What does a monster look like? How do we depict the creatures demonised and feared by society? Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein’s monster stands as one of the most famous characters used across art, comics and films, with the creature’s dismembered figure claiming the name of the Doctor who created him in the minds of many. Over 200 years since Shelley’s original work was published, the work and iconic image of Frankenstein’s monster is still as relevant as ever with Guillermo del Toro’s film coming out earlier this month after filming wrapped in Edinburgh in 2024.
The description of Frankenstein’s monster in Shelley’s work remains iconic: standing eight foot tall, yellow skin, conglomerated together. The first picture of the creature appeared in the 1831 edition of the novel by Theodore Von Holst, an image Shelley herself would have most likely seen, and is one of the closest to the description in her words depicting the awakening of the creature. Whilst the skin, hair and eyes are accurate, it’s the reaction of sheer fear and troubled appearance of the creator which infamised this first depiction.
Undoubtedly, the most famous image of Frankenstein’s monster is from Boris Karloff’s character in the 1931 horror film Frankenstein. The towering figure, with a flat top head, bolts in his neck and usually dressed in a suit has become synonymous with the monster, influencing his image in comic books, halloween decorations and even songs in the future. This shift to a less humane and more visually terrifying creature marks the shift away from sympathising with the creature’s emotions and associates him solely with the horror genre he has come to represent.
However, depictions of Frankenstein’s monster have expanded beyond the stereotypical tropes of the horror genre and his figure has become a crucial one in Queer Art. As Charlie Fox writes for The New York Times Magazine “When you’re gay and grow up feeling like a hideous misfit, fully conscious that some believe your desires to be wicked and want to kill you for them, identifying with the Monster is hardly a stretch”. Depictions of Frankenstein in queer spaces, such as Frank-N-Furter in The Rocky Horror Picture Show and The Cleveland Show, have all served as now iconic representations of themes of queerness from Shelley’s novel.
Likewise, depictions of Frankenstein’s monster have been interpreted as symbolising the discourse around abolition of slavery during the time of Shelley’s writing becoming an increasingly popular interpretation in 1900’s America. In Dick Gregory’s Frankenstein’s album art designed by Milton Glaser, Frankenstein dressed in an American Flag emerging from a jail cell, this black Frankenstein in the era of civil rights is free.
Now, in 2025 Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein has hit the big screens, with Jacob Elordi taking upon the guise of the monster, spending 11 hours in the makeup chair to make his image complete. Whilst the movie has received some criticism for the actor being “too handsome” to be a monster, Elordi’s large figure and patchwork skin mark an artistic shift back to Shelley’s original work as cultural depictions once again serve to sympathise with the monster.
Illustration via Tracy Ratliff @paisley_pen