I was posting a review for the “HRW Library: Individual Leveled Reader Frankenstein” edition, going off on a tangent because I’ve already reviewed the story of Frankenstein elsewhere and just wanted to talk about the cover, when I thought, “Why not make this a blog post?”
So I just wanted to share this specific edition of the book and ponder a bit about the appearance of Frankenstein’s monster.
(Though I do want to note, I didn’t reread the book just for this post, so it’s possible I’ve missed things.)
To get the sort of review out of the way, this is a hardcover without a dust jacket. The picture is just directly on the hardcover. And it’s sort of shiny. It also came wrapped in plastic, which protected it from scratches. I’ll be honest, I didn’t really look at the inside. It has text *shrug* The Amazon listing has changed to a different photo, so I’m not sure what’s going on there, but I think you can still find this for purchase on other sites.
I bought this specific book, despite already owning a copy of Frankenstein, because I love the cover. It’s much closer to how the monster is described than the flat-headed, bolt-necked, fully green versions. Victor was trying to create a perfect, beautiful man, after all. (I could start talking about how queer this story is and how badly I want a retelling with a romance between Victor and the monster—yes, Rocky Horror is great, but that’s not quite what I’m looking for—but that would be an entirely different discussion.)
His limbs were in proportion, and I had selected his features as beautiful. Beautiful!—Great God! His yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath; his hair was of a lustrous black, and flowing; his teeth of a pearly whiteness; but these luxuriances only formed a more horrid contrast with his watery eyes, that seemed almost of the same colour as the dun white sockets in which they were set, his shrivelled complexion, and straight black lips.
I was, besides, endowed with a figure hideously deformed and loathsome; I was not even of the same nature as man. I was more agile than they . . . my stature far exceeded their’s.
That’s how he’s described in the book, in case anyone was wondering. He’s also described as having “superhuman speed,” and it’s specified that he’s about eight feet tall.
Aside from this cover, another depiction I really like is this one by squiffel on DeviantArt. I’ve also made my own art, which is more about the aforementioned Victor + Monster romance I want than portraying the monster perfectly, but I did try to keep him close to the book description.
So, back to the quotes. There were clearly no flat heads or bolts or lurching movements. But the question now is, did Victor succeed in creating the beautiful man he set out to? Honestly, I say… Inconclusive.
But he described the monster as horrid and shrivelled! And the monster described himself as hideously deformed!
Yeah, but it’s possible Victor’s perception was altered by his disgust at his own actions.
For this I had deprived myself of rest and health. I had desired it with an ardour that far exceeded moderation; but now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart.
And I think anyone would have body issues if they were treated the way the monster was. What we’re told and how we’re treated affects our perception of ourselves.
(There is also the possibility that the monster was symbolic for something, which I feel would give even more weight to the idea that his “hideousness” was more about perception than reality, but I don’t want to delve too deeply into potential symbolism in this post.)
Granted, some villagers screamed at the sight of the monster and ran away or attacked him, which makes a case for him actually being pretty scary looking. But on the other hand, he did break into their homes. I would also scream and run away if someone broke into my home, regardless of what they looked like. Ok, there was one scene I know of when he entered a house with permission, started speaking to the blind man inside, and when the man’s family came home, they were horrified. But honestly, those people sound like drama queens, and beating your guest with a stick is really bad hospitality, so I’m not very inclined to trust their judgment.
As I said, I didn’t reread the whole book, didn’t seem worth the effort just to analyze whether the monster was hot or not, but I did find one other quote in which the monster himself says:
God in pity made man beautiful and alluring, after his own image; but my form is a filthy type of your’s, more horrid from its very resemblance.
My interpretation (which is just mine, I can’t say what Mary Shelley had in mind) is that the monster looked mostly human, but off just enough to unsettle people in an uncanny valley sort of way. Or maybe he was a bit corpse-like. Or the pieces individually were nice, but put together they created a sort of dissonance. Honestly it’s probably mostly that he was eight feet tall, which would be alarming if you’d never seen an eight-foot-tall person before, especially if he were unexpectedly in your home. And his veins were showing through his yellowish skin, which is usually not the healthiest look.
But he was fast and agile, which implies a well-designed body (I suppose Victor could’ve made him a bit animal-like, which is an interesting direction to consider, though Victor does mention him being in proportion, so it’s probably not that). And as Victor said, he chose the parts for their beauty, so I can’t imagine he went that awry without noticing. Then again, as an artist, I know that when you stare at something you’re working on for too long, it can start to look correct even though it’s really not, so who knows. Though I feel like that actually lends more credence to the dissonance argument. All this to say, aside from what was in that initial description and his height, it doesn’t sound like he has any other physical differences from the average person. Maybe he wasn’t conventionally attractive, but I don’t think he looked like the typical movie/Halloween version. And I don’t think he was as “hideous” as he’s made out to be by the very biased narrators of the book.
