Dr. Frankenstein

"Knowledge is knowing [Victor] Frankenstein is not the monster. Wisdom is knowing [Victor] Frankenstein IS the monster."

— Jacob Bailey

In 1818, Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein, an early Science Fiction story about a Swiss medical student who created an artificial human, with the novel being republished without Shelley's input in 1823, and with her input in 1831.

The protagonist, Victor Frankenstein, was an early example of a Mad Scientist in Science Fiction, having aspirations of Creating Life.

Victor proceeds to abandon his creation due to the feeling that the creature is hideous, leaving him to fend for himself. In the era the novel was published, audiences would have sympathized with Victor for abandoning a hideous creature. Modern audiences beg to differ.

Ever since the original novel fell into the Public Domain, Victor (or Viktor, or Henry) himself has appeared in many iterations, with his characterization varying between being a principled, if somewhat morally flexible man of science, and being a morally bankrupt Socially Darwinistic psychopath who commits atrocities in the name of science. Part of the reason that Victor himself is a frequent candidate for Adaptational Villainy in many works boils down to the view of Victor being perceived as less of an unfortunate soul who was right to abandon a hideous creature that was created from unnatural and godless means, and more of a deadbeat or abusive father figure that was a major cause of his creation's suffering.

Additionally, while the original Victor was a mere medical student, subsequent adaptations have often made him a full fledged Doctor.

See also Frankenstein's Monster, for incarnations of the patchwork creature Frankenstein created; and Dracula, the titular vampire from Dracula.

Compare Dr. Fakenstein, when a Mad Scientist is given a name reminiscent of Frankenstein.

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Examples:

Comic Books

• Marvel Comics:
  • Victor Frankenstein is resurrected after his death in the Arctic by Igor, a servant of one of his descendants. In the body of one of his descendants, Victor attempts to incapacitate Orson Randall, AKA Iron Fist when the latter brings an injured ally for Victor to heal, subsequently attempting to body-jack him only to be killed by the "Prince of Orphans".
  • Victor's distant relative, Maximilian von Katzenellenbogen, AKA "Max Frankenstein", takes up the mantle of the "Black Bishop" as part of the Hellfire Club against the X-Men.

Films — Animated

• Alvin and the Chipmunks Meet Frankenstein: Dr Frankenstein is depicted here as an outright Card-Carrying Villain in pursuit of his monster who is depicted here as a Gentle Giant. He later tries to turn Alvin himself into his next experiment.
• Frankenweenie: Victor is depicted as a young boy, living in modern suburbia, who successfully brings his dog back to life. While he is a Nice Guy here, and bringing his dog back is depicted as wholesome and innocent, it inspires the other kids in his class to try to copy his experiment, leading to near-disastrous results.

