2 Genesis

During the snowy summer of 1816, the " Year Without A Summer," the world was locked in in a long cold volcanic winterA volcanic winter is the reduction in temperature caused by volcanic ash and droplets of sulfuric acid obscuring the sun, usually after a volcanic eruption (hence the name). The explosion of Krakatoa in 1883 precipitated just such a condition; the next fo responsible for the deaths of millions, caused by the eruption of Tambora in 1815Events January 3 Austria, Britain, and France form a secret defensive alliance treaty against Prussia and Russia. January 8 War of 1812: Battle of New Orleans February 3 The first commercial cheese factory is founded in Switzerland February 6 New Jersey g. In this terrible year, Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley and her husband Percy Bysshe ShelleyPercy Bysshe Shelley ( August 4, 1792 July 8, 1822) was an English Romantic poet. He is now most famous for poems such as " Ozymandias", " Ode to the West Wind", "To a Skylark", and "The Masque of Anarchy"; for his association with contemporaries John Kea visited Lord ByronElisabeth Vigee-Lebrun George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron ( January 22, 1788 April 19, 1824) was the most widely read English language poet of his day. His best-known works are the narrative poems Childe Harold's Pilgrimage and Don Juan''. The latter wa in SwitzerlandThe Swiss Confederation or Switzerland is a landlocked federal state in central Europe, with neighbours Germany, France, Italy, Austria and Liechtenstein. The country has a strong tradition of political and military neutrality, but also of international c. After reading an anthology of German ghost stories, Byron challenged the Shelleys and his personal physician John William Polidori to each compose a story of their own. Of the four, only Polidori completed a story. Mary conceived an idea, and this was the germ of Frankenstein.

It is worth noting that Byron managed to write a fragment based on the vampire legends he heard while travelling the Balkans. Polidori used this fragment to create the novel The Vampyre ( 1819), which is the origin of all subsequent vampire literature. Thus, the Frankenstein and vampire themes were created from that single circumstance.

3 Themes

The novel is subtitled "The Modern Prometheus," and this suggests the book's major inspiration. Byron was particularly attached to the play Prometheus Bound by Aeschylus, and Percy Shelley would soon write Prometheus Unbound . In addition, Shelley's portrayal of the monster owes much to the character of Satan in John Milton's Paradise Lost. This poem was one of the most popular among young poets of the time, and Shelley even allows the monster himself to read it.

Frankenstein is in some ways allegorical, and was conceived and written during an early phase of the Industrial Revolution, at a time of dramatic change. Behind Frankenstein's experiments is the search for ultimate power or godhood: what greater power could there be than the act of creation of life? Frankenstein and his utter disregard for the human and animal remains gathered in his pursuit of power can be taken as symbolic of the rampant forces of laissez-faire capitalism extant at the time and their basic disregard for human dignity. Moreover, the creation rebels against its creator: a clear message that irresponsible uses of technologies can have unconsidered consequences.

NB. In current usage, Frankenstein is often incorrectly used to refer to Frankenstein's Monster rather than to its creator. An exception to this is the 2004 film, Van Helsing in which the character is referred to by the name Frankenstein. Normally, the character is referred to simply as The Monster, Frankenstein's Monster, or The Creature. Some recent versions of the story give him the name, Viktor after his creator.

The name was probably taken from the German name of a village called Frankenstein (nowadays Zabkowice Slaskie in Poland), where silver and gold used to be mined and tremendous killing reek was around due to chemicals used. According to another theory the name was taken from Castle Frankenstein near Darmstadt, where a notorious alchemist named Konrad Dippel made experiments with human bodies. On her journey to Switzerland Mary Shelley stayed nearby.

In the 1931 film "Frankenstein," Boris Karloff, playing the part of the Fiend, the Monster is referred to as Frankenstein, and the scientist is called Victor. Since this film, the horror culture has confused modern audiences into replacing the scientist's name with its freakish creation. This event has stimulated much conversation in the literary criticism of Shelley's work. Attributing the name of the scientist to its creation reveals a deeper connection between the two, especially when the scientist realizes the great danger that the creation presents to himself and to the world.

One popular feminist critique of the novel Frankenstein, views the tale as a journey of pregnancy and the common fears of women in Shelley's day of frequent stillborn births and maternal deaths due to complications in delivery. Mary Shelley had recently experienced the horrors of a stillborn birth, and subsequently became pregnant again soon after. Victor Frankenstein is often fearful of the release of the Monster from his control, when it is free to act independently in the world and affect it for better or worse. Also, Victor Frankenstein, during much of the novel, fears the creature's desire to destroy him by killing everyone and everything most dear to him.

Victor Frankenstein studied in the Bavarian city of Ingolstadt. The medical department was famous up to the year 1800 when it was closed. Also the secret society of the " Illuminati" was founded in Ingolstadt. Shelley's husband Percy was a member of this organisation.

Alchemy was a very popular topic in Shelley's world. In fact, it was becoming an acceptable idea that humanity could infuse the spark of life onto a non-living thing. The scientific world just after the Industrial Revolution was delving into the unknown, and limitless possibilities also caused fear and apprehension for many as to the consequences of such horrific possibilities.

