Victor Frankenstein- The main thing actor Mary Shelley's novel "Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus" (1818), as well as a character (who also goes by the names Henry Frankenstein, Charles Frankenstein, Doctor Frankenstein or Baron Frankenstein) many book, dramatic and cinematic adaptations of its plot.
Characteristic
In the novel, Victor Frankenstein, a young student from Geneva, creates a living creature from dead matter, for which he collects the likeness of a person from fragments of the bodies of the dead, and then finds a “scientific” way to revive him, implementing the concept of “creating life without women”; however, the revived creature turns out to be a monster.
Frankenstein as a character is characterized by a desire for knowledge not limited by ethical considerations; Only after creating a monster does he realize that he has taken a vicious path. However, the monster already exists beyond his desire, it is trying to realize itself and holds Frankenstein responsible for its existence.
Frankenstein and the monster he created form a Gnostic couple, consisting of the creator and his creation, inevitably burdened with evil. Reinterpreted in terms of Christian ethics, this pair illustrates the failure of man to take on the functions of God, or the impossibility of knowing God through reason. If we consider the situation in the rational way characteristic of the Age of Enlightenment, then it transforms into the problem of the scientist’s ethical responsibility for the consequences of his discoveries.
Some sources suggest that the prototype of Frankenstein was the German scientist Johann Conrad Dippel (1673-1734), born in Frankenstein Castle.
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In other works
The multiplicity and ambiguity of interpretations generated by these images of Frankenstein and his creation have created the preconditions for constant attempts to comprehend and rethink them in different ways. artistic forms- first in the theater, and then in cinema, where the plot of the novel went through several stages of adaptation and acquired new stable motifs that were completely absent in the book (the theme of a brain transplant as a metaphor for a soul transplant) or were outlined, but not developed (the theme of the Bride of Frankenstein ). It was in the cinema that Frankenstein was made a “baron” - in the novel he did not have a baronial title, and could not have had it, if only because he is a Genevan (after the Reformation, the canton of Geneva did not recognize titles of nobility, although formally noble families remained).
In popular culture, there is also a frequent confusion between the images of Frankenstein and the monster he created, which is mistakenly called "Frankenstein" (for example, in the image-rich popular culture animated film"Yellow Submarine "). In addition, the image of Frankenstein gave rise to many different sequels - various sons and brothers appeared, performing under the names Wolf, Charles, Henry, Ludwig and even daughter Elsa.
Indirectly (and in some episodes, openly) the idea of creating living things from non-living things, just like Frankenstein created the monster, is found in the film “Rugrats” and the remake series “Miracles of Science”. This is shown in the very first episode, where the guys were inspired to create an artificial woman by the film “Bride of Frankenstein”. And in the first episode of season 4, they actually meet the doctor and his monster in person.
In the series Once Upon a Time, in episode 5 of season 2, it turns out that Dr. Whale is from another, black and white world and is none other than Victor Frankenstein. This is a scientist who dreamed of reviving people. With the help of Rumplestiltskin, he revives his brother, Gerhart, thus creating a monster that beats their father to death. Subsequently, the doctor revives another man, with the same result. His goal was to bring life to people and get glory for it, but instead his name is associated with a monster, and the hero is very worried about this. In the series, Dr. Whale is a ladies' man and ladies' man, outwardly successful and happy man, but in fact he deeply experiences personal tragedy and the situation with his brother, who died partly through his fault.
Frankenstein
Frankenstein
The main character of the story “Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus” (1818) by the English writer Mary Shelley (1797-1851). Victor Frankenstein is the name of a young Swiss scientist who, wanting to artificially create a living person in a laboratory, gave life to a humanoid monster that horrified its creator. And he was the first to suffer from his creation - it killed the scientist’s younger brother, and then his fiancee and only friend.
Usually used incorrectly when Frankenstein refers to a monster, an artificially created creature similar to a person. But in Shelley’s story he did not have a personal name, and his creator himself - Victor Frankenstein - called him a “monster”, “demon”, “giant”.
