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| Victor Frankenstein | |
| Aliases: | Baron Frankenstein Doctor Frankenstein Victor von Frankenstein |
| Continuity: | Frankenstein |
| Notability: | Main character |
| Type: | Scientist |
| Gender: | Male |
| Race: | Human |
| Location: | Geneva, Switzerland |
| Relatives: | Alphonse Frankenstein Caroline Beaufort Frankenstein William Frankenstein Elizabeth Frankenstein |
| Status: | Deceased |
| Born: | 1770 |
| Died: | 1797 |
| First: | Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus |
| Actor: | Colin Clive Peter Cushing Kenneth Branagh Alec Newman |
Doctor Frankenstein is loosely based on the character of Victor Frankenstein as first seen in Mary Shelley's 1818 novel Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus. Nearly every film within the Frankenstein franchise includes some variation of the character, and they are generally portrayed as being an obsessive visionary who creates life by way of galvanism and/or chemical processes. The role of Doctor Frankenstein has been played by such notable actors as Colin Clive, Peter Cushing, Sting, Kenneth Branagh, Alec Newman and many more. The film version(s) of the character has also spawned a family lineage of various descendants, nearly all of whom attempt to recreate their ancestor's work in some way.
Biography[]
Alphonse Frankenstein and Caroline Beaufort Frankenstein gave birth to their first son, Victor, in Naples, Italy in 1770. He was born during a time when his parents were touring Europe performing missionary work for small impoverished communities. In 1775, the Frankensteins discovered an orphan girl named Elizabeth Lavenza living in squalor in the Italian village of Como in Milan. They took her in and raised her alongside Victor as his adopted sister.
Growing up, Victor discovered a passion for learning, and was particularly interested in natural science. By thirteen he was reading the works of learned scholars such as Cornelius Agrippa, Paracelsus and Albertus Magnus. Even at such a young age, Victor grew obsessed, and was inspired towards pursuing a life dedicated to science.
In 1788, Victor left his home in Geneva and attended school at the University of Ingolstadt. Studying under men such as Professor Waldman and Professor Krempe, Victor eventually turned away from natural science and began studying human anatomy.
By 1791, Victor discovered the very secret of life itself. He had learned how to reanimate dead tissue, and sought to create a fully functional living being never before seen on Earth. Sequestering himself to his private laboratory in Ingolstadt, Victor cut off all ties with his family and friends and threw himself into his work. He began collecting the remains of corpses, sewing together viable organs and limbs until he constructed a large patchwork man. In July of 1792, Victor treated his subject to a chemical process that brought the being to life. The being was alive, but horribly scarred and monstrous. Terrified by his own creation, Victor fled from his laboratory, abandoning his creation.
He eventually returned to his family in Geneva, but never told them the truth about what took place at Ingolstadt. Two years later, Victor's worst fears came back to haunt him. In May of 1794, Victor's youngest brother, William, was found dead – a victim of strangulation. The Frankenstein's housekeeper and family friend, Justine Moritz was found guilty of the crime and sentenced to hang. Justine was in fact innocent, and it was only a short time later that Victor learned that it was actually his "monster" that had murdered young William.
The monster wanted revenge on Victor for abandoning him and the two eventually faced each other in an icy cave in the northern hills. The monster, now gifted with the power of speech and intellect, told Victor what he had experienced in the past two years, and now demanded that his "father" create a mate for him. He promised that if Victor agreed to give him a partner that he could love, then he would leave Europe with his bride, never to return.
Victor was sickened at the prospect, but felt that he had little recourse but to accept the monster's terms. He began collecting bodies of the recently deceased, and the monster provided him a fresh heart to use in the experiment. Victor brought this second creature to life, but immediately realized that such an act was an affront to God, and he refused to take responsibility for bringing two such monsters into the world. As he watched this Bride of Frankenstein shamble across the floor, Victor lunged at her, stabbing her with a knife until she fell over dead.
The monster was enraged at Victor's betrayal and took his revenge by strangling Victor's close friend, Henry Clerval. Victor was arrested for the crime, but his father was able to plead his case and bail him out of prison.
Victor returned home to Geneva, where he married his lifelong lover and "sister" Elizabeth. The shadow of the monster's vengeance perpetually hung over him however, and in 1797, the monster tracked them down and murdered Elizabeth on their honeymoon. Victor's father, Alphonse, passed away soon after.
Despondent and lonely, Victor Frankenstein began a journey to hunt the monster down and destroy him. He tracked him as far as the North Pole, but by this point, Victor's health began to suffer and he was ill-equipped to continue the chase much further. Pneumonia eventually set in and he was unable to continue. An explorer named Robert Walton found Victor near death in the snow and ice and brought him on board his ship. Victor told Walton the story of his horrific creation and the terrible price he paid for his relentless obsession. After concluding his tale, Victor Frankenstein passed away. [1]
Penny Dreadful[]
Promotional poster of Frankenstein from Penny Dreadful.
Victor Frankenstein is a fictional scientist featured in the Showtime television series Penny Dreadful. He is one of the main characters from the series and is played by actor Harry Treadaway. He was introduced in the pilot episode of the show, "Night Work".
