Frankenstein's monster
Victor Frankenstein builds the creature over a two-year period in the attic of his boarding house in Ingolstadt. He discovers a scientific principle that allows him to create life from non-living matter. The monster emerges as tall and emotional, with yellow skin covering muscles and arteries beneath. His hair is lustrous black and flowing, while his teeth shine pearly white. Yet these luxuriances form a horrid contrast with watery eyes set in dun-white sockets. Victor sees this creation and feels only disgust. He stretches out one hand to detain the creature but escapes into horror. The new being wanders through the wilderness, frightened and unaware of its own identity.
Mary Shelley's original 1818 novel does not give the character a specific name. Victor Frankenstein refers to his creation variously as the creature, fiend, spectre, dæmon, wretch, devil, thing, being, or ogre. The creature calls itself a monster at least once, as do residents of a hamlet near the end of the story. Stage adaptations in London and Paris during the decades after publication kept the namelessness central. In 1823, Shelley attended Richard Brinsley Peake's Presumption performance. She wrote to Leigh Hunt that the play bill amused her because it listed the character as -------- by Mr T. Cooke. Within a decade, people began using Frankenstein to refer to the creature, though this did not become firmly established until much later. Peggy Webling's 1927 stage adaptation gave the creature a name for the first time. Universal films from the 1930s starring Boris Karloff treated the creature's identity similarly to Shelley's novel, referring to him merely as The Monster in opening credits. By the mid-20th century, popular imagination had cemented Frankenstein as the creature's name.
The creature finds solace beside a remote cottage inhabited by an older blind man and his two children. He eavesdrops on their lives and learns to speak, becoming eloquent, educated, and well-mannered within eleven months. He reads German and French fluently, then English by the novel's end. His food is not that of man; he does not destroy the lamb or kid to glut his appetite. Acorns and berries afford him sufficient nourishment, presenting a peaceful and human picture. He versifies himself with Paradise Lost, Plutarch's Lives, and The Sorrows of Young Werther after learning language. Yet rejection follows every attempt at connection. When the family returns to the cottage, they are frightened and drive him away. Enraged by this final act of cruelty, he swears revenge on humankind for the suffering they have caused him. He seeks revenge against his creator for leaving him alone in a world where he is hated.
Boris Karloff portrayed the monster in the 1931 movie Frankenstein, wearing makeup applied and designed by Jack P. Pierce. Pierce based the monster's face and iconic flat head shape on a drawing his daughter had drawn from a dream. Universal Studios quickly secured 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 portrayed the role in Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man. Glenn Strange played the monster in the last three Universal Studios films featuring the character. Subsequent actors replicated the iconic look first worn by Karloff. His daughter's company, Karloff Enterprises, currently owns the image of Karloff's face following a lawsuit represented by attorney Bela G. Lugosi. In 1969, the New York Times mistakenly ran a photograph of Strange for Karloff's obituary. Since Karloff's portrayal, the creature almost always appears as a towering, undead-like figure with a flat-topped angular head and bolts on his neck to serve as electrical connectors or grotesque electrodes.
Scholars have noted that Shelley's description of the monster seems racially coded. Anne Mellor claims the monster's features share a lot in common with what she terms the Mongoloid race, used historically to describe yellow races of Asia distinct from Caucasian or white races. Mary Shelley continued to consult William Lawrence on medical matters until his death in 1830. John Malchow argues the monster's depiction is based in an 18th-century understanding of popular racial discourse which managed to conflate particular ethnic characteristics into a general image of the Negro body. Karen Lynnea Piper suggests symbolism could stem from the Inuit of the Arctic, representing fear of the savage lurking on the outskirts of civilization. Malchow states there is no clear proof that Mary Shelley consciously set out to create a monster suggesting explicitly the Jamaican escaped slave or maroon. The creature has also been analogized to an oppressed class recognizing the division of property between immense wealth and squalid poverty. These interpretations link physical appearance to contemporary attitudes toward non-whites and fears surrounding abolition of slavery in the West Indies.
Hammer Film Productions released The Curse of Frankenstein in 1957 with Christopher Lee as the creature. Producers refrained from duplicating aspects of Universal's 1931 film, so Phil Leakey designed a new look bearing no resemblance to Boris Karloff's design created by Jack Pierce. Lee played him as loose-limbed and childlike, fearful and lonely, with a suggestion of being in pain. Author Paul Leggett describes the creature as like an abused child, afraid but also violently angry. Christopher Lee was annoyed discovering the monster had no dialogue for this creature was totally mute. Marcus K. Harmes notes Lee's actions seem more directly evil yet evoke considerable pathos. The 2004 film Van Helsing shows a modernized version of the Karloff design standing seven feet tall with square bald head and pale green skin. The 2014 television series Penny Dreadful rejects the Karloff design in favor of Shelley's description, featuring flowing dark hair though departing with pale grey skin and obvious scars along the right side of his face. This version names himself Caliban after William Shakespeare's The Tempest. Jacob Elordi portrays the monster in the 2025 Guillermo del Toro film, retaining watery eyes and imposing size while revealing deep loneliness once he learns to speak.
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Common questions
Who created the Frankenstein's monster character?
Mary Shelley created the Frankenstein's monster character in her 1818 novel. Victor Frankenstein builds the creature over a two-year period in the attic of his boarding house in Ingolstadt.
What is the origin of the name Frankenstein for the monster?
Mary Shelley's original 1818 novel does not give the character a specific name and refers to him as the creature, fiend, spectre, dæmon, wretch, devil, thing, being, or ogre. Peggy Webling's 1927 stage adaptation gave the creature a name for the first time, though people began using Frankenstein to refer to the creature within a decade after publication.
How did Boris Karloff portray the Frankenstein's monster in the 1931 movie?
Boris Karloff portrayed the monster in the 1931 movie Frankenstein wearing makeup applied and designed by Jack P. Pierce. His daughter's company, Karloff Enterprises, currently owns the image of Karloff's face following a lawsuit represented by attorney Bela G. Lugosi.
Why do scholars analyze the racial coding of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein's monster?
Scholars have noted that Shelley's description of the monster seems racially coded with features sharing commonalities with what Anne Mellor terms the Mongoloid race. John Malchow argues the monster's depiction is based in an 18th-century understanding of popular racial discourse which managed to conflate particular ethnic characteristics into a general image of the Negro body.
What changes did Hammer Film Productions make to the Frankenstein's monster design in 1957?
Hammer Film Productions released The Curse of Frankenstein in 1957 with Christopher Lee as the creature and producers refrained from duplicating aspects of Universal's 1931 film. Phil Leakey designed a new look bearing no resemblance to Boris Karloff's design created by Jack Pierce for this adaptation.