On the bitter-cold Halloween nights, we have grown accustomed to the presence of monsters lurking somewhere in the darkness. Frankenstein’s creature is one of the best known and feared horror characters, despite the fact that the author did not depict him the way he is seen today.
Frankenstein Friday is an annual holiday that honors the “mother” and “father” of Frankenstein, Mary Shelley and Boris Karloff. Falling on the last Friday in October, which happens to be Halloween this year, it seems appropriate to also honor the creature that these two people created, no matter how different their interpretations of him were.
Shelley’s novel “Frankenstein” was first published in 1818. In the novel, he is a sensitive, intelligent and emotional creature whose only desire is to share his life with someone like himself. However, Karloff altered the creature’s image in his 1931 film portrayal.
Michael Delahoyde, a clinical associate professor of English at Washington State University, credits Karloff’s depiction of the creature for how we see him today. “Boris Karloff’s version of the Frankenstein monster has become iconic mostly for the striking visual effect, but I suspect that, compared to the Shelley novel, his semi-brain-dead depiction is what carried it. Slick articulate evil is one dread we face, but vampires often can manage that way I find the notion of a lumbering, inarticulate, mentally impaired creature much more distressing.”
Frankenstein’s creature has lived on for almost two centuries, and is recognized by both the young and old. “Earlier monsters were usually just obstacles for a hero to overcome,” said Delahoyde. “‘Frankenstein’ begins a trend whereby we remember the monster itself more than any hero put forth in the tales, so much so that Shelley’s ‘creature’ usually now bears the name of its creator, while remaining unnamed in the novel.”
This Frankenstein Friday, whether you are remembering the author who created him, the actor who brought him to life or the monster himself, acknowledge the fact that although the stories may be different, we all view Frankenstein’s creature the same, as a frightening cross between the living and dead.
Delahoyde teaches a course about monsters in literature and film at WSU. He can be reached at 509-335-4832 or delahoyd@wsu.edu.
