FRANKENSTEIN: Penetrating the Secrets of Nature
Inspired by a “waking dream,” in which she envisioned “the hideous phantasm of a man stretched out, and then, on the working of some powerful engine, show signs of life,” Mary began writing Frankenstein.
Portrait of Mary Shelley, ca. 1851-1893
Courtesy The Bodleian Library, University of Oxford
Italian physician Giovanni Aldini (1762–1834) administered electricity to the bodies of decapitated animals and humans and produced twitching and other physical movements. Audiences believed these movements signaled the potential of this radical new technology.
Illustration from Essai Théorique et Expérimentale sur le Galvanisme, tome premier (Theoretical and Practical Essay on Galvanism, first volume), Giovanni Aldini, 1804
Courtesy National Library of Medicine
The English actor Thomas Potter Cooke played the role of the monster in Presumption. During the performances, his face was painted green, his lips were stained black, and he wore blue body paint.
T. P. Cooke as the monster in Presumption; or, The Fate of Frankenstein, Thomas Charles Wageman (c. 1787–1863)
Courtesy The Carl H. Pforzheimer Collection of Shelly and His Circle, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations
In the Frankenstein film, Boris Karloff’s moving portrayal of the speechless creature, and the enduring image of the monster with his flattened head, surgical scars, and neck bolts, deeply affected audiences.
Boris Karloff as the Monster in Frankenstein, 1931
Courtesy Universal Studios Licensing LLC