# A question for Dr. Frankenstein **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 15, 2004, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-dr-frankenstein/245324 "2004-05-15T21:36:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![JasonG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@JasonG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JasonG)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2004, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-dr-frankenstein/245324/1 "2004-05-15T21:36:16Z")
Dr. F, With the release of “Van Helsing,” I am revisiting your remarkable achievements in post-mortem reconstruction and re-animation. In 1931, you were quoted as saying, “Think of it – the brain of a dead mean waiting to live again, in a body I made with my own hands!” My question is, why create the body? Why stitch together limbs from separate corpses, rather than just bringing a dead person back to life? Is it because that person would already have an identity, and not necessarily be obedient to you? I mean no offense, but bringing anyone, even an animal, back to life, would be considered a ground-breaking feat, guaranteeing your name in history. Such a creation might have actually been _more_ submissive, having already learned right from wrong, which is what hindered you in your first effort. Plus, it would have required less of the indelicate business of multiple graverobbing, which alerted the narrow-minded authorities and townspeople to your plans. Dr. Frankenstein, I know you may be too busy to answer this post, but I also know that you have admirers and proxies around the world who may give me their consideration. Please tell me why you chose to create a new “man,” rather than just re-animating a “normal” corpse. P.S. I know you are real, but there are some who believe the chronicles of your work are fiction. To appease these philistines, I have posted this message in a section devoted to arts and literature. I hope you understand. ---
**Author:** ![pepperlandgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2004, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-dr-frankenstein/245324/2 "2004-05-15T21:49:04Z")
> [@Victor Frankenstein](#): > > As the minuteness of the parts formed a great hindrance to my speed, I resolved, contrary to my first intention, to make the being of a gigantic stature, that is to say, about 8 feet in height and proportionaly large. But that’s not all he had in mind. It was easier to work with large parts, but he wanted a super race. > [@Victor Frankenstein](#): > > A new species would bless me as its creator and source; many happy and excellent natures would owe their being to me. No father could claim the gratitude of a child so completely as I should deserve theirs. Furthermore, apparently the secret for life and death which he discovered does not allow for simple reanimation of a dead body. > [@Victor Frankenstein](#): > > If I could bestow animation on lifeless matter, I might in process of time…renew life where death had apparently devoted the body to corruption. ---
**Author:** ![Menocchio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de053/32.png) [@Menocchio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Menocchio)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2004, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-dr-frankenstein/245324/3 "2004-05-15T21:52:19Z")
Frankenstein wasn’t simply trying to reanimate the dead, he wanted to create an entirely new lifeform (the novel was subtitles “The Modern Prometheus”). Parts from corpses was merely the raw materials used. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2004, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-dr-frankenstein/245324/4 "2004-05-15T22:06:52Z")
When somebody is dead - through disease or accident - it is likely that their body is damaged in some way. By taking the good bits from several different corpses, Baron F. could construct one viable being. Its like using the parts from two wrecked cars to build one (probably pretty dangerous) car. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2004, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-dr-frankenstein/245324/5 "2004-05-16T02:41:27Z")
> [@peter morris](#): > > Its like using the parts from two wrecked cars to build one (probably pretty dangerous) car. [frankenstein] True enough, but even then, you don’t have to worry about the gearbox _decaying_ while you’re trying to get the electrical system hooked up. Then, when you have time to re-replace the gearbox, the tires have liquified…and when you’ve found new tires, it turns out that they’re not compatible with the axels, so you have to replace the whole damn… Well, you see how things quickly get out of hand. The whole reassembly process can take on a life of it’s own…er, no pun intended. I tell ya, modern refrigeration…it’s more valulable than _fifty_ Jacobs Ladders.[/frankenstein] ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2004, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-dr-frankenstein/245324/6 "2004-05-16T15:17:46Z")
> [@JasonG](#): > > Dr. F, > > In 1931, you were quoted as saying, “Think of it – the brain of a dead mean waiting to live again, in a body I made with my own hands!” **Victor Frankenstein** replies: That wasn’t me. That was a copycat reanimator named Henry Frankenstein. While Henry F.'s creation was remarkable in its own right – especially with those two huge way-cool “neck piercings” he had – it pales in comparison to the monster _ **I** _ created in that mine could talk. ---
**Author:** ![FaerieBeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e95f7d/32.png) [@FaerieBeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FaerieBeth)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2004, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-dr-frankenstein/245324/7 "2004-05-16T16:04:52Z")
[dramatic sigh and pause] It’s FrAHnk-en-schteen. [/ ds & p] ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2004, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-dr-frankenstein/245324/8 "2004-05-16T19:41:44Z")
Different posters have given Frankenstein titles that he never earned or acquired in the source material, like “Doctor” and “Baron.” If there was ever an honorific loftier than “Herr” for poor tortured Victor, Mary Shelley neglected to mention it. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2004, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-dr-frankenstein/245324/9 "2004-05-16T19:44:06Z")
By the way, was Igor a Mel Brooks invention? In the novel, the closest Victor had to an assistant was Henri; in the James Whale classic, his deformed assistant was named Fritz. From whence came Igor? ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2004, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-dr-frankenstein/245324/10 "2004-05-16T19:55:32Z")
