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Email this article Family Resemblance: Frankenstein’s Monster and the Phantom of the Opera in ”Penny Dreadful” (2014-2016)
Abstract
The Creature of Frankenstein never managed to fulfil his desire of finding a loving partner in Mary Shelley’s novel, but his symbolic progeny continues to haunt the modern popular culture. The article discusses the case of “family resemblance” between Frankenstein’s Creature and the title antihero of Gaston Leroux’s The Phantom of the Opera. In their respective literary sources, they share an inborn deformity, an appreciation for music, a romantic yearning for love and acceptance matched with sociopathic violence. Recently, the TV series Penny Dreadful elaborates on these allusions, conflating the narratives by Shelley and Leroux, as well as their later adaptations.
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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17951/lsmll.2019.43.2.135-143
Date of publication: 2019-07-03 11:00:42
Date of submission: 2018-06-29 15:47:38
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