Research Abstract
Ain’t Family Great?
Very often in stories of monsters we see those whom are deemed ‘monstrous’ rejecting or being rejected by their birth families. Examples are shown in each of the main texts for our class readings (Circe, The Devourers, Penny Dreadful, and The Bloody Chamber to name four), of which I will focus on Angela Carter’s novel The Bloody Chamber. In its short story “The Tiger’s Bride,” the main character chooses to leave the less than considerate father she has thus far lived with to stay with the titular “Tiger,” off in a castle (though only after her father gambled her away to said tiger). The main character, who is by all standards a ‘non-monstrous’ creature in this story, chooses to live with a monster, creating their own family. The mass of texts and stories focusing both on monsters and people rejecting their birth families shows a greater cultural interest in stories about making families that do not consist of the typical idea of what a “family” is; that is to say, a family made from folks related by genes. This focus of examination is important because it helps us understand a larger cultural idea of what a family is, how people make families, and how those who feel or are outcast find solace amongst one-another.
Capstone Description
Try It Again, Vic!
Mary Shelley’s imagining of doctor Victor Frankenstein is famed for his lack of empathy and poor parenting skills portrayed within the original Frankenstein work, particularly towards the creation he brings life to. While throughout the entirety of Shelley’s Frankenstein we are encouraged towards disliking the titular doctor for his actions, 2014’s Penny Dreadful re-imagines Frankenstein’s actions so that he can have a second chance at being an empathetic and loving parent in the eyes of the consumers of the T.V. show. Both original novel and Penny Dreadful depict Victor Frankenstein to have 
“rushed out of the room” in fear and disgust at the awakening of the sewn-together corpse, Shelley has her doctor maintain that disgustment towards his creation for the entire novel. Penny Dreadful on the other hand bring’s Victor’s first-season character arc to a point where he learns to empathize with his creation–choosing to not kill it when he had the means and the power to do so–as well as accepting the creature into his life, agreeing to let it live with him as he pursues creating a mate for the creature. Audiences now have reason to believe Victor Frankenstein can change his careless ways of treating life as his personal playground and taking responsibility for the creature he created, no longer being an anti-hero but a hero of both kindness and forgiveness in his own right. The Significance of this change is that Penny Dreadful wants Victor Frankenstein to make up for past mistakes, showing viewers that we humans can do the same with the monsters in our own lives.