> [@Victor Frankenstein](#): > > …to make the being of a gigantic stature, that is to say, about 8 feet in height and proportionally large. > [@Inga](#): > > He vould have an enormous schwanzstucker. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2004, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-dr-frankenstein/245324/11 "2004-05-16T21:20:03Z")
> [@Krokodil](#): > > By the way, was Igor a Mel Brooks invention? I don’t think so, wasn’t it already a cliche? IIRC, he changes between ee - gor and eye - gor during the movie. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2004, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-dr-frankenstein/245324/12 "2004-05-17T14:55:51Z")
> [@Krokodil](#): > > By the way, was Igor a Mel Brooks invention? In the novel, the closest Victor had to an assistant was Henri; in the James Whale classic, his deformed assistant was named Fritz. From whence came Igor? SON OF FRANKENSTEIN- Ygor (Bela Lugosi) was a shepherd hanged for grave-robbing, but survived with a broken petrified neck. He helped Dr F.s son, played by Basil Rathbone, reanimate the Monster, who in the end fulls into a sulfur pit. GHOST OF F… Ygor again shows up to summon the monster out of the now hardened sulfurous rock & get the Grandson (Cedric Hardwicke) to transplant his brain into the Monster’s body (with the result that the Monster has Bela’s voice but is now blind). He goes wild, knocks over a lantern & “perishes” in the burning house. Ygor bodily is gone but ironically (or maybe not), Bela plays the Monster in FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLFMAN, only now somehow the Monster has been frozen in some cavern. Bit of interesting trivia- Fritz in the 1931 FRANKENSTEIN and misshapen assistant Karl in BRIDE OF with both portrayed by Dwight “Renfield” Frye. Now, I have read the book several times & have no idea who Henri is! ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2004, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-dr-frankenstein/245324/13 "2004-05-17T17:11:20Z")
> [@FriarTed](#): > > Now, I have read the book several times & have no idea who Henri is! I’ve read it a couple times as well, but can’t find my copy of it at the moment (Isn’t that always the way?). I may have the name wrong, but I doubt it. The version of the book I’m familiar with is the First Edition; most modern readers are more familiar with the Third Edition, where the character may have been excised or renamed. He’s Victor’s only friend who’s mentioned by name. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2004, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-dr-frankenstein/245324/14 "2004-05-17T17:23:24Z")
Okay, I just downloaded a copy of the book from Project Gutenberg (Not sure which edition; I’m guessing Third) and the character is called Henry Clerval. ---
**Author:** ![Master\_Wang-Ka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/master_wang-ka/32/3325_2.png) [@Master\_Wang-Ka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Master_Wang-Ka)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2004, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-dr-frankenstein/245324/15 "2004-05-17T17:35:32Z")
> [@FriarTed](#): > > GHOST OF F… Ygor again shows up to summon the monster out of the now hardened sulfurous rock & get the Grandson (Cedric Hardwicke) to transplant his brain into the Monster’s body (with the result that the Monster has Bela’s voice but is now blind). He goes wild, knocks over a lantern & “perishes” in the burning house. > > Ygor bodily is gone but ironically (or maybe not), Bela plays the Monster in FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLFMAN, only now somehow the Monster has been > frozen in some cavern. Unfortunately, at no point in either movie is it made very clear that the monster is now blind. Mostly, he looks kind of drunk and stumbly… ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2004, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-dr-frankenstein/245324/16 "2004-06-07T03:33:53Z")
By the by…the henchman in 1953’s [_House of Wax_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0045888/) was named “Igor,” too. ---
**Author:** ![Beauty\_Personified](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e480ec/32.png) [@Beauty\_Personified](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beauty_Personified)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2004, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-dr-frankenstein/245324/17 "2004-06-07T05:35:52Z")
> [@Ranchoth](#): > > By the by…the henchman in 1953’s [_House of Wax_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0045888/) was named “Igor,” too. And, of all people, Igor was played by [_Charles Bronson!_](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000314/)! Wow! [Elisha Cuthbert](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0193846/) is starring in the [remake](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0397065/). I wonder if she’ll be playing a female Igor. “Igory”, perhaps? Oh, wait. She’ll be playing “Sally Jones”. No idea if there’ll be an Igor in the new version. But, from what I’ve heard, it will bear little resemblance to the original aside from the basic concept. As for why Lord Frankenstein built a new body, rather than use a complete corpse, could it simply be because he was _MAD!_ _He’s mad, I tells ya! MAD!_ Anyhoo… ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Rieux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2004, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-dr-frankenstein/245324/18 "2004-06-07T07:42:14Z")
> [@Ranchoth](#): > > By the by…the henchman in 1953’s [_House of Wax_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0045888/) was named “Igor,” too. And he was played by Charles Buchinsky–later known as Charles Bronson. Last night, TCM showed\* House of Wax\*, preceded by the 1933 version, _Mystery in the Wax Museum_. In the 1933 version, the henchman’s name was pronounced “Eye-gore.” ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2004, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-dr-frankenstein/245324/19 "2004-06-07T11:42:59Z")
Henry Clerval was never involved & had no knowledge of Victor’s experiments, though. One character in Mary Shelley’s book who remains a mystery, and who has never been used in a movie version- the middle brother Ernest Frankenstein. I thought sure in GHOST OF, the Monster in Ygor’s voice yells about being blind. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2004, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-dr-frankenstein/245324/20 "2004-06-07T22:00:10Z")
IIRC, the book doesn’t even say that the creature was made from parts of corpses.