ipl-logo

How Is The Murder House Related To Frankenstein

645 Words3 Pages

Scarlett Keene-Connole
March 29, 2023
Writ 102-08
Literature Review

My paper will primarily focus on the parallels between Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein and the TV show American Horror Story: Murder House. I want to expand on the ideas of “horror” and how different aspects of the genre greatly affect the overall feeling and meaning of the piece. For example, the surface layer scare of Frankenstein is the tall and brooding monster, with his inaudible sounds and stalky demeanor. However, it could also be argued that the real horror in the story is the deterioration of Victor’s mental being. How his real-life experiences pushed him to create life from death, which in turn caused more death. In AHS, the season touches on many aspects of …show more content…

Steven Lehman’s article on the novel also speaks about how Mary Shelley’s life was reflected in the novel. He states that “Mary Shelley’s grief over the death of her baby is refracted through the obsession of her “mad scientist” protagonist Victor Frankenstein” (Lehman 1). He then explains that Shelley’s primary coping mechanism for her grief was writing Victor to have a happy ending by almost giving birth. However, it was his mother and sister Elizabeth that catapulted the creation of the monster. Because Victor had the take over for his mother after her death to look after Elizabeth, he was left wanting more. He created the monster to fulfill his need to caretake, much like how Shelley used the novel to fill her void. In addition to this, Colleen Hobbs also blames Victor’s upbringing on the creation of the monster. Because Victor suppressed his childhood trauma, he was never able to fully express his emotions to any other being. These two sources both agree that there were many factors as to why Victor is the way he is. I think it's fascinating how neither of them even touch on how scary the monster is, for the true fear in the story should come from Victor

Open Document