<span class="SFPTagline"> From SCIFIPEDIA </span>

Frankenstein's Monster is a fictional creature that first appeared in Frankenstein; Or, The Modern Prometheus, a novel by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley first published in 1818. (The revised third edition of 1831 is, however, the edition usually read.)

Spoiler Warning: Plot details and/or information about the ending follow. If you wish to enjoy the work first, stop reading here and return at another time.

In the novel, a young Swiss scientist, Victor Frankenstein, is obsessed with the idea of creating life through artificial means. He builds an artificial man and brings him to life, but Frankenstein flees from his hideous creation. (The creature is given no name and is referred to in the novel as "the creature," "the fiend," or "the wretch.") The abandoned creature, wandering alone and confused, is rejected by all he encounters. He eventually learns of his creation and decides to take revenge on his creator's family to avenge the pain he has endured. The monster deprives Victor of everyone he has ever loved, leaving Victor as wretched and bereft as he is. The creator pursues his creation and on his deathbed the creature appears and vows he will burn his own funeral pyre.

The story and the concept of a "mad scientist playing god" have since permeated modern culture in all forms of media. Thomas Edison is responsible for the first Frankenstein film (1910). Two German films explored a similar theme, The Golem (1914) and Homunculus (1916), dealt with a similar theme taken from Jewish folklore. The classic 1931 horror film directed by James Whale and starring Boris Karloff as the monster derives as much from the The Golem as on Shelley's novel. Still, the most memorable image of Frankenstein's creature -- a flat-headed monster with bolts in his neck -- belongs to Karloff and make-up specialist Jack Pierce who created the image. Among the more notable of the many films that followed were Whale's Bride Of Frankenstein (1935), the made-for-television Frankenstein (1993) with Randy Quaid as the monster and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1994) directed by Kenneth Branagh with Robert De Niro as Frankenstein's creation.

The name Frankenstein has, incorrectly, become popularly attached to the creature itself.