But back to this particular cover for a moment, I also love the emotion in his expression and pose. Because if there’s one thing that is indisputable about the monster, it’s how emotionally tortured he was.
Anyway, not much else to say. It’s a nice edition of Frankenstein! And everyone who shunned the monster just because of how he looked was a judgmental jerk.
The first interpretation I ever saw of Frankenstein’s monster was in the old Abbot and Costello Meet Frankenstein movie- my dad intro’d me to those. It colored my image of Dracula and the Wolfman as well. 🙂 But yes I love the idea thathe was trying to create a beautiful person, and in some ways succeeded even though the perception wasn’t always there.
That last quote too- sort of reflecting on how he’s a creation of a creation (man being God’s creation in that quote).
I like Victor’s quote too where he talks about how breathlessly he pursued this quest and only later was disgusted by his actions, like how we all sometimes go after something and only later realize was that a good idea?
I do like that Deviant Art interpretation actually.
I do think it’s interesting to consider how much of an effect perception of the characters might have played, and what we might think if we were to see him.
Everybody hates Victor, and I don’t like him as a person either. But I do think he’s incredibly well-written with how his realization and anxiety over what he did is portrayed in the book. Like you said, most of us have done something in our lives and then regretted it or just been worried about consequences. Maybe not as big a thing as he did, but yeah.
It’s such a good interpretation!
I absolutely love Frankenstein so I immediately had to read this post 😊 A couple of years ago I went to the Mary Shelley house here in the UK and they have an animatronic monster in the attic that is as book-accurate as they could possibly get it. It’s just human enough to look like a person but then you remember that it’s 8 feet tall and it becomes uncanny again.
That sounds so cool! I think most people tend to forget or not even realize he’s 8 feet tall (I even forgot until I went looking for quotes). And truly I feel like his size is the main issue that makes him so scary to people. Not Victor, Victor has his own issues, but everyone else who was startled and screamed or attacked.
I agree that this cover seems to fit the description much more closely than the classic Frankenstein from the movies (and the Deviant Art version, even more so). It makes sense that the monster was supposed to be beautiful but missed the mark in a few grotesque ways. And those grotesque characteristics as described would still be plenty to make the townspeople scream!
Yeah the Deviant Art one really stuck to it!
I don’t know what I watched or read as a kid but I only know him as the nut and bolt version so this is news to me lol
I guess, based on your quotes and interpretations, I picture someone looking like how some elderly look – the thin skin where veins pop through and the milky colored eyes but on a young version. Which I guess can be disconcerting.
So many of these creation/experiment type stories start out with scientists who start out with good intentions – at least to them – and then it turns into something darker. Sometimes the realize and regret it, sometimes they go mad in the process and turn bad.
I wonder if this kind of “ugly” doesn’t hold up as well now (at least for everyone) because we’ve all read, watched and romanticized monsters so much recently. I’ve read romances where an alien looks like an insect but still pairs with a human.
Karen @For What It’s Worth
Most people only know the bolt-necked version! I would too if I hadn’t reread the book as an adult.
I feel like this idea of him being “ugly” really doesn’t hold up now, but not just because we like monsters in fiction lol, though that is a good point. I was thinking also because we’re exposed to so many more people and experiences with the internet, travel, etc., and so we see and know about things like aging, disability, and all the diversity in how people can look. Even the fact that the monster is 8 feet tall probably wouldn’t be as alarming if you knew gigantism existed.
Totally agree! A lot of things we can’t explain (especially back then) became horror as a way to process I guess.
I feel like so much it has been neutralized in so many ways, in entertainment, social media and just exposure to the wider world that we have now.
Yeah I don’t read much horror, but it is interesting to think about how it might’ve changed because of our wider understanding of things and knowledge nowadays, or how it might change in the future.
Love your musings here! I’d like to reread this someday, we read it in high school in a gothic lit unit. Your post actually reminded me of the course because we had to do an assignment where we drew Mr. Hyde after reading Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, only using descriptions directly from the book. It was very difficult!
Thanks! I’ve read Jekyll and Hyde but don’t remember it well. That sounds like a cool assignment though! That’s another one that’s often portrayed different and extreme.
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Same as Karen LOL – actually, I’ve never read the book, so I didn’t have a clue the monster was different than that. I would assume, based on the description, that he was repulsive in a way, but more because of the dissonance thing you mentioned AND the fact that he was an “abomination” than for his very looks (not to mention his intimidating height – and here i wonder why Victor would purposely create a man so tall…).
Victor’s bias about him being an abomination definitely tainted his view. Seriously though, eight feet! That was certainly a choice lol.
Love this post! I started with that Abbott and Costello movie so it was a huge surprise when I actually read the book.
Thanks! Yeah, it’s super different from how most movies portray him.
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