ThAct: CS and Frankenstein

 ➡️ ThAct: CS and Frankenstein

A Cultural Studies Approach to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein

This blog task is assigned by Dilip Sir.

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is far more than a gothic tale of terror. When approached through the lens of Cultural Studies, it becomes a text deeply concerned with revolution, social change, and the politics of creation and exclusion. Shelley’s novel, born from an age of upheaval, continues to reflect the anxieties of power, progress, and identity that shape both her world and ours. This blog explores two interlinked dimensions of the novel: Revolutionary Births and The Frankenpheme in Popular Culture.

Part 1: Revolutionary Births

The world into which Frankenstein was born was one of radical transformation. The Industrial Revolution was altering the structure of labor and class; political revolutions in France and America were redefining freedom; and new scientific discoveries were unsettling traditional moral boundaries. Shelley’s novel emerges from this revolutionary climate as a mirror to its contradictions and possibilities.

1. The Creature as the Voice of the Oppressed

The creature’s story is not just about monstrosity  it is about marginalization. Shelley, influenced by her parents’ radical philosophy (William Godwin and Mary Wollstonecraft), uses the creature as an allegory for the working class and the socially excluded. His suffering, rejection, and search for recognition parallel the plight of those denied humanity by rigid hierarchies.

The creature’s rage, then, is not evil by nature but born out of systemic neglect  echoing how society’s oppressed may rise in revolt when denied compassion. Shelley’s sympathetic portrayal of the creature anticipates the Marxist idea that monsters are often products of the world that rejects them.

2. Race, Empire, and the “Other”

Victor Frankenstein’s horror at his own creation can also be read as a reflection of imperial anxieties. His rejection of the creature mirrors the colonial fear of the “Other”  those who look or live differently. Shelley’s narrative uncovers how power constructs monstrosity: by labeling difference as danger.

This dynamic transforms Frankenstein into an early critique of race and empire, showing how Western civilization both creates and condemns its “monsters.” The creature becomes not only the worker but also the colonized subject, forced to bear the burden of his maker’s prejudice.

3. From Natural Philosophy to the Age of AI

Shelley’s story of scientific ambition feels startlingly modern. Victor’s attempt to play God anticipates today’s ethical debates around biotechnology, artificial intelligence, and genetic engineering. His failure is not merely scientific  it is moral. By creating life without compassion, he exposes the dangers of innovation divorced from empathy.

Through Victor’s tragedy, Shelley warns of a recurring human flaw: the obsession with mastery that forgets responsibility. In this way, Frankenstein becomes a prophetic text, questioning the moral costs of progress from the 19th century to the digital age.

Part 2: The Frankenpheme in Popular Culture

Since its publication, Frankenstein has transformed from a novel into a cultural myth what critics call the “Frankenpheme.” This myth has been reshaped through films, plays, television, and literature, evolving with each era’s fears and fascinations.

From Boris Karloff’s haunting portrayal in the 1930s to futuristic retellings in cyberpunk and AI narratives, the story has never lost its relevance. Each adaptation reinterprets the central questions Shelley raised: What does it mean to create? Who defines humanity? And who gets excluded from it?

While popular culture has often commercialized the tale, it has also democratized it  ensuring that Shelley’s vision remains alive in global consciousness. The creature has become both villain and victim, horror icon and philosophical symbol. In this flexibility lies Frankenstein’s enduring cultural power.

Conclusion

Through the Cultural Studies lens, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein stands revealed as a text of resistance, critique, and transformation. It bridges the gap between the revolutionary fervor of the 19th century and the technological anxieties of the 21st.

Shelley’s creation endures because it speaks for all who are excluded  the poor, the colonized, the misunderstood. The real monster, she suggests, is not the being who is made, but the society that refuses to accept it.

In every age, Frankenstein forces us to confront the ethics of creation and the politics of rejection making it not only a gothic masterpiece but also a living cultural phenomenon.

🔷 Work cited: 

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/385485826_Thinking_Activity_A_Cultural_Studies_Approach_to_Mary_Shelley's_Frankenstein

Thank you.

Be learners!!