Gay frankenstein

Frankenstein is a novel that explores the destructive possibility of both ambition and sexuality, making the text a wonderful gateway for discussions about LGBTQ+ themes. Walton's first four letters are perfect for opening up discussions about how friendship, sexuality and gender were used to structure the society Shelley was writing in.

The Age of Frankenstein, as the critic Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick called this period in England, was one in which gay men suffered constant fear of exposure and arrest, which could result in a sentence. The biggest exception to this literary erasure is, ironically enough, the most iconic and celebrated screen versions of Shelley’s work, Universal Pictures’s Frankenstein () and its sequel Bride Of Frankenstein (), both directed by James Whale, one of the few openly gay men in Hollywood at that time.

However, Frankenstein is more than happy to travel alone with Clerval for two full years while fulfilling his engagement with the creature, yet again showing his preference for his male companion. Homoeroticism continues to lurk throughout the novel, just as Frankenstein’s monster lurks in the English countryside, waiting to reappear.

Shelley wrote Frankenstein just before her second daughter’s birth and married Shelley just before the novel’s publication after his first wife had committed suicide. Throughout the novel, Shelley explores the social abhorrence toward homosexuality by couching it in the more socially acceptable terms of the growing machine age. The Magazine feature about the hidden meanings of Frankenstein provoked a huge response from readers, who weighed in with some of their own.

So it's a book about a mad scientist who creates a monster, right? Not entirely. Since Mary Shelley wrote her novel years ago, it has variously been interpreted as a comment on, among other things, slavery, race and post-natal depression. In response to the Magazine feature about these different takes on the novel , readers have been having their say.

I tend to read the novel as more of a warning of the dangers of failing to raise our children properly. As parents we all play the role of creator. If we abandon our creations, and fail to raise them adequately, we the creators, will ultimately pay the price. Max Thomas, Barnsley. The title subtitle of the novel being "The Modern Prometheus" brings it well into the realms of the over-reaching and, crucially, male creative force.

The novel is Milton's fall without the female temptation , and with any women in the novel consigned to the sidelines. Instead we are left with the three central, male characters - Victor, Walton and the Monster - who all strive for greatness and ultimately fail. It is what critic Anne K Mellor calls what happens when a man tries to have a baby without a woman.

Adam McCulloch, Chesterfield, England. The book is also about the change from a metaphysical world view to a scientific world view. Remember how the young Frankenstein was gripped by reading the works of Paracelsus the alchemist until told that it was "sad trash" and out of date. The contrast is between a view of the world as manipulative what is it possible to do , as opposed to moral what ought we to do.

This goes to the core of the modern existential dilemma, and one which has not yet been fully resolved. The book remains highly relevant to the modern world. Paul Lockwood, Cambridge, UK. The story could also be read as a division within man himself. Victor is a driven scientist determined to breach the protocols of life and death itself. The creation quotes philosophy and is shunned by Victor because of its horrific image.

In many ways this tale shares similarities between Dorian Gray and his painting and Gyge's ring in Plato's Republic.

gay frankenstein movie

The real monster in this tale is Victor his deeds reflected on the dark mirror of his creation. Ironically the monster has the nobler soul whilst Victor's is the corrupt one. His desire to destroy his creation is driven by the same desire which leads Dorian to destroy his painting. Amos Greig, Belfast. Frankenstein can definitely be read in a feminist context, as the direct consequences of circumventing maternity in the birth process.

That is, to remove the feminine from the creation of life leads to a horrific imbalance in nature. Therefore the notion of "monstrosity" in the novel can be applied to the circumstances surrounding the creation of the creature, rather than aimed squarely at the innocent, child-like creature himself. Look also at the incestuous overtones of Victor's relationship with Elizabeth to see another example of how feminine aspects of Victor's family life are imbalanced, and out of tune with nature.

Dan Haynes, Bristol.