From Prometheus to Presumption: Frankenstein's Theatrical Doppelgänger
Date
2013-08-27
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Abstract
This thesis examines the Doppelgänger relationship between Victor Frankenstein and the Creature, as it is characterized through both Frankenstein and its first theatrical adaptation. With a specific focus on Richard Brinsley Peake’s 1823 gothic melodrama, Presumption; or, The Fate of Frankenstein I unpack how the novel’s cross-medium adaptation leads to a changed conception of the relationship of its central characters. In Frankenstein, Victor is the focal figure and acts as the Creature’s dominant counterpart. However, the characters’ cross-medium adaptation from page to stage inverts this Doppelgänger relationship from Shelley’s initial conception in the novel. Consequently, the Creature is privileged as the drama’s focal figure while Victor is rendered both secondary and subservient. By contextualizing both texts within their formal, generic, critical, and cultural milieus, this study explores the implications of this significant role reversal to the Frankenstein myth.
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Theater, Comparative, English
Citation
Reid, B. L. (2013). From Prometheus to Presumption: Frankenstein's Theatrical Doppelgänger (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/26236