Allegorically: about a man who brought to life forces that he could not cope with, which turned against him, from which he himself suffered. Can serve as an analogue famous expression: The Sorcerer's Apprentice.
encyclopedic Dictionary winged words and expressions. - M.: “Locked-Press”. Vadim Serov. 2003.
See what "Frankenstein" is in other dictionaries:
Frankenstein 90 Genre ... Wikipedia
- (English Frankenstein) the hero of M. Shelley’s novel “Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus” (1818). Written under the direct influence of the English Gothic novel of the late 18th century early XIX century, M. Shelley’s novel is in many ways superior to the works of... ... Literary heroes
FRANKENSTEIN- Eduard, an outstanding Polish cellist of the first half of the 19th century. Genus. in Warsaw, where he received his music degree. education and gave concerts before moving to St. Petersburg, where he enjoyed great artistic success. In the early 50s, F. gave concerts... ... Musical dictionary Riman
Frankenstein: "Frankenstein" is a shortened title of Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus (1818). Victor Frankenstein is the main character in Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus, as well as... ... Wikipedia
Mary Shelley s Frankenstein ... Wikipedia
Frankenstein: "Frankenstein" is a shortened title of Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus (1818). Victor Frankenstein is the main character in Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus, as well as the prototype... ... Wikipedia
Frankenstein Frankenstein ... Wikipedia
Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus ... Wikipedia
Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed ... Wikipedia
Books
- Frankenstein, Shelley Mary. Mary Shelley's mystical-fantasy story "Frankenstein" is her most famous work. Published in 1818, the creation of the nineteen-year-old wife of the great poet Percy Bysshe...
The terrifying story about a monstrous monster became a cult favorite and created waves in literature and cinema. The writer managed not only to shock the sophisticated audience to the point of goosebumps, but also to teach a philosophical lesson.
History of creation
The summer of 1816 turned out to be rainy and stormy, and it was not for nothing that Time of Troubles popularly nicknamed “The Year Without Summer.” This weather was caused by the 1815 eruption of the layered volcano Tambora, which is located on the Indonesian island of Sumbawa. IN North America and Western Europe was unusually cold, people wore autumn and winter clothes and preferred to stay at home.
At that lean time, a company of Englishmen gathered at the Villa Diodati: John Polidori, Percy Shelley and eighteen-year-old Mary Godwin (married Shelley). Since this group did not have the opportunity to diversify their life with hiking on the shores of Lake Geneva and horseback riding, they warmed themselves in the living room by the wood-burning fireplace and discussed literature.
The friends entertained themselves by reading scary German fairy tales, the collection Phantasmagorian, which was published in 1812. The pages of this book contained stories about witches, terrible curses and ghosts living in abandoned houses. Ultimately, inspired by the works of other writers, George Byron suggested that the company also try to write a chilling story.
Byron sketched out a story about Augustus Darwell, but successfully abandoned this idea, which was taken up by John Polidori, who wrote a story about a bloodsucker called “The Vampire,” beating his colleague, the creator of “Dracula.”
Mary Shelley also decided to try to realize her creative potential and wrote a short story about a scientist from Geneva who recreated living things from dead matter. It is noteworthy that the plot of the work was inspired by stories about the parascientific theory of the German doctor Friedrich Mesmer, who argued that with the help of special magnetic energy it is possible to establish a telepathic connection with each other. The writer was also inspired by friends’ stories about galvanism.
One day, the scientist Luigi Galvani, who lived in the 18th century, dissected a frog in his laboratory. When the scalpel touched her body, he saw that the muscles on the test subject's legs were twitching. The professor called this phenomenon animal electricity, and his nephew Giovanni Aldini began performing similar experiments on a human corpse, surprising the sophisticated public.
In addition, Mary was inspired by Frankenstein's Castle, which is located in Germany: the writer heard about it on the way from England to the Swiss Riviera, when she was passing through the Rhine Valley. There were rumors that the estate had been converted into an alchemical laboratory.
