Professor Richter (portrayed by Freddie Jones) that involves placing the brain of Victor's former assistant Dr. Frederick Brant (portrayed by George Pravda) into Professor Richter's body. The Monster later drags Victor into the burning house. * The film '' Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell'' has Victor surviving the fire and making a monster from the hulking ape-like asylum inmate Herr Schneider (portrayed by David Prowse) while also giving him a new brain and new eyes. During its plans for revenge, the Monster is killed by a mob of asylum inmates. File:Revenge of Frankenstein (trailer) - Christopher Lee.png, Christopher Lee as the creature in '' The Curse of Frankenstein'' (1957) File:The Evil of Frankenstein (1964) trailer - Frankenstein's monster 1.png, Kiwi Kingston as a Frankenstein's monster in '' The Evil of Frankenstein'' (1964)

Toho versions

In the 1965

Toho is a Japanese entertainment company that primarily engages in producing and distributing films and exhibiting stage plays. It is headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, and is one of the core companies of the Osaka-based Hankyu Hanshin Toho Group. ...

film '' Frankenstein vs. Baragon'', the heart of Frankenstein's monster was transported from Germany to

Hiroshima is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture in Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 1,199,391. The gross domestic product (GDP) in Greater Hiroshima, Hiroshima Urban Employment Area, was US$61.3 billion as of 2010. Kazumi Matsui has b ...

as World War II neared its end, only to be irradiated during the atomic bombing of the city, granting it miraculous regenerative capabilities. Over the ensuing 20 years, it grows into a complete human child, who then rapidly matures into a giant, 20-metre-tall man after he is rediscovered. Frankenstein escapes a laboratory in the city after being agitated by news reporters using

flash photography A flash is a device used in photography that produces a brief burst of light (lasting around of a second) at a color temperature of about 5500 Kelvin, K to help illuminate a scene. The main purpose of a flash is to illuminate a dark scene. Ot ...

on him, and goes to fend for himself in the countryside, only to be accused of attacking villages and killing people, actually the victims of the underground monster Baragon. The two monsters face off in a showdown that ends with Frankenstein's monster victorious, though he falls into the depths of the Earth after the ground collapses beneath his feet. The film's sequel '' The War of the Gargantuas'' would see cell samples of the monster regenerate into the titular Gargantuas, two hairy giants consisting of the malicious green sea monster Gaira and the friendly brown mountain monster Sanda. Gaira and Sanda later appeared in the series '' Ike! Godman'' and the

IDW Publishing IDW Publishing is an American publisher of comic books, graphic novels, art books, and comic strip collections. It was founded in 1999 as the publishing division of Idea and Design Works, LLC (IDW) and is recognized as the fifth-largest comic ...

comic ''Godzilla: Rulers of Earth''.

Other film versions

In the 1973 TV miniseries '' Frankenstein: The True Story,'' in which the creature is played by Michael Sarrazin, he appears as a strikingly handsome man who later degenerates into a grotesque monster due to a flaw in the creation process. In the 1994 film '' Mary Shelley's Frankenstein,'' the creature is played by

Robert De Niro Robert Anthony De Niro ( , ; born August 17, 1943) is an American actor, director, and film producer. He is considered to be one of the greatest and most influential actors of his generation. De Niro is the recipient of List of awards and ...

and has an appearance closer to that described in the original novel, though this version of the creature possesses balding grey hair and a body covered in bloody stitches. He is, as in the novel, motivated by pain and loneliness. In this version, Frankenstein gives the monster the brain of his mentor,

Doctor Waldman Dr. Waldman is a fictional character who appears in Mary Shelley's 1818 novel, '' Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus'' and in its subsequent film versions. He is a professor at Ingolstadt University who specializes in chemistry and is a men ...

, while his body is made from a man who killed Waldman while resisting a vaccination. The monster retains Waldman's "trace memories" that apparently help him quickly learn to speak and read. In the 2004 film '' Van Helsing,'' the monster is shown in a modernized version of the Karloff design. He is tall, has a square bald head, gruesome scars, and pale green skin. The electrical origin of the creature is emphasized with one electrified dome in the back of his head and another over his heart, and he also has hydraulic pistons in his legs, with the design being similar to that of a steam-punk cyborg. Although not as eloquent as in the novel, this version of the creature is intelligent and relatively nonviolent. In 2004, a TV miniseries adaptation of ''

'' was made by

Hallmark A hallmark is an official Mark (sign), mark or series of marks struck on items made of metal, mostly to certify the content of noble metals—such as platinum, gold, silver and in some nations, palladium. In a more general sense, the term ''Wikti ...

