Blog Post #1: Childlike Innocence in The Bride of Frankenstein

           “Otherness represents that which bourgeois ideology cannot recognize or accept but must deal with…in one of two ways: either by rejecting and if possible annihilating it, or by rendering it safe and assimilating it, converting it as far as possible into a replica of itself” (Wood 27). In other words, “The Other” represents what society cannot accept, and as a result, it tries to kill it or assimilate it into the culture. In The Bride of Frankenstein, the monster represents “The Other” in the form of a child, shown through his eagerness to learn, his inability to communicate, and his enjoyment of the lullaby played by the old blind man.

            In this scene, the monster is drawn to a house where beautiful music is being played on a violin. This is the first instance in which the audience sees the monster’s childlike innocence. Children find comfort in lullabies, and as a lullaby is being played on a violin, the monster is calmed and fascinated. Once the old blind man realizes that someone is at his house, he welcomes him in. This is an extremely different reaction from the reactions the monster usually gets. The monster’s appearance instills fear in whoever sees him, making them scream and run away. His skin is weird, with pins in his head and scars. He’s wearing raggedy clothes that are all black, and he towers over everyone. However, because the old man cannot see, he isn’t afraid of the monster. In this situation, the old man represents the non-judgmental people in our society, people who accept others as they are. The scene continues with the old blind man beginning to teach the monster how to properly eat, drink, and smoke a cigar. The monster shoves bread into his face and spills wine all over himself in a childlike manner. The monster repeats the words “bread,” “drink,” and “friends,” learning language much like a child does. The old blind man and the monster shake hands, shown at an equal eye level. This shows how the monster has become assimilated and is now equal to others in society. The old blind man then begins to light a cigar. A close-up is shown on the lit match, emphasizing the monster’s fear of fire. When a child has a negative experience with something, they then become afraid of it because of what it is associated with. Due to the fact that the monster has been chased with fire, he now associates it with a negative experience, therefore becoming afraid of it. Although the monster has been taught to speak, he reverts back to his childlike lack of communication, grunting at the fire and waving it away. Once the blind old man convinces the monster that cigars are good, there is a then a close-up of the monster smoking a cigar. He puffs it and seems to be having fun doing so, smiling and repeating “good,” much like a child would. After the monster has done the manly and grown up act of smoking a cigar, he is thrust into maturity, shown by his improvement in language. The close-up of the monster makes him seem less intimidating because of his smile and clear enjoyment of that moment. The blind old man then brings him towards the fire, and the monster once again grunts and waves it away. The blind old man comforts him by patting him, the same way you would comfort a child. The monster then grabs the violin aggressively, wanting the old blind man to play. Based on the fact that it is the monster, the audience may automatically assume that the monster is going to do some bad action with the violin. However, the audience is proven wrong when all the monster wants is for the old blind man to play the soothing music he first heard. The scene then comes full circle, a scene that began with the old bling man playing music and ending the same way. By the end of the scene, the monster has become less intimidating through his childlike actions.

            In Robin Wood’s article, he says, “Most clearly of all, the otherness of children…is that which is repressed within ourselves…” (28). The creation of the monster by Frankenstein can tell us a lot about Frankenstein himself. By creating a monster that has all these childlike qualities, lack of language, eating like a child, being comforted by a lullaby, and his eagerness to learn, we can conclude that Frankenstein himself has a child inside him that is dying to get out and is manifested in the creation of the monster.