Mary Shelley’s ‘Frankenstien’ is a book that is globally known, and has spawned many movies, comics, and the like. But how is it that a work so time-enduring and well known was completed when the author was only nineteen years old? A series of circumstances lead Marry Shelley to the point of writing this novel, and it all began with a volcanic eruption.

Frankenstein's Monster

Mount Tambora, to be exact. It erupted in 1815 and released enough ash into the sky to effect the weather and cause what they call a ‘volcanic winter’. Because of these cold dreary conditions in what should have been an enjoyable summertime, Mary, her lover (whom she eventually married and took the last name of Shelley), and friends spent time in Lord Byron’s villa where they sat around a log fire and read German ghost stories. Byron proposed they each write their own ghost story and though Mary only intended to scribble out a short story, Frankenstein quickly became novel length. Incidentally Byron, who had suggested the idea wrote only an unfinished short.

In about a year, with her lover’s assistance she managed to get the novel published. Though she did not associate her name with it right away for good reason. The critics were confused by the fact that it was published anonymously, but that aside, most did not like it. They found it too gruesome and strange for their tastes, and disregarded it all together when they discovered that the author was female. Women writers in that time period were rarely well received. The public however enjoyed it thoroughly, and five years later a second edition was published with her name on it. In modern times it is hard to imagine a world without that novel. Frankenstein, Dracula, The Wolf-Man, Swamp thing, and other movie monsters are what horror movie buffs worship, and children fear. Memories are made around these characters. So why not this Halloween, don some platform shoes and green face paint. Better yet, a Frankenstein mask. It is incredible that someone so young could write a novel and have it last through history an popular culture long enough to be a household word nearly two hundred years later. That, deserves some celebration.

May we reconvene under the blood red moon,
-Black Widow

Frankenstein costumes

Frankenstein costumes were in a book written by the young Mary Shelley when she was only nineteen years old, and in a time when women writers were not well received. But despite that it is a lasting novel that we still read to this day as a requirement for school. Dr. Frankenstein attempted to do the unthinkable in this novel, and bring a monster -made of dead human parts- to life. He succeeded.

The most well known version of this monster is probably not what young Ms. Shelley had in mind when she was writing the book, but is nevertheless what we think of when the word ‘Frankenstein’ is mentioned. It is the image of Boris Karloff who played Frankenstein’s Monster in the movie ‘Frankenstein’ that was made in 1931. In this film the monster was portrayed as a freakishly large man with an excess of forehead and a skull that was squared at the top and seemed to be stitched together at various points. He wore tattered clothing, and very large platform boots. More often than not (though the movie was in black and white) Frankenstein’s monster has a green skin tone.

In the event that you wanted to be this horror culture staple for Halloween the path to accomplishing this goal would be very easy. There are masks for both the Boris Karloff version of the monster as well as more grotesque versions of what I imagine the original monster from the book might’ve looked like in Mary’s head. Additionally there are fx make-up kits available that feature a plastic ‘topper’ that you would put on your head to give the illusion that it was square, and comes with make up so that you can blend the plastic piece with your own forehead to give it a seamless effect. Though I am sure the Frankenstein outfit is available for purchase, you could probably do just as well buying a suit coat from good will and a pair of platform shoes off the internet. There really isn’t much to the outfit that you would have to be specific about, whether everyone recognizes you or not is really based on what you do with your costume from the neck up.