Films — Live-Action

• In The Bride, Baron Charles Frankenstein creates a female mate for his first creation, Eva. She is perfect, lacking the deformations of the creature, but her mind is as blank as a baby's, and she is frightened of him. The "monster" has a fit of rage and goes away; the doctor decides to raise Eva for himself. He teaches her how to talk, to behave in society and educates her, but sees Eva as his property; when she runs away with a lover, he drags her back to the castle and tries to rape her. Fortunately, the creature (who also had learned a lot about life and now is called Viktor) comes to the castle and saves Eva, throwing the Baron from a tower.
• The Curse of Frankenstein: Baron Victor Von Frankenstein is an outright Villain Protagonist here being depicted as a sociopath with an undying desire to create life. He's far nastier than his book counterpart or previous films had depicted being more actively malicious and murderous in his pursuit of his scientific goals.
• Flesh for Frankenstein: Baron Von Frankenstein is a Serial Killer with Nazi-like obsessions about creating a Master Race from spare parts of bodies. He is also in a marriage with his sister.
• Frankenstein (1931): Henry Frankenstein is portrayed as less focused on aesthetics than Victor in the original novel, genuinely well-intentioned, and more willing to share information that will save lives.
• In Frankenstein The True Story (1975), Victor Frankenstein is a young, idealistic doctor who obsesses into recreating life after his younger brother drowns. He at first is delighted by the beautiful creature he made, treating the latter like a friend, until the creature gets disfigured because of a flaw in the ressurrection process. The creature is Driven to Suicide, much to Victor's relief; however, he survives and goes after his creator but finds Victor's castle occupied by Dr. Polidori, the real Mad Scientist of the story. He blackmails Victor into resuming the experiments with the dead and tries to kill the creature. It doesn't end up well for anyone.
• Van Helsing: Victor Frankenstein is portrayed as a misunderstood scientist that worked for Dracula because he offered his laboratory to allow him to conduct his experiments and sincerely thought the man believed in his work. If anything, his worst quality would be graverobbing in the name of science, as evidenced by the angry mob trying to hunt him down on the night that his creation awakens. He even has a completely different reaction to his creation compared to the original Victor, where he completely dotes over him like a father would to a newborn child and his first instinct is to flee the castle with his creation to protect him from the mob. Unfortunately, his alliance with Dracula is cut short since he outlived his usefulness.
• Victor Frankenstein: The titular character is the protagonist, rescuing Igor from his former job at the circus and having him become his Number Two. With the latter's help and expertise in anatomy and physiology, they begin coming up with the ideas and methods to ressurrect the dead, ultimately culminating in Frankenstein's Monster.
• Young Frankenstein: Frederick Frankenstein is the American grandson of Victor. He initially distances himself from the family legacy, pronouncing his name as "Fronkensteen", but ends up following in his grandfather's footsteps of reanimating the dead after inheriting the family castle and finding his grandfather's journals. However, as this is a Mel Brooks comedy, Frederick decides to accept his monster and exchanges part of his brain to stabilize the monster's, giving him a normal life (and giving Frederick the monster's sex drive).

Literature

• The Horror Classic Gamebooks book The Curse of Frankenstein offers the player two different adventures: one where they play the monster, and one where they play Baron Frankenstein. Both adventures are set after an alternate ending to the original novel where the Baron did not die, and both creature and creator are now trying to track the other down in the Arctic wastes.
• The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein: Victor Frankenstein is husband to Elizabeth Lavenza. He is also depicted here as far more evil than the original book being a psycho Serial Killer and Yandere to Elizabeth. Adam Frankenstein's crimes from the original novel are Victor's in this version.
• In Dean Koontz's Frankenstein series, Victor Frankenstein has survived through the centuries by augmenting his own body. Now, as a medical science executive named Victor Helios, he has begun creating new versions of his original monster (human-looking, but with highly durable bodies and programmed to obey him) with the ultimate goal of replacing mankind entirely. The Monster, going by the name Deucalion, is also immortal and determined to stop his creator.
• Frankenstein: In the novel where he originated, Victor Frankenstein is originally characterized as a medical student with ambitions of artificially Creating Life. Victor comes to resent his creation and after abandoning the latter, blames his creature for his subsequent troubles when in fact he could have warned people of his own creature's existence and avoided a lot of bloodshed.
• Monster: A Novel of Frankenstein: In this adaptation of the original novel, Victor Frankenstein is presented as a Socially Darwinistic necromancer and alchemist who believes his status and power entitles him to treat other people abominably, and commit atrocities in the name of science. He also works with the Marquis de Sade to finance a performance written by the Marquis which will entail several youths being tormented and killed onstage.
• President's Vampire: Dr. Johann Konrad is the In-Universe inspiration of Dr. Frankenstein. He perfected his Elixir of Youth in 1693, and used it to live for centuries and continue his obscene work up until 1734, when one of his creations got loose and killed dozens of people before it was brought down, forcing Konrad to make a quick exit when an angry mob stormed his castle afterwards. Apparently Mary Shelley got the idea for the novel while on holiday near Konrad's family castle and hearing the accounts of his atrocities. Konrad is a monsterous sociopath and proud former Nazi who creates zombies and other biological weapons of mass destruction in his efforts to destroy America as well as his Arch-Enemy vampire Nathaniel Cade.

