ShmoopTube

Where Monty Python meets your 10th grade teacher.

Search Thousands of Shmoop Videos

Frankenstein: Does the Monster Have a Name? 22487 Views


Share It!


Description:

Wait. The monster’s name isn’t Frankenstein? Mind. Blown. Watch the video to find out more about Dr. Frankenstein’s nameless monster.


Transcript

00:01

We speak student!

00:04

When this dead hand moves,

00:07

the monster created by a man they called mad

00:10

is turned loose to strike terror into the hearts of men.

00:16

Frankenstein a la Shmoop

00:17

Does the Monster Have a Name?

00:23

The monster does not have a name in the book.

00:26

Let's start with the question of

00:28

why we think the monster is named "Frankenstein."

00:31

Part of it is because of Hollywood.

00:33

We see the movie. The movie is called Frankenstein.

00:37

And the image that sticks in our head

00:39

is Boris Karloff

00:40

with the things coming out of his ears and whatever,

00:43

so we think "Frankenstein" and we think "that guy."

00:45

And, until someone tells us otherwise

00:47

or we read the book, that's just what we think.

00:49

But, once you actually do read the book, you think,

00:53

"Huh, it's possible that Mary Shelley actually

00:55

wanted us to equate the two and confuse the two."

01:01

Couple reasons for this.

01:02

One is that kind of transition from Enlightenment thinking

01:05

to Romanticism, right?

01:06

Where the Enlightenment was all about reason and all that.

01:09

And then, you know, Mary Shelley writes this book

01:11

and is like, "Oh, hey, guess what?

01:12

Humans aren't all that different from beasts.

01:14

You know, let's push reason aside and remember that

01:18

we're kind of all just this --

01:19

It's all about the emotion and the imagination."

01:21

At the same time, the language

01:23

that Shelley uses

01:25

makes us kind of conflate or confuse these two, as well.

01:30

She refers to Frankenstein's monster as "monster" and as "creature."

01:36

The etymology of the word "monster"

01:38

comes from the idea of a warning or an omen.

01:41

And "creature" is, you know, something that has been created.

01:44

Shelley refers to the monster as "monster" and "creature."

01:47

She also refers to humans as "creature."

01:51

So she will be talking about "creature" meaning "humans,"

01:54

and then will be talking about "creature" meaning "Frankenstein's monster."

01:57

So we kind of get this sense of conflating

01:59

human and the monster, and the whole,

02:01

"They're actually not all that different after all."

02:03

And so some people would say that

02:05

if you really read closely and say,

02:07

"Okay, here's all the times" -- This is called close reading.

02:10

"Here are all the times the word 'monster' is used

02:13

to describe the monster.

02:14

Here are all the times 'creature' is used to describe the monster."

02:16

You'll see that she tends to use "monster"

02:19

when she's trying to show how different Frankenstein's monster

02:22

is from Victor.

02:23

And then she'll use "creature"

02:25

when she's trying to use how similar he is.

02:27

Got it. So the fact that the creature doesn't have a name -

02:33

You know, we name our dogs

02:34

and make them human in many ways -

02:38

is a powerful omission.

02:40

And I think about the novel Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man.

02:44

Invisible Man has no name.

02:45

- Yeah. - And that's a huge part of the book

02:48

and it screams things.

02:50

Well, England a couple hundred years ago,

02:52

I mean they were closer with their dogs

02:53

than they were with their children.

02:54

And they still are in England,

02:55

because they're lunatic dog country.

02:57

So you gotta think that

02:59

omitting a name was an active artistic choice

03:04

- Absolutely. - That screamed a number of things, I guess.

03:07

Yes. If you ever are reading a story

03:09

and, you know, the narrator doesn't have a name

03:13

or the main character doesn't have a name --

03:14

And this happens a lot.

03:15

You don't really notice it as much

03:18

because, you know, authors do it because it works

03:22

and there's a reason.

03:23

But if a character doesn't have a name,

03:26

or if the narrator doesn't have a name,

03:27

there's a specific reason for it.

03:29

And in Invisible Man, it's kind of thrown in our faces;

03:31

the title of the book is Invisible Man.

03:33

But, in a case like this,

03:35

we're supposed to wonder, you know,

03:36

"Are we supposed to see Frankenstein's monster as

03:38

not only inhuman but, like, not even a beast, not even a dog?"

03:41

- Right? - Right, right.

03:42

He's even lower than that.

03:44

And then, you know, is that his own fault?

03:46

Are we supposed to feel bad about that?

03:48

Or is he just -- Can we just toss him aside?

03:52

Why doesn't the monster have a name?

03:55

Why is it important to understand the difference between "creature" and "monster"?

04:00

Why do we think the monster's name is "Frankenstein"?

04:06

Why do we hate me?

04:07

What have I done to you that you should ever hate me so?

Up Next

The Importance of Being Earnest Summary
123039 Views

They say that honesty is the best policy, but Jack lies about his identity and still gets the girl. Does that mean we should all lie to get what we...

Related Videos

The Giver Summary
105893 Views

Ever wish you could remember everything that you ever studied? How about everything that everyone has ever studied? Yeah, pretty sure our brains ju...

Invisible Man (Ellison)
1818 Views

Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man is an American classic. Hope you're not expecting any exciting shower scenes though. It's not that kind of book.

Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night
1257 Views

Do not go gentle into that good night. In fact, if it's past your curfew, don't go at all into that good night. You just stay in your good bed and...

Quotes: A fool's paradise
296 Views

Find out the meaning behind "a fool's paradise."