The first edition of the novel about a mad scientist was published in the capital of the United Kingdom in 1818. The anonymous book, dedicated to William Godwin, was bought by bookstore regulars, but literary critics wrote very mixed reviews. In 1823, Mary Shelley's novel was translated into theater stage and was a success with audiences. Therefore, the writer soon edited her creation, giving it new colors and transforming the main characters.
Plot
Readers meet the young scientist from Geneva, Victor Frankenstein, on the first pages of the work. The young, exhausted professor is picked up by the ship of the English explorer Walton, who went to the North Pole in order to explore uncharted lands. After resting, Victor tells the first person he meets a story from his life.
The main character of the work grew up and was brought up in an aristocratic wealthy family. WITH early childhood the boy disappeared into the home library, absorbing the knowledge he gained from books like a sponge.
The works of the founder of iatrochemistry, Paracelsus, the manuscripts of the occultist Agrippa of Nettesheim and other works of alchemists who dreamed of finding the treasured philosopher's stone, which turns any metals into gold, fell into his hands.
Victor's life was not so cloudless; the teenager lost his mother early. The father, seeing the aspirations of his offspring, sent young man to the elite university of Ingolstadt, where Victor continued to learn the basics of science. In particular, under the influence of science teacher Waldman, the scientist became interested in the possibility of creating living things from dead matter. After spending two years on research, main character Romana decided on his terrible experiment.
When a huge creature created from various parts of the dead tissues came to life, stunned Victor fled from his laboratory in a fit of fever:
“I saw my creation unfinished; it was ugly even then; but when his joints and muscles began to move, something more terrible than all fiction turned out,” said the protagonist of the work.
It is worth noting that Frankenstein and his nameless creature form a kind of Gnostic pair of the creator and his creation. If we talk about the Christian religion, then the rethinking of the terms of the novel illustrates that man cannot take on the function of God and is not able to know him through reason.
A scientist, striving for new discoveries, recreates an unprecedented evil: the monster is aware of its existence and tries to blame Victor Frankenstein. The young professor wanted to create immortality, but realized that he had taken a vicious path.
Victor hoped to start life with clean slate, but learned chilling news: it turns out that his younger brother William was brutally murdered. The police found the maid of the Frankenstein house guilty because during a search the medallion of the deceased was found on the innocent housekeeper. The court sent the unfortunate woman to the scaffold, but Victor guessed that the true criminal was a living monster. The monster took such a step because he hated the creator, who, without a twinge of conscience, left the ugly monster alone and doomed him to an unhappy existence and eternal persecution by society.
Next, the monster kills Henri Clerval, best friend scientist, because Victor refuses to create a bride for the monster. The fact is that the professor thought that soon from such a tandem in love the Earth would be inhabited by monsters, so the experimenter destroyed female body, provoking the hatred of his creation.
It seemed that, despite all the terrible events, Frankenstein’s life was gaining new momentum (the scientist marries Elizabeth Lavenza), but the offended monster enters the scientist’s room at night and strangles his beloved.
Victor was shocked by the death of his beloved girl, and his father soon died of a heart attack. A desperate scientist, having lost his family, swears revenge on the terrible creature and rushes after him. The giant hides at the North Pole, where, due to his superhuman strength, he easily eludes his pursuer.
Movies
The films based on the novel by Mary Shelley are amazing. Therefore, here is a list of popular cinematic works featuring the professor and his mad monster.
- 1931 – “Frankenstein”
- 1943 – “Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man”
- 1966 – “Frankenstein created woman”
- 1974 – “Young Frankenstein”
- 1977 – “Victor Frankenstein”
- 1990 – Frankenstein Unchained
- 1994 – “Frankenstein Mary Shelley”
- 2014 – “I, Frankenstein”
- 2015 – “Victor Frankenstein”
- The monster from Mary Shelley's novel is called Frankenstein, but this is a mistake because the author of the book did not give Victor's creation any name.
- In 1931, director James Whale released the cult film horror film "Frankenstein". The image of the monster played by Boris Karloff in the film is considered canonical. The actor had to spend a long time in the dressing room, because it took artists about three hours to create the character’s appearance. The role of the mad scientist in the film went to actor Colin Clive, who was remembered for his phrases from the film.
