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Frankenstein's monster
In 1818, a young woman named Mary Shelley published a novel that would birth a cultural icon, yet the creature at its heart had no name. The text refers to him only as the creature, the fiend, the spectre, the wretch, the devil, the thing, the being, and the ogre, never granting him the identity that his creator, Victor Frankenstein, so desperately sought to deny. This namelessness was not an oversight but a central thematic device, reflecting the creature's total rejection from human society and his status as an outcast who exists in a border territory between the characteristics that typically define protagonists and antagonists. The creature himself referred to himself as a monster at least once, and the residents of a hamlet who saw him towards the end of the novel did the same, but the name Frankenstein, now synonymous with the monster, was never used by the character in the original text. It was a name that belonged to the creator, a name that the creature was denied, and it was a name that would eventually be stolen by the public imagination to describe the creation itself. The first stage adaptation in 1823, titled Presumption; or, the Fate of Frankenstein, featured a play bill that listed the character as -------- by Mr T. P. Cooke, a nameless mode of naming the unnameable that Mary Shelley found amusing in a letter to her friend Leigh Hunt. 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, when the Universal film series of the 1930s cemented the error in the popular consciousness. The creature's identity has been a battleground of interpretation ever since, with modern adaptations like Dean Koontz's 2004 novel naming him Deucalion, and the 2014 film I, Frankenstein giving him the name Adam, while the 2017 novel The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter by Theodora Goss also refers to him as Adam. The creature's namelessness remains a powerful symbol of his isolation, a void where a human identity should be, and a reminder that the true horror of the story lies not in the monster's appearance, but in the refusal of the world to see him as a person.
The Tragic Narrative Arc
Victor Frankenstein builds the creature over a two-year period in the attic of his boarding house in Ingolstadt after discovering a scientific principle which allows him to create life from non-living matter, but the moment the creature opens his watery eyes, Victor flees in horror, leaving his creation to wander the wilderness alone and frightened. The creature finds solace beside a remote cottage inhabited by an older, blind man and his two children, and through eavesdropping, he familiarizes himself with their lives and learns to speak, becoming 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, a revelation that shatters his naive hope of acceptance. The creature eventually introduces himself to the family's blind father, De Lacey, who treats him with kindness, but when the rest of the family returns, they are frightened of him and drive him away, an act of cruelty that enrages the creature and leads him to believe that humankind is his enemy. He sets out to find his creator, believing that Frankenstein is the only person who will help him, but his journey is marked by tragedy and violence. He 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, and this final act of cruelty swears revenge on humankind for the suffering they have caused him. The creature 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, promising to disappear with his mate and never trouble humankind again, but threatening 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, 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 and travel over the pack ice of the Arctic Ocean, Frankenstein, suffering from severe exhaustion and hypothermia, 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, then departs, never to be seen again.
What name does Mary Shelley give to Frankenstein's monster in the 1818 novel?
Mary Shelley never gives the creature a proper name in the 1818 novel and refers to him only as the creature, the fiend, the spectre, the wretch, the devil, the thing, the being, and the ogre. The name Frankenstein belongs to the creator Victor Frankenstein and was never used by the character in the original text.
When was the name Frankenstein first used to refer to the monster in a stage adaptation?
The first stage adaptation in 1823 titled Presumption; or, the Fate of Frankenstein listed the character as a nameless mode of naming the unnameable. The name Frankenstein did not become firmly established until the Universal film series of the 1930s cemented the error in the popular consciousness.
How does the physical description of Frankenstein's monster in the novel differ from the 1931 film portrayal?
Mary Shelley describes the creature as eight feet tall with yellow skin, lustrous black flowing hair, pearly white teeth, and watery eyes. The 1931 film portrayal by Boris Karloff features a flat-topped angular head, bolts on the neck, green or gray skin, and a dark tattered suit with shortened coat sleeves.
What languages can Frankenstein's monster speak by the end of the 1818 novel?
The creature learns to speak and read German and French within 11 months and speaks English fluently by the end of the novel. He is described as an eloquent, educated, and well-mannered individual who is versed in Paradise Lost, Plutarch's Lives, and The Sorrows of Young Werther.
Who are the scholars that have analyzed racial coding in Frankenstein's monster?
Anne Mellor argues that the monster's features share a lot in common with the Mongoloid race and John Malchow explores the possibility of the monster being coded as black. Karen Lynnea Piper argues that the symbolism surrounding Frankenstein's monster could stem from the Inuit of the Arctic.
