Photo from Wikimedia Commons

What’s that coming over the hill? Is it a monster? Forget the bolts in the neck and the cold, hooded eyes. The scarred, cadaverous monster portrayed by Boris Karloff in the movie Frankenstein (1931) is actually a cruel misrepresentation.

Granted, in ‘Frankenstein’, Hollywood created a ripping gothic yarn that capitalised on the horror factor, and yes, the photo from the film is iconic (probably Karloff’s greatest moment), but it’s hardly faithful to the original texts.

Writing in 1818 author Mary Shelley described the ‘Monster’ in completely different terms:

“His limbs were in proportion, and I had selected his features as beautiful. Beautiful! Great God! His yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath; his hair was of a lustrous black, and flowing; his teeth of a pearly whiteness….”

The ‘Monster’ is quite a creation. In a time when cloning and genetic engineering were unknown, Dr Victor Frankenstein has used spare body parts to create an incredibly beautiful, intelligent and agile being. The Creature is sensitive and emotional, and all he wants is to love and be loved. Why he was portrayed in the movies as the ‘monster’ seems quite baffling, but it probably all boils down to xenophobia. Or perhaps, in Dr Frankenstein’s case, we could put it down to jealousy….

You see, Frankenstein’s Monster is a metaphor for social isolation, alienation and fear of those who are different. Frankenstein, his creator rejects him, calling him a vile insect, abhorred monster, fiend and wretched devil. Any one of those insults would have been enough to turn the Creature away and indeed they do. It flees from Frankenstein, and is discovered in a small village where it observes the local peasants, learns to speak, and assimilates their culture. After a series of betrayals, identity crises and damaging social encounters, the Creature turns on its creator, assumes the role of monster, and destroys much of what Frankenstein values and loves. A right punch-up ensues. It’s an epic gothic tragedy.

But there’s another metaphor, and it relates to education. In school, the attitude of teachers can influence a child’s cognitive and social development. Children crave to be valued, encouraged and accepted. If they are not, or they perceive that they are not, they may become withdrawn, or they may rebel, becoming ‘monsters’ as they disrupt lessons, bully other children or embark on a pathway of destruction. The self-fulfilling prophecy introduced by Rosenthal and Jacobson is a warning all teachers need to understand and heed. Label a child disruptive or lazy, and they will live up to your expectations. Tell them they have huge potential; that you believe in them; that they can succeed in their work, and they are likely to make those their goals.

What’s that coming over the hill? Is it a monster? No, it’s our poor expectations of certain students.

Next time: 7. Thor’s lost hammer

Previous posts in this series
1. Pavlov’s drooling dog
2. Chekhov’s smoking gun
3. Occam’s bloody razor
4. Schrödinger’s undead cat
5. Pandora’s closed box

Frankenstein’s well-meaning monster by Steve Wheeler was written in Plymouth, England and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.