Dracula and the Frankenstein Monster

Frankenstein and Dracula both deal with the issues of death and resurrection, creation and transgression, and the blurring of the boundaries between life and death. This common linkage with death and resurrection increased with time. James Whale emphasizes the significance of digging in a Christian cemetery in his Frankenstein (1931). The pronounced crucifix and an … Read more

Frankenstein and Dracula

“I considered the being whom I had cast among mankind, and endowed with the will and power to effect purposes of horror – my own vampire.” (Mary Shelley, Frankenstein, 73).  Though the modern pairing of Dracula and Frankenstein’s Monster is primarily a partnership on screen, our favorite monsters have enjoyed a long and fascinating relationship. … Read more

The Death of Gothicism

Mary Shelley’s classic defies strict categorization as either Gothic, Romantic or Science Fiction. While containing elements of each, it moves beyond these genres and transcend time. Despite being very much rooted in the Nineteenth Century, it is thoroughly applicable to our current Twenty first Century. Frankenstein: or, the Modern Prometheus has inspired other literary works … Read more

The modern Prometheus

In Greek mythology, Prometheus, a Titan, stole fire from Mount Olympus and gave it to humanity, for which presumption he was eternally punished by Zeus, king of the gods. In Roman legend Prometheus also created mankind out of clay. In Hebrew legend the golem was a clay man, animated through cabalistic magic to perform certain … Read more

A critical view

From the first dramatic version of Frankenstein on the London stage in the 1820’s until Hollywood most recent attempts to exploit the myth  (46 titles at last count), the general spirit of Mary Shelley’s original has significantly changed. What was once a literary classic about parental abandonment of human creations and the curse to be … Read more

The plays and movies (1823-2003)

In 1823 the novel’s first stage adaptation, Presumption; Or, The Fate of Frankenstein by Richard Brinksley Peake premiered. The creature, his face yellow and green, his limbs blue, was speechless; the novel’s complex moral explorations were reduced to a single moral: Frankenstein got punished for treading in God’s domain. Exciting scenes with the Monster alternated … Read more

The Book

Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus is a novel by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley that was first published in 1818. Read the full text of Frankenstein in its entirety, completely free. Letter 1 To Mrs. Saville, England. You will rejoice to hear that no disaster has accompanied  the commencement of an enterprise which you have regarded with … Read more

Frankenstein Etymology

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Frankenstein means “the stone of the Franks”. Beginning around 500 A.D, the Franks took control of Gaule which was part of the Roman empire at that time. One of their their conquest was a Roman quarry in the vicinity of Darmstadt, Germany. A Knight called Arbogast Von Frankenstein is remembered as the earliest person known … Read more