Live-Action TV

• Once Upon a Time: Dr. Victor Frankenstein is a Mad Scientist who lives in the Land Without Color. He serves as a recurring character in the form of Storybrooke's Dr. Whale (who retained the Handsome Lech Jerkass aspects of Victor under the curse without the memories or regrets). After his brother was killed, Victor made a deal with Rumplestiltskin for a magic heart to revive him. His brother becomes Frankenstein's Monster in this version.
• Penny Dreadful: Dr. Victor Frankenstein and his vengeful Creature are both regular characters in all three seasons. Frankenstein is depicted quite in Shelley's style as a well-intentioned, but dangerously irresponsible and neurotic obsessive with necrophiliac tendencies.
• Red Dwarf, it's specifically stated that Lister named his cat Frankenstein after the scientist, not the monster.

Video Games

• In the 90s' PC game Frankenstein: Through the Eyes of the Monster, Doctor Frankenstein (performed by Tim Curry) brings the protagonist, Phillip, back to life, after the latter is unjustly hanged because of the disappearance of his daughter, Gabrielle. However, it soon becomes evident that Frankenstein is the Big Bad of the game. He's working with the corrupt local judge, to get more material (read corpses) for his experiments.
• A Friedrich Von Frankenstein is mentioned in Castlevania: Lords of Shadow and its sequels, presumably an ancestor of Victor Frankenstein based on the setting's date. He was a Mad Scientist who sought the secrets of life, creating a number of horrific monstrosities including a mechanical scorpion that serves as a boss in the first game. Appalled by his atrocities, Carmilla swore to punish him and did so after she became a vampire. What exactly happened to him is unknown, but considering his severed fingers are found scattered about the castle it wasn't pleasant.

Visual Novels

• Havenfall Is for Lovers: Frankenstein, who is first mentioned in a throwaway reference in Antonio's first season. When he shows up properly in the third season, he confirms the name, though from his comments it's not clear if he's meant to be the actual Victor Frankenstein from Mary Shelley's novel or if he simply appropriated the appellation.

Webcomics

• Doctor Victoria Frankenstein is a rather important character in The Glass Scientists. The Creature accompanies her, as well.

Web Video

• Frankenstein M.D. features a modern day Gender Flip version, Victoria Frankenstein, a young medical student creating a vlog to showcase her potentially life-saving, but somewhat unethical, experiments. When her friend and cameraman Robert Walton dies offscreen in a mountain climbing incident, she decides to put her skills to the test by stealing the body and resurrecting him... but the brain damage from the accident means he's not quite the same.

Western Animation

• Frankenstein's Cat, based on the book of the same name, involves Dr. Frankenstein before he created his monster creating an undead cat (named Nine since he's made of nine cats) and dog (named Fifi) before his monster.
• In the Monster High special Freaky Fusion, the ghouls travel back in time to the first day of Monster High, and meet a Mad Scientist student called Sparky. Sparky is eventually revealed to be Frankie Stein's grandfather, Victor Frankenstein himself.
• Superfriends: The World's Greatest SuperFriends episode "The Superfriends meet Frankenstein" had a descendant of Dr. Frankenstein as the villain, who creates his own Frankenstein's Monster twice, the first one having the conventional appearance of the Frankenstein monster and the second resembling a fusion of Superman and Batman armed with Wonder Woman's magic lasso created by transferring the energies of those three heroes into a blank body.
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012): Victor Frankenstein is presented as initially being under the spell of Dracula and Savanti Romero. After the Turtles help him create his creature, "Frank", Frankenstein initially shows antipathy towards Frank, but is convinced to accept Frank as his son by Michelangelo.
• The main segment of Toonsylvania stars Dr. Vic Frankenstein, his monster Phil, and assistant Igor, who considers himself a better Mad Scientist than his master.

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