4 Film adaptations

The first film of Frankenstein was made in 1910 and produced by Thomas Edison. The "classic" film, produced by Universal Pictures in 1931, stars Boris Karloff as the monster, and was directed by James Whale. The film has been selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry. Its first sequel, Bride of Frankenstein ( 1935), was also directed by Whale and is considered by many to contain the most spectacular laboratory scene of any of the series. Son Of Frankenstein followed in 1939. Later efforts by Universal rapidly degenerated into farce, culminating in the outright comedy Bud Abbott Lou Costello Meet Frankenstein.

The Universal films in which The Monster appears (and the actor who played him) are:

1. Frankenstein ( 1931 - Boris Karloff)
2. Bride of Frankenstein ( 1935 - Karloff)
3. Son of Frankenstein ( 1939 - Karloff)
4. Ghost of Frankenstein ( 1942 - Lon Chaney Jr.)
5. Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man ( 1943 - Bela Lugosi with stuntman Eddie Parker in some scenes including a close-up)
6. House of Frankenstein ( 1944 - Glenn Strange)
7. House of Dracula ( 1945 - Strange)
8. Bud Abbott Lou Costello Meet Frankenstein ( 1948 - Strange). This film is usually referred to as Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein but the title given above is its official title according to the Internet Movie Database.
9. Van Helsing ( 2004 - Shuler Hensley ). This film was a reinvention and reinvigoration of the famous Universal stable of monsters of the 1930s and 1940s, but not a sequel to any of the above films.

Universal also aired a televison sitcom in the 1960s on CBS titled The Munsters with Fred Gwynne as Herman Munster, the Frankenstein-like monster who was the patriarch of his family of monsters including a Dracula-like grandfather, a vampire wife, and a werewolf son. The Munsters' home at 1313 Mockingbird Lane can still be seen on the Universal Studios' backlot tour at Universal Studios in Universal City, California.

In Great Britain, a long-running series by Hammer Films focused on the character of Dr. Frankenstein (usually played by Peter Cushing) rather than his monsters.

The Hammer Films series (and the actor playing The Monster) consisted of:

1. The Curse of Frankenstein ( 1957 - Christopher Lee)
2. The Revenge of Frankenstein ( 1958 - two Monsters: Michael Gwynn and Peter Cushing)
3. The Evil of Frankenstein ( 1964 - Kiwi Kingston )
4. Frankenstein Created Woman ( 1967 - Susan Denberg )
5. Frankenstein Must be Destroyed ( 1969 - Freddie Jones)
6. The Horror of Frankenstein ( 1970 - David Prowse)
7. Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell ( 1974 - Prowse)

Peter Cushing played Dr. Frankenstein in all of the above films except for Horror of Frankenstein in which the character was played by Ralph Bates. Cushing also played a Frankenstein creation in Revenge of Frankenstein. David Prowse played two different Monsters.

A notable recent adaptation is Mary Shelley's Frankenstein ( 1994), directed by Kenneth Branagh. The Universal version was itself reinterpreted in the 2004 Stephen Sommer film Van Helsing.

In the fall of 2004, two separate adaptations of the Frankenstein story were broadcast on American television, one on the Hallmark Entertainment Network and another which could possibly lead to a television series on the USA Network.

Depictions of The Monster have varied widely, from mindless killing machines (as in many of the Hammer films) to the depiction of The Monster as a noble and heroic creature (closest to the Shelley version in behavior) in the recent Van Helsing.

The films have been parodied, as in Mel Brooks' comedy Young Frankenstein ( 1974), which borrows heavily from the first three Universal Frankenstein films, including the use of Whale's original laboratory set pieces and the technical contributions of their original creator, Kenneth Strickfaden .

In the TV show Late Night with Conan O'Brien, Frankenstein's monster is a recurring character in the segment Frankenstein Wastes A Minute of Our Time. As played by Phil Hartman, The Monster was also a popular recurring comedic character on Saturday Night Live in the early 1990s.

4.1 2004 Television Adaptations

• Hallmark Entertainment: Frankenstein

• USA Network: Frankenstein

5 Other Adaptations

The story of Frankenstein, or to be precise, Frankenstein's Monster, has formed the basis of many original novels over the years, some of which were considered sequels to Shelley's original work, and some of which were based more upon the character as portrayed in the Universal films. The Monster has also been the subject of many comic book adaptations, ranging from the ridiculous (a 1960s series portraying The Monster as a superhero), to more straightforward interpretations of Shelley's work, such as the early 1970s Marvel Comics series, The Monster of Frankenstein, which started out as a faithful (in spirit at least) retelling of Shelley's tale, before transferring The Monster into the present day and pitting him against James Bond-inspired evil organizations.

Frankenstein's Monster also appears in the Konami Video Game series Castlevania, numerous times, with its name being "The Monster" or "The Creature", often as a Major Boss, but sometimes as a regular enemy.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer has also faced Frankenstein-like creations; once in season two (a supposedly deceased high-school jock), and most notably in season four, wherein the moster was a stitched-together mass of robot, human, and demon parts named Adam, which turned out to be the main villain for the twenty-two episode season's story arc.

6 External link

• Full eBook text of Frankenstein at Project Gutenberg

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