10 interesting things about Frankenstein, the iconic monster of Halloween

Frankenstein is a famous monster in the West from ancient times to the present and is often dressed up for Halloween every year. He is a fictional character based on the original novel by writer Mary Shelley called 'Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus'. Surely few people find it strange to see the image of Frankenstein during these seasons, and below are interesting things about Frankenstein, hopefully helping you understand this monster better.

The Truth About Frankenstein's Monster

1. Frankenstein is named after the man who created him.

In the novel, Victor Frankenstein is the creator of the Frankenstein monster. Victor is an intelligent person, curious about strange experiments, he is determined to create a living human body from the collected corpses. It sounds horrifying, but it will be the premise for Victor to fulfill his ambitions for other experiments in the future.

Frankenstein is not a bloodthirsty monster or one with any intention of harming anyone.

2. Frankenstein is not a villain

Although Mary Shelley never said that Frankenstein was a good or evil character, through what she portrayed, everyone understood that Frankenstein was not a bloodthirsty monster or had any intention of harming anyone. In fact, after creating him, Victor tried to escape because he thought Frankenstein was more disgusting than he imagined. Frankenstein went to find Victor himself because he thought he was the only master, taught himself to speak human language and found a way to escape loneliness.

3. Frankenstein asked Victor to create a female monster for him so he wouldn't be lonely anymore.

Frankenstein accidentally killed Victor's younger brother. Actually, he just wanted to be friends with him, but because he was a monster with 'animal instincts' and had not been trained, he accidentally killed him during the chase. Victor was extremely angry, but Frankenstein asked Victor to create another female monster to be by his side so he wouldn't have to follow Victor anymore.

But then Victor broke this promise.

4. In the 30s, Frankenstein was a haunting experience for many moviegoers.

In the early 20th century, Frankenstein began to be portrayed in cinema, and he was also the premise for all the horror films that followed. That's why in the early days, Frankenstein's image looked very scary, haunting many people. Of course, later or now, Frankenstein doesn't look scary at all.

In addition, in the movie, Frankenstein is portrayed as an evil character, not pitiful like in the novel.

5. The most successful depiction of Frankenstein is from 1931, used and re-invented to this day.

Frankenstein - design and make-up by Jack Pierce (1931). (photo: Needpix​).

The image of Frankenstein has been transformed a lot since the novel by Marey Shelley was widely popular. People have created Frankenstein in plays, costumes and movies,. However, in 1931, Jack Pierce - the person who created Frankenstein in the movie 'The Man Who Made Monster' , was the most successful and beautiful image, and that image is like a 'base' to be applied until today in costumes, musicals, movies,.

It's no surprise that today's Halloween, in addition to dressing up as pumpkins, ghosts, the demon in Scream, or any other evil ghost character, cannot lack the image of Frankenstein - one of the most successfully created monsters in literature and cinema.

6. Frankenstein was written by a teenager

Mary Shelley's teenage years were, to say the least, eventful. At 16, she eloped with poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. She gave birth to two children within the next two years. In 1816, the couple traveled to Switzerland and visited Lord Byron at the Villa Diodati. There, 18-year-old Mary began Frankenstein. It was published in 1818 when she was 20.

Mary Shelley said she got the idea from a dream. At first, she had no good idea for a ghost story. Then she had a waking dream : 'I was not asleep, and I cannot say that I was thinking,' she said. In the introduction to the 1831 edition of Frankenstein [PDF], she described the vision as follows: "I saw the ill-tempered art student kneeling beside the thing he had assembled. I saw the hideous ghost of a man stretched out, who then showed signs of life while a mighty engine was working. … He was asleep; but he was awake; he opened his eyes; see, the terrible thing was standing by his bed, opening the curtains, and looking at him with yellow, watery, but speculative eyes." Mary opened her eyes to find that she had found her story . 'What frightens me will frighten others,' she thought. The next day she set to work.

7. The novel came out of a ghost story contest.

Godwin and Shelley visited Switzerland during the 'year without a summer' , when the April 1815 eruption of Mount Tambora in Indonesia caused severe climatic anomalies and heavy rainfall. For fun, the group of friends including Byron, Mary, Percy and Byron's doctor – John Polidori – read ghost stories and then competed to see who could come up with the best ghost story.

8. Inspired by science

Shelley was inspired by many real-world sciences, including the exploration of the North Pole, the mysterious causes of its magnetism, the work of the chemist Sir Humphry Davy (whose lectures Shelley attended with her father as a child). Another inspiration was the phenomenon of muscle contraction caused by electrical stimulation.

9. The novel shares its name with a castle.

Mary coined the name Frankenstein – which means 'Frankish stone' in German.

Historian Radu Florescu claims that the Shelley family visited Castle Frankenstein on their journey up the Rhine. There, they heard about the alchemist Konrad Dippel who lived in the castle and was trying to create an elixir called Dippel's Oil, which could help people live for a hundred years longer. Like Victor Frankenstein, Dippel is rumored to have dug up graves and experimented on the bodies.

However, not all historians believe there is a connection between the two, as there is no indication in the novel that Frankenstein had a castle, and Shelley never mentioned visiting one during his Rhine voyage.

10. Thomas Edison adapted Frankenstein into a movie

In 1910, Thomas Edison's studio made a 15-minute film of Frankenstein – one of the first horror films in cinema history. It was thought to be lost until it was rediscovered in the 1980s.