This illustration appears as a heading for Volume I, Chapter 4, when the creature had just been finished being created by Victor Frankenstein. In the previous chapter, Victor had a God-like complex from his rush of using Galvanism to create life. In this illustration the creature is pushing through the curtains to see his master, his creator, like a child going to see their parents. Once he sees the creature, suddenly that God-like complex that Victor had disappears. Victor declares, “the beauty of the dream vanished,and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart” (Shelley 37). 

In the image, the tall and horrifying creature is entering the room and towering over Victor.  The Creature stands tall and strong in the image, and has bulging muscles making him physically threatening.  He also has the face of a skeleton, and It gives him an unforgiving look on his face.  His black greasy hair also adds to the “grotusque” and unnatural look of the Creature.  His gigantic hands and broad shoulders show how strong and physically dominant the Creature is over most normally sized human beings, and explains why many people submit to their fears of the Creature.

The perspective of this image is very crucial in understanding the horrific meaning behind the art. The viewer is seeing this horrific image from Victor Frankenstein's perspective. Frankenstein is being awoken by his creation while laying in bed. Seeing this daunting figure in the dark of the night would be petrifying. The way his hands grasp in front of the curtains and his leg is lifted as in motion of coming towards the viewer provides an unsettling feeling. His head reaching the top of the bed frame shows how massive in size he is especially from this downward angle. The emphasis on the body structure manifests the unnerving feeling Frankenstein must have felt when beholding his immense creation.

Furthermore, the illustration provides the viewer with a unique perspective from the point of view of Victor Frankenstein. The creature has a daunting figure in which compared to any human can be seen. The creature has an attachment to his master in whom he had created, so you’d expect the master to be unafraid of his creation. Unfortunately the master, Victor Frankenstein shares the fear of the creature as any human within his same society. 

Work Cited

Poole, W. Scott. Monsters in America: Our Historical Obsession with the Hideous and the Haunting. Baylor UP, 2011

Shelly, Mary. Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus. Oxford, 2018