A new exhibition at the British Library is revealing the earliest known illustration of the monster in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, and he wasn't half bad looking
The exhibition entitled 'Terror and Wonder: The Gothic Imagination,' showcases an illustration from the 1831 edition of Shelley's classic novel, with Frankenstein sans bolts, flat-top head, and brick house physique.
Instead, Shelley's semi-nude monster looks like he belongs on the cover of a Harlequin romance, minus his face of sheer terror.
As Greg Buzwell, the British Library curator, tells The Telegraph, "In the book, the Creature is almost sympathetic. In the film, although we do get the sense he is misunderstood, the intention was to have a character who was quite frightening - hence the beefed-up physique, the clumpy boots, the macabre stitches and the bolts through the neck. He became a menacing figure. The Creature in the 1831 illustration is fairly close to what Shelley had in mind."
What Shelley had in mind was a creature with "lustrous" black hair, not the buzzcut shellac look popularized at Halloween we see today.
In essence, Frankenstein was really the Fabio of his time.
The exhibition opens October 3, 2014.
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