Frankenstein's Rise to Fame

 

    In celebration of Halloween I’ve decided to read Frankenstein for the month of October during our silent readings. However, it had me thinking, how did Frankenstein become such a staple symbol in Halloween culture? After all, Frankenstein was written in 1818, but Halloween wasn’t recognized as an official holiday in America until the 1900s with the immigration of the Scottish and Irish.

 “Halloween” had started 2,000 years ago in (what is now) Ireland, the United Kingdom, and northern France. It was a celebration known as the Celtic festival of Samhain, villagers dressed up around bonfires to ward off ghosts. It was originally celebrated on October 31^st  as a way to introduce the approaching cold when they knew people were going to pass away. It was also when the barrier between the overworld and the dead was weakest, therefore, they could celebrate with those who had passed away in previous years.

However, when All Hollow’s Eve had reached America it had become what we now refer to as Halloween. Bringing us back to the point of Frankenstein, the movie adaption of Frankenstein was released in 1931 by Boris Karloff, right when Halloween started to gain in popularity. The release of the movie is what gave us Frankenstein’s iconic look, green skin, square head, bolts, the whole shebang. The movies popularity during the rise of Halloween in the U.S. had really influenced the American view on all things creepy. Therefore, making him an iconic symbol of Halloween.