Frankenstein
Frankenstein
Frankenstein, the big green monster with bolts jutting out from its neck, is violent and terrifying. This is what the modern day image of Frankenstein has evolved into that has become a common Halloween costume for children and a spine shivering campfire story. But this is not how Mary Shelley pictured the monster when she wrote the novel, Frankenstein, back in 1818. Due to the effect of Hollywood and peoples perception of this story over time, Frankenstein, who is in fact nameless in Shelley’s novel and is actually the scientists name who created the monster, has turned out to be nothing of what the intended meaning of Frankenstein was originally. Ever since the story of Frankenstein has been published, people have tried to understand and explain what the true meaning of this historical novel is about. There are hints toward the story of Adam and Eve and how Shelley’s story portrays a (God-like representation of mankind) while others have thought how Shelley demonstrates a female perspective throughout the story. And while there are many more explanations, what a lot of people don’t know about this story is that many of the events that take place throughout Frankenstein are inspired events from Mary Shelley’s life and the effects those events had on her. So while time has changed the look of the monster, people have argued the meaning of Frankenstein, what this story represents, and why Mary Shelley wrote this story. But all people will ever have are only guesses as to what Shelley really intended the reader to get out of her novel. “The green-faced creature with bolts in his neck, wearing a jacket and stumbling away from torch-bearing peasants, has little in common with the creature depicted in Mary Shelley's 1818 novel, but has superseded her creation in the popular imagination” (Castantakis, 1). This is exactly how Hollywood portrayed the monster in the film Frankenstein, in 1931. But this is also the exact opposite of how Shelley saw her
Frankenstein, the big green monster with bolts jutting out from its neck, is violent and terrifying. This is what the modern day image of Frankenstein has evolved into that has become a common Halloween costume for children and a spine shivering campfire story. But this is not how Mary Shelley pictured the monster when she wrote the novel, Frankenstein, back in 1818. Due to the effect of Hollywood and peoples perception of this story over time, Frankenstein, who is in fact nameless in Shelley’s novel and is actually the scientists name who created the monster, has turned out to be nothing of what the intended meaning of Frankenstein was originally. Ever since the story of Frankenstein has been published, people have tried to understand and explain what the true meaning of this historical novel is about. There are hints toward the story of Adam and Eve and how Shelley’s story portrays a (God-like representation of mankind) while others have thought how Shelley demonstrates a female perspective throughout the story. And while there are many more explanations, what a lot of people don’t know about this story is that many of the events that take place throughout Frankenstein are inspired events from Mary Shelley’s life and the effects those events had on her. So while time has changed the look of the monster, people have argued the meaning of Frankenstein, what this story represents, and why Mary Shelley wrote this story. But all people will ever have are only guesses as to what Shelley really intended the reader to get out of her novel. “The green-faced creature with bolts in his neck, wearing a jacket and stumbling away from torch-bearing peasants, has little in common with the creature depicted in Mary Shelley's 1818 novel, but has superseded her creation in the popular imagination” (Castantakis, 1). This is exactly how Hollywood portrayed the monster in the film Frankenstein, in 1931. But this is also the exact opposite of how Shelley saw her