- Initially, the role of the monster in the 1931 film was to be played by Bela Lugosi, who was remembered by the audience for his image of Dracula. However, the actor did not want to put on makeup for a long time, and besides, this role had no text.
- In 2015, director Paul McGuigan delighted film fans with the film “Victor Frankenstein,” starring Jessica Brown Findlay, Bronson Webb and. Daniel Radcliffe, who is remembered from the film “,” managed to get used to the role of Igor Straussman, for which the actor had artificial hair extensions.
- Mary Shelley claimed that the idea for the work came to her in a dream. Originally from a writer who still couldn't come up with interesting story, a creative crisis arose. But half asleep, the girl saw an adept bending over the body of the monster, which became the impetus for the creation of the novel.
Photo: Public Domain
Young Victor Frankenstein, the protagonist of Mary Shelley's imperishable work, had his own idols. The most important of them was, perhaps, the scientist Philip Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim, hiding under the pseudonym Paracelsus, who lived on the border of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.
Paracelsus was a great natural philosopher and physician who suddenly realized that chemistry could serve medicine, and thereby contributed to the development of pharmacology. Of course, he was also a famous alchemist. Moreover, the creation of the philosopher's stone did not particularly interest him. According to one of his contemporaries, he already possessed it, having received the coveted substance as a gift in Constantinople. But the creation of a homunculus - an artificial man - really fascinated him. So much so that he left several recipes for its creation - in the treatises “Conceivable Nature” and “On the Nature of Things”. The main method proposed by him is so odious that it is impossible not to quote: “You need to start this like this - put a generous amount of male sperm into a test tube, seal it, keep it warm for forty days, which corresponds to the warmth of the insides of a horse, until it begins to ferment, live and move. At that time he will already find human forms, but will be transparent and intangible. For the next forty weeks, it must be carefully fed with human blood every day and kept in the same warm place until it becomes a real living child, exactly the same as one born from a woman, only much smaller.”
This method of creating a homunculus was not the first idea about an artificial being. It was borrowed by late European alchemists from the Kabbalists and Jews. A man molded from clay, brought to life to protect the Jewish people, was called the Golem. And in some alchemical grimoires of the 16th century there are even recipes for its creation.
Johan Dippel
Photo: Wikipedia
Another alchemist, without whom the fictional Dr. Frankenstein would hardly ever have been able to carry out his fascinating experiments. Johan Dippel, who lived in the 18th century, is considered a likely prototype for the mad Swiss scientist. The name of Castle Frankenstein, which was his main possession, is one of the main arguments in favor of this version. Dippel was a very shocking figure. A repeated participant in major theological debates, a critic of Protestantism, he became one of the translators of the Berleburg Bible, the publication of which was supposed to bring under one denominator all the then occult and mystical interpretations of the biblical text. Naturally, Lord Frankenstein was more than once accused of all the sins corresponding to his activities: the worship of Satan, human sacrifice and abuse of the dead. But Johan himself considered his most important achievement to be the elixir of immortality he created from parts of animal bodies. Judging by the fact that he died in 1734, it was in vain.
Lazzaro Spallanzani
Photo: Wikipedia
Among scientists directly involved in the study of life, the name of Lazzaro Spallanzani stands apart. This is because he managed to revolutionize ideas about its origins at a fundamental level. One English naturalist in the 18th century was noticed by the Royal scientific society due to the fact that he allegedly proved the theory of spontaneous generation of life. John Needham, that was his name, heated mutton gravy, poured it into a bottle, capped it, and after a few days he was delighted to discover microbes that seemed to have arisen from inanimate matter. Spallanzani had enough of a small series of fairly simple experiments to prove that if this broth was thoroughly boiled, then no life would remain in it, and if it was sealed properly, then it would not be able to arise. His experiments were a real shock, because the theory of the spontaneous generation of life had existed since the time of Aristotle, that is, for about two millennia, although Christian creationism supplanted it in the Middle Ages. Spallanzani practically created the principles of the theory of biogenesis, which implies that in order to create life, another life is needed. But he didn’t answer her main question: where did that very first life come from in this case?
