Frankenstein's Monster

The Frankenstein Monster is a tragic villain in a novel by Mary Shelley and many, many film adaptations. Although he had immense powers of speech in the original novel, most film versions remove this, making him a mute, robotic character.

The Novel
The Monster made his first appearance in the 1818 novel Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus. He is described as having wrinkled skin which barely hid the blood vessels, black lips, black hair, and yellow eyes. He was created on a rainy November night in the late eighteenth century Ingolstadt, Germany, by the medical student Victor Frankenstein. Frankenstein is so horrified by his creation that he flees the house, leaving the monster to his own devices. The Monster takes a jacket to clothe himself, and eventually wanders off into the wild. He spends a lengthy period of time learning to survive. Any humans he comes across are so frightened by his appearance that they flee in terror. The Monster eventually takes up abode in a small hovel that abuts a cottage. He listens to the inhabitants, called the De Laceys, through a chink in the wall and learns to speak and read from their example. His first reading materials are several books he finds in a castoff suitcase, including the works of Milton, Plutarch, and Goethe. The Monster also reads a series of papers he found n his jacket, which turn out to be Frankenstein's notes. Through these he discovers his origins and that Frankenstein leaves in Geneva, Switzerland. The Monster largely ignores this, as he isfocused on the De Laceys, whom he has grown to love in his tenure as their "neighbor." The Monster decides to reveal himself to the blind father while his grown children are out. However, the children return and discover him with their father, and drive him from the house. Enraged at how the whole of humanity has treated him, the Monster sets fire to the cottage and determines to seek his revenge on Frankenstein and heads for Geneva. Shortly after he arrives their, he comes across a young boy and tries to befriend him. The boy, who is Frankenstein's brother William, shrieks that he will send his father, Judge Frankenstein, after him. Upon learning that the boy is a Frankenstein, the Monster strangles him to death and takes a wallet, which contains a portrait of Frankenstein's mother. The Monster moves on and comes across a young woman, who is asleep in a barn. On an evil impulse, the Monster places the locket in her pocket. It is only after the police arrest her for William's murder that the Monster realizes that she is Justine Moritz, the Frankensteins' servant. Justine is hanged for murder not long after. Frankenstein, in order to collect his thoughts, ascends into the Alps. The Monster confronts him their and pressures him into creating a mate. The Monster promises that if he is given this, he will never be seen by humanity again. Frankenstein agrees, and travels to Scotland, where he begins the process of creating a female. The Monster follows him and watches with eager anticipation. At last minute, Frankenstein recants and destroys the mate before it is given life. The enraged Monster swears to Frankenstein that he will be with him on his wedding night. The Monster then kills, in fairly rapid succession, murder's both Henry Clerval, Frankenstein's best friend, and Elizabeth Lavenza, his new bride. Now with nothing to lose, Frankenstein swears vengeance and pursues the Monster to the Arctic, where he is picked up by a ship heading for the North Pole. Frankenstein tells his story to the expedition's leader, then dies of exhaustion. The Monster shows up not long after to gloat over Frankenstein's body, but can only express remorse for his father's death. He announces his attention to reach the Pole, then destroy himself on a funeral pyre. He jumps from the ship, and disappears into the distance.

The Universal Series
It was the series of films made by Universal Studios in the 1930s and '40s that created the version of the Monster that most people know. The Universal Monster has a flat topped head, electrodes in both sides of his neck, a heavy brow ridge, and drooping eyelids. His body was sewn together by Henry Frankenstein from pieces of dead bodies and brought to life using electricity. However, Frankenstein's assistant Fritz retrieved an abnormal "criminal" brain instead of a normal one. This was intended as an "explanation" of the Monster's homicidal actions later in the film. In the first two films, the Monster turns to violence only after being abused by Fritz and rejected by others. In the third film, Son of Frankenstein, the Monster lost the powers of speech he had gained in the previous entry, and had gained a companion named Ygor. Ygor used the Monster as a tool in his plan of revenge against the eight villagers who voted for his execution, which was botched. This plan was thwarted by Wolf von Frankenstein. In the next film, Ygor manipulated Wolf's brother Ludwig into placing his brain into the Monster's body. However, Ygor's blood type did not match that of the Monster, and he went blind. The Monster was intended to speak in Ygor's voice in Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman, but studio executives, who did not like the effect, cut all of the Monster's lines. For the rest of the series, the Monster was depicted as a shambling and mute idiot by former stuntman Glenn Strange. The Monster met its apparent death in Abbot and Costello Meet Frankenstein, when the dock he is standing on is set on fire.

The Hammer Series
After Universal ended its series of Frankenstein films, no major efforts were made until Hammer, an English studio, gained the rights and started producing its own series. The series revolved around Baron Frankenstein, played by Peter Cushing, trying to create life. In each film he created a new monster which is then destroyed after a series of murders. Most are portrayed as entirely monstrous. A notable exception was in the second film, The Revenge of Frankenstein, where the Monster character is handsome, but loses control of his body. The Baron himself undergoes several characterizations. In some films he exhibits heroic qualities, in others he is undeniably evil, even going so far as to rape one of the characters in Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed. As multiple monsters are featured throughout the series, the look of the Monster changed continuously.

Saberhagen's Monster
In his 1986 novel The Frankenstein Papers, Fred Saberhagen dealt with a wholly unique take on the Monster. The book is a reinterpretation of the original novel, and takes that concept to an extreme. In this conception, Victor Frankenstein's experiments were funded by the wealthy and immoral Robert Saville (who was responsible for the bulk of the murders attributed to the Monster), who is interested in using Frankenstein's science in order to produce a more durable form of slave for use in American and Caribbean plantations. However, the science is far from sound, and fails to produce results. The Monster was in fact an extrterrestrial named Osak Larkas, who was covertly observing Earth's advancing civilization. The electrical signals given off by Frankenstein's apparati caught Larkas's attention, so he stealthily hid his convey ance and approached the laboratory. Once inside, lightning struck the house, and Larkas was knocked unconscious. When he came to, he was suffering from amnesia and stumbled out into the night.

The "Faithfulness" Trend
Of late it has become the fashion to produce films that are more faithful to Mary Shelley's novel. Two of these are particularly important. The first was a 1993 made-for-TV movie starring Patrick Bergin as Victor and Randy Quaid as the Monster. Taking advantage of the novel's vague description of the creation scene, the film has Frankenstein create the Monster through some sort of particle generator, using himself as the model. This method results in the two characters sharing a psychic link. The Monster cannot die while Frankenstein lives, so they commit suicide together by leaping into the Arctic Ocean at the film's conclusion. Also of interest was Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, directed by Kenneth Branagh. In this version, the Monster was played by Robert De Niro, who restored the Monster's powers of speech. While the traditional electricity was used in the creation sequence, many of the details were highly original. The Monster is suspended in a tank filled with amniotic fluid, and has needles inserted into a combination of acupuncture points on his body. These are attracted to electic wires. Another important difference is that here, Frankenstein tries and succeeds to resurrect Elizabeth, but she destroys herself upon learning her true nature.