. Luke Goss plays the creature. This adaptation more closely resembles the monster as described in the novel: intelligent and articulate, with flowing, dark hair and watery eyes. The 2005 film ''Frankenstein Reborn'' portrays the creature as a paraplegic man who tries to regain the ability to walk by having a nanobots surging through his body but has side effects. Instead, the surgeon kills him and resurrects his corpse as a reanimated zombie-like creature. This version of the creature has stitches on his face where he was shot, strains of brown hair, black pants, a dark hoodie, and a black jacket with a brown fur collar. The 2014 TV series ''

'' also rejects the Karloff design in favour of Shelley's description. This version of the creature has the flowing dark hair described by Shelley, although he departs from her description by having pale grey skin and obvious scars along the right side of his face. Additionally, he is of average height, being even shorter than other characters in the series. In this series, the monster names himself " Caliban", after the character in

's ''

''. In the series, Victor Frankenstein makes a second and third creature, each more indistinguishable from normal human beings. Frankenstein's monster appears in the Reiwa era film '' The Great Yokai War: Guardians''. The 2024 film '' Monster Mash'' by The Asylum features a Frankenstein's monster variant called Boris (portrayed by Erik Celso Mann).

Personality

As depicted by Shelley, the creature is a sensitive, emotional person whose only aim is to share his life with another sentient being like himself. The novel portrayed him as versed in ''

Paradise Lost ''Paradise Lost'' is an Epic poetry, epic poem in blank verse by the English poet John Milton (1608–1674). The poem concerns the Bible, biblical story of the fall of man: the temptation of Adam and Eve by the fallen angel Satan and their ex ...

'', '' Plutarch's Lives'', and '' The Sorrows of Young Werther,'' books he finds after having learnt language. From the beginning, the creature is rejected by everyone he meets. He realizes from the moment of his "birth" that even his own creator cannot stand the sight of him; this is obvious when Frankenstein says "…one hand was stretched out, seemingly to detain me, but I escaped…". Upon seeing his own reflection, he realizes that he too is repulsed by his appearance. His greatest desire is to find love and acceptance; but when that desire is denied, he swears revenge on his creator. The creature is a vegetarian. While speaking to Frankenstein, he tells him, "My food is not that of man; I do not destroy the lamb and the kid to glut my appetite; acorns and berries afford me sufficient nourishment...The picture I present to you is peaceful and human." At the time the novel was written, many writers, including Percy Shelley in '' A Vindication of Natural Diet'', argued that practicing vegetarianism was the morally right thing to do. Contrary to many film versions, the creature in the novel is very articulate and eloquent in his speech. Almost immediately after his creation, he dresses himself; and within 11 months, he can speak and read German and French. By the end of the novel, the creature is able to speak English fluently as well. The ''Van Helsing'' and ''Penny Dreadful'' interpretations of the character have similar personalities to the literary original, although the latter version is the only one to retain the character's violent reactions to rejection. In the 1931 film adaptation, the creature is depicted as mute and bestial; it is implied that this is because he is accidentally implanted with a criminal's "abnormal" brain. In the subsequent sequel, '' Bride of Frankenstein'', the creature learns to speak, albeit in short, stunted sentences. However, his intelligence is implied to be fairly developed, since what little dialogue he speaks suggests he has a world-weary attitude to life, and a deep understanding of his unnatural state. When rejected by his bride, he briefly goes through a suicidal state and attempts suicide, blowing up the laboratory he is in. In the second sequel, '' Son of Frankenstein'', the creature is again rendered inarticulate. Following a brain transplant in the third sequel, '' The Ghost of Frankenstein'', the creature speaks with the voice and personality of the brain donor. This was continued after a fashion in the scripting for the fourth sequel, '' Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man'', but the dialogue was excised before release. The creature was effectively mute in later sequels, although he refers to Count Dracula as his "master" in '' Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein''. The creature is often portrayed as being afraid of fire, although he is not afraid of it in the novel, even using fire to destroy himself.

