| Frankenstein's monster | |
|---|---|
| Frankenstein character | |
_Creature.jpg) Steel engraving (993 × 78 mm), for the frontispiece of the 1831 revised edition of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, published by Colburn and Bentley, London. | |
| First appearance | Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus |
| Created by | Mary Shelley |
| Portrayed by | Charles Stanton Ogle Boris Karloff Lon Chaney Jr Bela Lugosi Glenn Strange Christopher Lee Kiwi Kingston David Prowse Michael Sarrazin Bo Svenson Per Oscarsson David Warner Clancy Brown Clive Russell John Bloom Peter Boyle Nick Brimble Randy Quaid Robert De Niro Kevin James Rory Kinnear Xavier Samuel Evan Jones-Sawyer Shuler Hensley Luke Goss Benedict Cumberbatch Jonny Lee Miller Christian Bale Jacob Elordi |
| In-universe information | |
| Nicknames | "Creature", "fiend", "spectre", "the dæmon", "wretch", "devil", "thing", "being", "ogre"[1] |
| Species | Simulacrum (made from different human body parts) |
| Gender | Male |
| Family | Victor Frankenstein (creator) Bride of Frankenstein (companion/predecessor; in some adaptions) |
Frankenstein's monster, commonly referred to as Frankenstein,[a] is a fictional character that first appeared in Mary Shelley's 1818 novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus as its main antagonist. Shelley's title compares the monster's creator, Victor Frankenstein, to the mythological character Prometheus, 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 8 feet (240 cm) tall and emotional.[2] 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".[3]
Frankenstein's monster became iconic in popular culture, and has been featured in various forms of media, including films, television series, merchandise and video games.[4][5] The most popularly recognized version is Boris Karloff's portrayal in the 1930s films Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein, and Son of Frankenstein.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
Baldickwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Camidge, Ross (22 September 2007). "Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus". BMJ. 335 (7620): 617.2–617. doi:10.1136/bmj.39317.718657.4E. ISSN 0959-8138. PMC 1988964.
- ^ Carroll, Joseph; Gottschall, Jonathan; Johnson, John A.; Kruger, Daniel J. (2012). Graphing Jane Austen: The Evolutionary Basis of Literary Meaning. London, England: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-1137002402.
- ^ Lescaze, Zoë (23 October 2017). "The Pop-Culture Evolution of Frankenstein's Monster". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 15 February 2024.
- ^ Fischoff, S.; Dimopoulos, Alexandra; Nguyen, François (2005). "The Psychological Appeal of Movie Monsters". Journal of Media Psychology. S2CID 159834592.
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