Sickness and Madness in Frankenstein

Despite the many differences between the 1931 film version of Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein and the novel it’s based on, there is one thru line that deeply connects the two, specifically found in the main character of Victor Frankenstein. Victor Frankenstein is driven insane.

It is remarkable how often the timid, bordering on naïve Victor of the novel falls ill with no discernable cause other than fright. The first time he constructs his monster he succumbs to sickness and mad ravings for a whole Winter, and afterward he takes two years to recover. He never seems to fully recover from these bouts either, as upon re-entering his homeland he can’t help but wax poetic about the mountains and valleys, something he previously didn’t seem to care enough to mention.

Victor’s insanity is compounded by his profound guilt as the bodies of his family members pile up around him. His decision to destroy his second creation before completion is curious.  His reasoning that a breeding population of these creatures might one-day challenge humanity’s supremacy could be borne out of either his madness or a moment of clarity piercing through his blind fear of the monster, depending on whether one believes his reasoning is sound.

Victor even ends up at one point in a favorite location of all gothic horror, an asylum. Madness and sickness go hand in hand as Victor succumbs at least 3 times to long bouts of both throughout the novel, making him appear rather pathetic and infirm. This kind of madness differs from Hollywood’s interpretation, in which Victor is not tormented with guilt but mad with self-reverence, believing himself to be a god, able to control the forces of life and death. Of course, a popular film needs madness to be grandiose, instead of the creeping horror that is portrayed in books.