As a young boy, Victor Frankenstein discovered the emaciated remains of his beloved pet dog. His mother, Caroline Frankenstein, tried to console him and ease his troubled soul about the concept of death. Caroline, who had been ill for some time, suddenly experienced a violent seizure and began coughing blood all over her son. She died moments later. These two tragedies, in such close proximity to one another, spurned Victor Frankenstein to research solving the mysteries of life and death. His work would eventually become an obsession that would consume every waking moment of his life. [2]
As an adult, Victor Frankenstein had little money and had taken up working as an assistant to a mortuary boss at an underground facility that provided fresh cadavers to medical students. Victor had access to a large chamber adjacent to the room he was staying at, the entrance of which was concealed by a large bookcase.
Victor Frankenstein foraged body parts from cadavers he had recovered and stitched them together to form a male figure. Using experimental electrical and chemical processes, he actually brought his creation to life. Victor was horrified to see this reanimated man howling in his birth pains and fled from him, leaving the creature to his fate. [2]
Victor eventually returned to his experiments and attempted a second creation. As with his first born, he brought this being to life through similar processes. [3]This second creature seemed more timid and manageable than his first experiment and Victor had him choose a name for himself out of the collected works of William Shakespeare. The creature selected the name Proteus. Unlike his first experiment, which Victor deemed a failure, he took great measure in looking after his new prodigal son. He took him out into the streets of London and was shocked when Proteus began recovering memories of the life he knew before.
Victor took him back to his laboratory, unaware that his first creation had returned to him. The Frankenstein Monster literally tore Proteus in half, and claimed that he was being merciful. Victor never expected to see his first born again, and was horrified to look upon him with Proteus' still-warm blood splattered across both their faces. The Creature had developed intelligence in the time since they parted ways and now wanted Victor to use his expertise to create a mate for him. [2]
At around the time that Victor Frankenstein had been putting the finishing touches on Proteus, he was also approached by Sir Malcolm Murray, the spiritualist Vanessa Ives and the American sharpshooter Ethan Chandler. They brought him a very unique body for examination. The corpse was not human, but actually that of a vampire. To make the specimen even more mysterious was that it bore an epidermal exoskeleton covering its natural flesh. Upon removing the outer skin, they found that the entirety of the creature's body was carved with Egyptian hieroglyphs. [3]
Shortly thereafter, Sir Malcolm Murray invited Victor Frankenstein for a private meeting at the Explorer's Club. Murray admired Frankenstein's commitment and the fact that he showed no hesitation in literally pulling back the skin of this mystery to see what lied underneath. He invited him to lend his expertise in finding a cure to vampirism. Murray needed this cure in order to help his missing daughter, Mina. He offered Victor an impressive stipend for his services, and Frankenstein was not in a position to refuse. [3]
Malcolm Murray later captured a vampire familiar by the name of Fenton, whom he kept secure in the basement of his home. He asked Victor Frankenstein to examine him. When Victor realized that the creature needed blood, he fed him a cat and then began performing a transfusion so he could analyze the results. As he was not a hematologist by trade, Victor consulted with someone much more experience in the science of blood - a man named Van Helsing.
Tales of Tomorrow[]
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Victor from the "Frankenstein" episode of Tales of Tomorrow.
Victor Frankenstein was a scientist who purchased a castle estate on a remote island on a lake. Victor labored to discover the secrets behind life and death and though he doted on his wife Elizabeth, he was careful not to reveal the true nature of his experiments. His secret work involved creating a man that would be stronger and more durable than the average human being. During a dinner party one evening, Victor, Elizabeth and her father joked about the prospect of creating the perfect man. Though Elizabeth regarded the conversation as nothing more than whimsical fantasy, her father highly approved of Victor's research.
When the meal concluded, Victor went into his laboratory to complete the final stages of his project. By channeling electricity into a prone body lying on an operating table, he was able to infuse it with life. The creature rose from the table, confused and unable to speak. Victor tried to calm it down, but the monster began to panic, slamming its fists against the walls of the lab. Once Victor was able to get his creation to settle down, he strapped him back onto the laboratory table and locked him inside.
The creature soon escaped however and began wandering the halls of the castle. It terrorized Victor's young cousin William and murdered a housekeeper named Elise. When Victor and his servant Matthew discovered Elise's body, they knew that Victor's creation had escaped. The two men returned to the laboratory, but the monster was gone. They began arming themselves with a handgun and a rifle when the monster suddenly burst through the door and began attacking Matthew. Victor didn't have enough time to ready his rifle so he lit a piece of paper on fire and used it to force the monster to release Matthew. Matthew then used his handgun to fire several shots into the monster, driving him through a stained glass window. Victor was sure that the fall into the lake below would be enough to kill him. He was wracked with guilt over Elise's death.
Soon after, Elizabeth and her father returned to the castle and Victor told her about the monster he had created. He pledged to discontinue his experiments and destroy all of his work, but his old mentor protested, saying that he should not simply throw away the secrets to life and death.
As it turned out, the monster had in fact survived his fall through the window and had managed to climb back into the castle. Victor theorized that since electricity brought his creation to life, then perhaps the same method could be used to destroy him. He reluctantly enlisted Elizabeth and William's aid as bait to lure the monster back to the laboratory. He rigged up two large power cables that stretched across the doorway to the laboratory. As the monster lumbered into the room, he ran into the cables and the massive surge of electricity ended his existence once and for all.
Notes & Trivia[]
- The character of Victor Frankenstein has been presented in nearly every adaptation of Mary Shelley's work, but usually with drastic alterations.