Dr. Frankenstein, I Presume? Revising the Popular Image of Frankenstein

Abstract

This article critically examines the popular images of “Dr. Frankenstein” and his Creature, which took their iconic form in the 1931 film Frankenstein, influenced by medical experimentation following the Great War. Thus the title character is a medical student who stitches together stolen body parts to create a violent and subhuman monster, played to perfection by Boris Karloff. Because these images hardly resemble the original characters or plot of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, the article presents a revised interpretation of that novel emphasizing its scientific context, particularly the theories of Erasmus Darwin and Xavier Bichat. Here Victor Frankenstein is a chemist inspired by alchemy, who applies an ingenious technique of spontaneous generation to grow tissues to form the body of a gigantic Creature. Its appearance is terrifying because it is a new species, uncannily similar to but also superior to a human being, and thus it threatens to replace humanity.