The best-known image of Frankenstein's monster in popular culture derives from Boris Karloff's portrayal in the 1931 movie Frankenstein, 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 had drawn from a dream. Universal Studios, which released the film, was quick to secure ownership of the copyright for the makeup format, and Karloff played the monster in two more Universal films, Bride of Frankenstein and Son of Frankenstein, before Lon Chaney Jr. took over the part from Karloff in The Ghost of Frankenstein. Bela Lugosi portrayed the role in Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man, and Glenn Strange played the monster in the last three Universal Studios 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, creating a visual identity that has dominated the public imagination for nearly a century. 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 mistakenly ran a photograph of Strange for Karloff's obituary, a testament to the enduring power of the image. Since Karloff's portrayal, the creature almost always appears as a towering, undead-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, and has become so ingrained that it is often mistaken for the original description. In contrast, Shelley described Frankenstein's monster as an eight-foot-tall creature of hideous contrasts, with limbs in proportion and features selected as beautiful, but with yellow skin that scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath, lustrous black flowing hair, pearly white teeth, and watery eyes that seemed almost of the same color as the dun-white sockets in which they were set. Early stage portrayals dressed him in a toga, shaded, along with the monster's skin, a pale blue, and throughout the 19th century, the monster's image remained variable according to the artist, but the Karloff design has become the definitive visual representation of the character.
The Silent and The Speaking
Contrary to many film versions, the creature in the novel is very articulate and eloquent in his speech, and almost immediately after his creation, he dresses himself, and within 11 months, he can speak and read German and French, and by the end of the novel, the creature is able to speak English fluently as well. He is a sensitive, emotional person whose only aim is to share his life with another sentient being like himself, and he is versed in Paradise Lost, Plutarch's Lives, and The Sorrows of Young Werther, books he finds after having learnt language. The creature is a vegetarian, and 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, and 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. In the 1931 film adaptation, the creature is depicted as mute and bestial, and it is implied that this is because he is accidentally implanted with a criminal's abnormal brain, and 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, and 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. The 2004 film Van Helsing and 2014 television series Penny Dreadful depict the character more closely to the literary original, although the latter version is the only one to retain the character's violent reactions to rejection. In the 1977 film Terror of Frankenstein, the Monster is played by Per Oscarsson, and this adaptation closely resembles the creature as described in the novel, both intelligent and articulate, but with dark blond hair and black lips. In the 1994 film Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, the creature is played by Robert De Niro 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, and 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, while his body is made from a man who killed Waldman while resisting a vaccination, and the monster retains Waldman's trace memories that apparently help him quickly learn to speak and read. The 2014 TV series Penny Dreadful also rejects the Karloff design in favour of Shelley's description, and 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, and 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 William Shakespeare's The Tempest, and Victor Frankenstein makes a second and third creature, each more indistinguishable from normal human beings. The 2025 version of the film by director Guillermo del Toro, the monster as portrayed by Jacob Elordi retains some elements of Shelley's novel and later interpretations, but diverges significantly in new ways, with a stitched-together look, watery eyes, and imposing size being familiar, but del Toro's version of the creature is implied to be immortal, with its wounds self-healing even when exposed to bullets or a stick of dynamite, and the focus on the inner emotions and intellectual development of the creature is noted by many critics, and unlike some previous portrayals that depict the creature as brutish, Elordi's performance is more graceful, childlike, and reveals the deep loneliness and pain of the creature once it learns to speak, read, and therefore understand its true origins and nature.
The Metaphor of the Other
Scholars sometimes look for deeper meaning in Shelley's story, and have drawn an analogy between the monster and a motherless child, as Shelley's own mother died while giving birth to her, and the monster has also been analogized to an oppressed class, as 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, and accordingly, the monster would represent the new nation that Franklin helped to create out of remnants left by England, as Victor Frankenstein's father made also a kite, with a wire and string, which drew down that fluid from the clouds, 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. In discussing the physical description of the monster, there has been some speculation that his design may be rooted in common perceptions of race during the 18th century, and three scholars have noted that Shelley's description of the monster seems to be racially coded, with one arguing 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. Anne Mellor claims that the monster's features share a lot in common with the Mongoloid race, a term now out of fashion and carrying some negative connotations, and is used to describe the yellow races of Asia as distinct from the Caucasian or white races, and 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 met with socially until his death in 1830. While Mellor points out to allusions to Orientalism 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, and argues that the monster's depiction is based in an 18th-century understanding of popular racial discourse which managed 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 of the Arctic, and 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.