Literary Criticism

Frankenstein is about a doctor experimenting and trying to bring a human back from the dead. He and his partner/ assistant dug up a buried body and tried finding human parts to make the human come back to life. The human was brought back to life during a thunderstorm and that was the birth of Frankenstein. He is locked up in a chamber after being seen as a violent monster. Frankenstein is continuously being whipped and eventually kills the doctor’s assistant. Frankenstein escapes and plays with a little girl along a river. They throw flowers but Frankenstein throws the girl into the river as well. The girl’s father carries the girl’s body through the streets which causes the anger of the community that Frankenstein had done this. The whole community hunts Frankenstein down and locks him in a mill and sets it on fire. 

Through the use of the literacy theory of disability studies, Frankenstein was created with a “bad brain” since the assistant who tried to steal a brain dropped the “good brain” so he just took the bad one. This made the community view Frankenstein as a monster with all the bad things that he has done. Throughout the movie, he killed many people after he was created. I feel like he was not judged by his appearance but rather by what he had done. For example, the little girl was not afraid of Frankenstein even though he had a screw in his neck and a scar on his head. The girl still asked him if he wanted to play with her. The little girl was only afraid when Frankenstein picked her up and threw her into the river. People were scared about how Frankenstein acted and not really scared of his looks. Frankenstein does look different than others with scars, screws, and wrinkles but he is all different in the head. He was made with a “bad brain” which was probably the cause of all his violent and aggressive actions. Normal people would not throw a child in the river but Frankenstein just threw the little girl in the river. 

The weird-looking and crazy actions of Frankenstein show how horror was displayed in movies. They make it so that Frankenstein is different from everybody else. Also, he is made to be crazy and sort of does not have any self-control of himself. Normal humans can speak in the movie but Frankenstein just screams and makes noises. The “bad brain” that was used to create Frankenstein makes him have a disability and be different from everyone else. His brain makes him do bad things like killing people which causes fear in others. Everyone is against Frankenstein because they fear him and his actions. Frankenstein is separated from everyone else because of the different features and traits that he contains. Even though everyone is different in their own ways, Frankenstein’s difference stands out which causes him to be looked at as a monster. Frankenstein’s behaviors and actions are just so different from others that everyone else just sees Frankenstein as a menace. 

Horror in general:

I think that horror had endured in popularity for nearly 100 years because people like to feel surprised by something unpredictable. The horror builds up tension and adrenaline causing people to get excited and feel anxious for a surprise. I think that people like horror because they can feel thrilled and feel connected with something they may have experienced before. Also, I feel like people like the feeling of getting sacred and then feeling a sense of relief after being scared. I also think that horror is so popular because it lets people get away from all the problems in the real world. It lets people escape all the stress and anxiety from the real world.