Interpretations

The monster as a metaphor

Scholars sometimes look for deeper meaning in Shelley's story, and have drawn an analogy between the monster and a motherless child; Shelley's own mother died while giving birth to her. The monster has also been analogized to an oppressed class; Shelley wrote that the monster recognized "the division of property, of immense wealth and squalid poverty". Others see in the monster the dangers of uncontrolled scientific progress, especially as at the time of publishing; Galvanism had convinced many scientists that raising the dead through use of electrical currents was a scientific possibility. Another proposal is that Victor Frankenstein was based on a real scientist who had a similar name, and who had been called a modern Prometheus –

Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin (April 17, 1790) was an American polymath: a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher and Political philosophy, political philosopher.#britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the m ...

. Accordingly, the monster would represent the new nation that Franklin helped to create out of remnants left by England. Victor Frankenstein's father "made also a kite, with a wire and string, which drew down that fluid from the clouds," wrote Shelley, similar to Franklin's famous kite experiment. Nick Groom considers adaptations of the story to have "become more and more warped" over time, with Frankenstein's creation becoming "a mindless zombie, without any thought, any soul; an unredeemable, intolerable, and indubitably unjustifiable monster".

Racial interpretations

In discussing the physical description of the monster, there has been some speculation about the potential his design is rooted in common perceptions of race during the 18th century. Three scholars have noted that Shelley's description of the monster seems to be racially coded; one argues that, "Shelley's portrayal of her monster drew upon contemporary attitudes towards non-whites, in particular on fears and hopes of the abolition of slavery in the West Indies."Malchow, H L. "Frankenstein's Monster and Images of Race in Nineteenth-Century Britain." Past & Present, No. 139, May 1993, pp. 90–130. In her article "Frankenstein, Racial Science, and the Yellow Peril",Mellor, Anne K. "Frankenstein, Racial Science, and the Yellow Peril" Frankenstein: Second Edition, 2012, pp. 481 Anne Mellor claims that the monster's features share a lot in common with the Mongoloid race. This term, now out of fashion and carrying some negative connotations, is used to describe the "yellow" races of Asia as distinct from the Caucasian or white races. To support her claim, Mellor points out that both Mary and Percy Shelley were friends with William Lawrence, an early proponent of racial science and someone whom Mary "continued to consult on medical matters and et withsocially until his death in 1830." While Mellor points out to allusions to

Orientalism In art history, literature, and cultural studies, Orientalism is the imitation or depiction of aspects of the Eastern world (or "Orient") by writers, designers, and artists from the Western world. Orientalist painting, particularly of the Middle ...

and the Yellow Peril, John Malchow in his article "Frankenstein's Monster and Images of Race in Nineteenth-Century Britain" explores the possibility of the monster either being intentionally or unintentionally coded as black. Malchow argues that the monster's depiction is based in an 18th-century understanding of "popular racial discourse hichmanaged to conflate such descriptions of particular ethnic characteristics into a general image of the 'Negro' body in which repulsive features, brute-like strength and size of limbs featured prominently." Malchow makes it clear that it is difficult to tell if this alleged racial allegory was intentional on Shelley's part or if it was inspired by the society she lived in (or if it exists in the text at all outside of his interpretation), and he states that "There is no clear proof that Mary Shelley consciously set out to create a monster which suggested, explicitly, the Jamaican escaped slave or maroon, or that she drew directly from any person knowledge of either planter or abolitionist propaganda." In addition to the previous interpretations, Karen Lynnea Piper argues in her article, "Inuit Diasporas: Frankenstein and the Inuit in England" that the symbolism surrounding Frankenstein's monster could stem from the

Inuit Inuit (singular: Inuk) are a group of culturally and historically similar Indigenous peoples traditionally inhabiting the Arctic and Subarctic regions of North America and Russia, including Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwe ...

of the

Arctic The Arctic (; . ) is the polar regions of Earth, polar region of Earth that surrounds the North Pole, lying within the Arctic Circle. The Arctic region, from the IERS Reference Meridian travelling east, consists of parts of northern Norway ( ...

. Piper argues that the monster accounts for the "missing presence" of any indigenous people during Waldon's expedition, and that he represents the fear of the savage, lurking on the outskirts of civilization.

Portrayals

Notes

References

External links

Literary discussion of the argument of ''Frankenstein''

{{Organ transplantation Fictional characters with superhuman strength Fictional disabled characters in literature Fictional monsters Fictional murderers of children Fictional resurrected characters Fictional suicides Fictional undead Frankenstein characters Godzilla characters Horror villains Literary characters introduced in 1818 Male horror film villains Male literary villains Toho monsters