‘프랑켄슈타인’의 여성들: 메리 셸리의 소설 『프랑켄슈타인』과 웨일 감독과 브래너 감독 영화들을 중심으로

Abstract

This study examines Frankenstein’s women in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, James Whale’s Frankenstein and The Bride of Frankenstein and Kenneth Branagh’s Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. It has re-defined the concept of ‘ex-stasy’ or ‘ex-sistence’ which are explained by Jacques Lacan and Judith Butler.BR Using the term of ‘ex-stasy’ defined paradoxically, this paper applies to women of Frankenstein. ‘Ex-static’ women, Saville, Caroline, Justine and Elizabeth, are marginalized, fetishized, and idealized such as a gift, a sexual object, or the Virgin Mary under the patriarchal system. The women are ‘beside themselves’ and ‘stand apart from’ existence because they are dispossessed of their own gender, sexuality, and identity.BR Comparing Shelley’s novel to Whale’s and Branagh’s adaptations, this paper shows the male homo-social desire and the patriarchical gaze seeking heterosexual desire. Therefore, the ‘ghost story’ suggested by Lord Byron is about the ‘hideous women’ under the compulsory heterosexuality centered patriarchy.