In his many forms Victor Frankenstein is normally portrayed as an insane madman obssesed with death and is aided by the small mutilated Igor. As I have read in the novel, Victor seems to be a good natured person with the intentions of helping people.
What brought about the way he is portrayed in pop culture today?
Mitchell, this is a great question. It seems like when anyone is different, society plays the psychiatrist and assigns them a mental illness. Perhaps that's why our culture has morphed the all-so-human Victor into this deranged mutant. I'm glad you see through this shroud. I think Shelley wants us to see that each of us is Victor. We each have a great appetite for life that can lead us down the wrong road. You've defined a unique hero in literature known as the Byronic hero--or the antihero. My literary term handbook says this is a "hero" who defies authority and conventional morality, and becomes paradoxically ennobled by his peculiar rejection of virtue. Victor surely falls into depravity, yet when we see him with Captain Walton at the beginning, we get the sense that he has learned so much about life the hard way. Great blog!
ReplyDeleteMitchell, I think that the reason Frankenstein is portrayed the way he is is because people can make money off of it and that "Frankenstein, the monster' sounds better than " Frankenstein, the Scientist". I really like you blog! The colors are great!
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