Andrew Cross
Photo: somersetcountygazette.co.uk Speaking about human attempts to try on the role of a demiurge, it is simply impossible to ignore the almost mystical story of Andrew Cross. The British gentleman, physicist, mineralogist, and major researcher of electricity was surrounded by myths as a result of one of his experiments. In 1817, Mr. Cross amused himself by attempting to grow crystals using electric current, which, as a rule, he succeeded. But one day, instead of a crystal lattice, he discovered something strange on the surface of the stone he was working with. Under a microscope, it turned out that this was organic life, rapidly developing and representing some kind of insects unknown to him. Cross himself convinced his contemporaries that the sterility conditions in the laboratory were impeccable and no random organisms could enter the container for the experiment. He considered his experiment a successful, albeit accidental, attempt to create life. Cross was supported by fairly authoritative scientists of the time like Michael Faraday, but Cross himself admitted that he could not repeat this experiment. However, like all scientists after him. So the story of how Andrew Cross created life is still a mystery. to a greater extent legend rather than historical or scientific fact.
Luigi Galvani and Giovanni Aldini
These two characters, also claiming to be the prototype of Victor Frankenstein, were able to conduct experiments that were both useful and spectacular. One of the squares in Bologna is still named after the first one. It is not surprising, since the term “galvanism”, also used today, is directly related to Luigi Galvani. A theologian by training, who lived at the end of the 18th century, in the middle of his life he abruptly changed his profession and began to study natural sciences and medicine. And not just studying, but using a very innovative approach, studying the relationship between electrical current and physiology. By passing current through the body of a dead frog and observing the results, he came to the conclusion that any muscle is a kind of analogue of an electric battery. His nephew, Giovanni Aldini, found a great way to make money from his uncle's research. He demonstrated the principles of galvanism in the form of a show accessible to ordinary people. The performance consisted of so-called electric dances: the bodies of dead animals and the severed heads of criminals were taken, a current was passed through them - and the muscles, naturally, began to contract intensively. It usually seemed to the public that the corpse was about to come to life. The assistants went crazy, and the audience was delighted with the frightening and fascinating spectacle. By the way, this was also practiced by Andrew Ure, a famous Scottish chemist and economist of the same time.
Sergey Bryukhonenko
Photo: Wikipedia The Soviet physiologist Bryukhonenko received (albeit posthumously) the Lenin Prize for creating the world's first artificial respiration apparatus. But the experiment demonstrating the operation of this device (autojector) was no less creepy than Galvani’s spectacles. In 1928, an autojector was connected using rubber tubes to a newly amputated dog's head - and it came to life. Moreover, she behaved quite actively - she reacted to the crowd of excited scientists around and even gnawed on the offered cheese. By the way, despite the popularity of this experiment performed by Bryukhonenko, something similar was done back in the 19th century by Charles Brown-Séquard. But Bryukhonenko managed to bring a whole dog back to life; in the same year, he conducted an experiment by draining all the blood from the dog and pouring it back in 10 minutes later, after which the animal came to life. And, what is important, subsequently it was no different from its other brothers.
Vladimir Demikhov
Photo: RIA Novosti
Dr. Demikhov, the founder of all modern transplantation, is primarily known to the average person not as a luminary of medicine of the 20th century, but for his rather eccentric experiments. Also over dogs. Transfer internal organs, in particular, the heart, no one had ever succeeded before, and even more so the implantation of a second, additional heart (although the greyhound with which this was done did not live more than a month). At the end of the 1950s, Demikhov's experiments became truly bold: the doctor decided to create artificial conjoined twins. This was done in order to understand whether a person could live for some time (for example, while waiting for an operation) being grafted onto the body of another person. This is how two-headed dogs began to appear in Vladimir Demikhov’s laboratory. The puppy's head was sewn to the body of an adult dog and, due to the artificially combined respiratory and circulatory systems, it felt quite good for some time - it ate, looked, moved, and so on. Despite the significance of these studies, the Soviet scientific community literally attacked Demikhov, declaring his experiments immoral, while Western countries he received letters of admiration and congratulations from foreign scientists.
