Few creatures are as iconic and as terrifying as the lurching, moaning and towering terror known as Frankenstein’s monster and it’s for more reasons than you might think.
No monster encapsulates true terror in the way that Frankenstein’s monster does because ultimately nothing is scarier than the terrors we create for ourselves.
“Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus,” was written in 1818 by English novelist Mary Shelley.
The macabre work was inspired by the death of several of her children and the political writings of her notable feminist mother of the same name, Mary Wollstonecraft, according to a Feb. 5, 2018 New Yorker article.
Like the monster itself, the story is an amalgam of several things.
It is a metaphor, an allegory and a warning, all at once, critiquing our understanding of bodily autonomy, the creation of life and our flagrant use of technology to dangerous ends.
Unfortunately, the more well-known depiction comes from the 1931 film “Frankenstein,” directed by James Whale.
The movie is inspired by Shelley’s original story but depicts the monster as an unintelligent, sewn-together creature who walks with knee-locked legs and moans. Meanwhile, Henry Frankenstein is a crazed and manic doctor who wants to bring the dead back to life.
That depiction dumbs down the full weight and burden of the story presented by Shelley and we miss why we should be truly terrified of Frankenstein.
Shelley’s creature was quick, incredibly strong and thoughtful. Instead of looking to scare those around it, the monster read things like Dante Alighieri's Inferno and other works by British poet John Milton.
Frankenstein’s monster dared to ask why it was made and what was its purpose if no one wanted it.
Meanwhile, its creator, Victor Frankenstein spirals downward into himself, struggling with the question of whether he went too far for the sake of science and discovery.
Humanity's ability to create its own monsters is clearly present in horror movies and our respective imaginations but more aptly, all around us in our everyday lives.
There are more than enough examples of humans coming face to face with the ghastly and ghoulish results of their prideful machinations, with Frankenstein’s monster being the ultimate metaphor for it.
Looking around today, Frankenstein’s monster is more terrifying, and arguably more relevant, than when it was written over 200 years ago seeing how technology as a whole has only become a bigger part of our lives as our creations continue to ruin us.
