October 25, 2023 – Theme Week Day 3

We’re halfway through our theme week on monsters! Today we’re talking about Frankenstein…or Frankenstein’s monster, to be more specific. Frankenstein’s monster first appeared in Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus. She was just 18 when she started writing the novel, which was published 2 years later. Shelley was vacationing with her future husband and some friends when she first came up with the idea. They were dealing with poor weather that kept them inside when someone suggested a challenge to write a scary story. Mary’s was voted the best, and is widely considered to be the first science fiction novel.
Shelley never gives the monster a name in the novel. Victor Frankenstein is the scientist who creates the monster, referring to it as “creature”, “fiend”, “the demon”, and “ogre”. Within a decade of its publication, Frankenstein was being used to refer to the creature, but it didn’t become firmly established until much later.
The novel was first adapted for film by Edison Studios in 1910. It was one of the first horror movies, and for many years it was thought to have been lost. But in 1980, a collector announced he had acquired a copy of it in 50s, and didn’t realize it was so rare.
The version of Frankenstein that we think of today – green skin, bolts in his neck, flat head, stiff walking – derives from Boris Karloff’s portrayal in 1931’s Frankenstein. The makeup was applied and designed by Jack Pierce, who based the monster’s face and flat head shape on a picture his daughter had drawn from a dream. The monster is described much differently in the novel. Shelley describes him as having yellow skin, flowing black hair, watery eyes, with shriveled skin and black lips. Contrary to many film versions, the monster is described as being more flexible than a human and being very articulate in his speech.
Frankenstein’s monster has become an iconic part of pop culture and has been featured in tons of different media, including movies, TV shows, comics, merchandise, and video games. It remains one of the most recognized icons in horror fiction. Learn more here.