Please answer, who is Frankenstein?"Yes Easy! - any person will tell me, “this is a monster made from the dead!” The comrade will say, and will be completely confident that he is right. But, nevertheless, the abstract “any person” is absolutely wrong. The monster “from the dead” is not actually Frankenstein. So who is Frankenstein then?
Now this word has been given the common meaning of “ugly, very ugly man" But in fact, Frankenstein was originally the surname of the main character of Mary Shelley’s novel, Victor. The character in the book “Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus,” a young student from Geneva, was an incredibly talented man who, with the help of solutions on the verge of chemistry and alchemy, revived a creature grown from separate pieces of carrion. The creature that was supposed to be human turns out to be a real monster and kills its creator. The novel was published in one thousand eight hundred and eighteen, but its popularity has not faded to this day.
Victor Frankenstein himself and the monster created by his brilliant mind became confused due to the abundance of films, plays and books that appeared after the release of this novel. The authors paraphrased the one and only Victor Frankenstein into Henry, Doctor and Baron, thereby popularizing only the surname. Personally, it seems to me that the monster became Frankenstein due to ordinary human carelessness. Let's say a child is looking at the alphabet. A system like “a picture with a caption underneath.” Let's say, a drawn long-beaked bird and the caption “stork”. Also on the poster is the ferocious face of the “demon” and the signature “Frankenstein”. They believed it. Forgot about what's on the fence bad word it’s written, and there’s firewood underneath it.
The image of Victor and his creation is a couple burdened with evil. A kind of recognition of human imperfection and the inability of the human mind to compete with God. After all, Frankenstein actually tried to take on the responsibilities of the Almighty - to create a creature “in his own image and likeness.” For which he received what he deserved. Moreover, if you think about the work in a more realistic way, it illustrates the problem of taking responsibility for your discoveries and actions.
Although Victor Frankenstein He is very talented and smart, he destroys himself precisely with curiosity - his thirst for knowledge is not limited by any ethical prohibitions. Moreover, the hero realizes that the creation of man by the scientific method is a sinful thing from the point of view of Christian morality. But, nevertheless, Victor follows a sinful, but scientific path.
Frankenstein, who in the film visited morgues in search of missing parts, certainly understood the ugliness that would be revealed as a result of the experiment. And he was not deceived - after “adding up” all the parts of the creature’s body, he could not contain his fear:
“How to describe my feelings at this terrible sight, how to portray the unfortunate person I created with such incredible difficulty? Meanwhile, his members were proportionate, and I selected beautiful features for him. Beautiful - Great God! The yellow skin was too tight around his muscles and sinews; the hair was black, shiny and long, and the teeth were white as pearls; but even more terrible was their contrast with the watery eyes, almost indistinguishable in color from the sockets, with dry skin and a narrow slit of a black mouth.<…>It was impossible to look at him without shuddering. No mummy brought back to life could be more terrible than this monster. I saw my creation unfinished; it was ugly even then; but when his joints and muscles began to move, something more terrible came out than all Dante’s inventions.” (Translation by Z. Alexandrova)
Having seen the horror he himself created, Frankenstein did not destroy it, which means, in turn, a huge craving for science. Victor was guided good intentions and seriously wanted to revive people.
In cinema, which so popularized the image of Frankenstein, from one thousand nine hundred ten to two thousand seven, sixty-three films were made with direct mention of the Monster.
In each of the paintings the creature appeared completely different. In the novel, the “demon” was grown from pieces of flesh, while the cinema created a body from the dead in the morgue. In the same films, the monster was revived with the help of lightning - in fact, Mary Shelley “raised” the character with the help of alchemical solutions. In addition, the television crews made the creature stupid, with the intelligence of a five-year-old child, unknowingly committing murders and speaking in syllables. The writer’s demon read fluently, spoke coherently and thought quite well. That is, he was equal in intelligence to the average person. And all his murders were not only meaningful, but also justified - the monster did not kill anyone for nothing.
But, alas, the image became widespread precisely thanks to films.