forsaken--stuff

[forsaken--stuff]

Rip to my poor, worried partner who heard me renting for fifteen minutes about Frankenstein before realising that:

1. I drank wayy too much coffee but

2. I only had one cup

3. But I never measure the amount of tablespoons of coffee I put in the machine

4. I just pour the coffee

5. Now I need to put the energy somewhere

[forsaken--stuff]

A few Frankenstein fanarts for Pride Month !

Elizabeth and Justine

Transfem Victor trying on a dress

Henry loving on Victor with long hair and a dress

Victor and Elizabeth running from the rain

And…

Have some nsfw bonus…….

I will not be drawing much more of this, I hate drawing the human body

[forsaken--stuff]

Inspired by an arcane fanart by u/novanova on X

[forsaken--stuff]

To the person who created the layout rules of a thesis:

I hope your pillow is always burning hot on both sides

[forsaken--stuff]

TW: Mild discussion of sеx in Frankenstein adaptations

One of the things I hate the most about some Frankenstein adaptations (especially Branagh's movie) is how everyone is sеxualised, especially Victor, the monster and Elizabeth.

I know the novel discusses sеxual topics but it's most symbolism and I feel like the absence of sеx is much more important as a symbol

I don't know where this urge to sеxualise everyone comes from and it really gets on my nerves.

Even Penny Dreadful's Victor who I kind of liked ends up having sеx. In the series that gave us (to me) one of the best monsters, it is really disappointing to me.

I'll make one exception to my anti-Victor-having-sеx rant; Lisa Frankenstein. Because it's awkward, just because it's awkward and I think it is quite fitting for the character.

So I guess I'm not exactly against Victor being sеxually active but I am against him being hyper (hetero)sеxualised and against him knowing exactly what he's doing

[forsaken--stuff]

I am doomed, my cat can now spell

After months of spelling P-Â-T-É to discuss her food without her understanding, she finally put it together and meows furiously when I spell it

I'll switch to English, my cat is gonna become bilingual

[forsaken--stuff]

I like it think I’m funny.

Check out my mutual @dykensteinery if you want to see some great trans analysis of Victor, by the way!

[forsaken--stuff]

[forsaken--stuff]

Self appreciation post

I just finished the first draft of my 55 pages thesis (not sure how it’s called in English but I’m not a phd student yet) on Queerness in Frankenstein and I’m both proud of myself and very very sad that I won’t get to write it anymore (I still have many corrections to do but I won’t write any new chapters)

Now I understand why Victor got sick for six months after finishing his monster, I need a nap and a Clerval to hug me

[forsaken--stuff]

As of May 2025, I own about 15 editions/rewritings of Frankenstein, displayed on shelves I affectionately call my Frankenshrine (I am a comedic genius) and I thought I'd make a list of my favorites.

I'll start with the editions of Frankenstein and make a post about rewritings after that.

Sorry for the poor picture quality, I am not a great photographer

1. Barnes and Noble Editions

I bought this one in London, the colors are beautiful, the iridescent lighting bolts adds a beautiful contrast

2. BRAGELONNE editions, I really love iridescent bolts, the illustration is amazing and fits the story perfectly. This is a French edition, I can't remember where I bought it exactly.

3.Penguin Classics editions. Sober, simple, great. Also bought in London after a relentless quest to find it.

4. R. B. A Coleccionables, Éditions Gallimards for the French translation. This one was a present, I love the illustrations by Nino Carbé and... Did I mention I like iridescent things?

These are the most beautiful ones in my collection, I am constantly looking for new ones. I also have a few comic/graphic novels rewritings but I'll probably make a separate post about it.

Because several of them were gifted to me, I also own a few editions which I do not like at all and I might make a post about them too

[forsaken--stuff]

i want to preface this with this is all courtesy of @dykensteinery's genius and not my own, i am merely putting his ideas into words for her!!!

so charlie brought to my attention that this quote from frankenstein, where victor refers to clerval as essentially his "other half":

“I agree with you,” replied the stranger; “we are unfashioned creatures, but half made up, if one wiser, better, dearer than ourselves—such a friend ought to be—do not lend his aid to perfectionate our weak and faulty natures. I once had a friend, the most noble of human creatures, and am entitled, therefore, to judge respecting friendship."

was an allusion to plato's symposium. in the symposium, aristophanes presents a mythological account of human origins: that humans were once spherical beings—complete wholes—until they were split in two by zeus. ever since, each human being has wandered the world searching for their missing "other half." this myth explains not only the drive for romantic love but the deeper longing for union, for completion, for the return to an original state of wholeness. specifically, it was an allusion to this line (any quotes pulled from the symposium are from percy shelley's translation):

"From this period, mutual Love has naturally existed in human beings; that reconciler and bond of union of their original nature, which seeks to make two, one, and to heal the divided nature of man. Every one of us is thus the half of what may be properly termed a man…the imperfect portion of an entire whole, perpetually necessitated to seek the half belonging to him.”

considering this line is present in the 1831 edition but not the 1818 edition, after percy's death, during a time where his works were being edited and published by mary posthumously in 1826 and forward, it feels like a much more deliberate allusion. furthermore, i don’t think it’s reaching to say this revision, this framing of love as something that completes a person, was colored by that loss.

it's crucial, also, that aristophanes’ speech does not limit this yearning for your "other half" to heterosexual couples but rather includes and legitimizes same-sex love, particularly between men, as a natural expression of a desire for one’s “own kind":

“Those who are a section of what in the beginning was entirely male seek the society of males…When they arrive at manhood they still only associate with those of their own sex; and they never engage in marriage and the propagation of the species from sensual desire but only in obedience to the laws…Such as I have described is ever an affectionate lover and a faithful friend, delighting in that which is in conformity with his own nature…Whenever, therefore, any such as I have described are impetuously struck, through the sentiment of their former union, with love and desire and the want of community, they are ever unwilling to be divided even for a moment.”

looking at this within the context of frankenstein, to me, this invites further reflection on a queer reading of the novel. the language of this passage—and others like it—have homoromantic subtext, especially when looking at it through this context. aristophanes describes those descended from the original male-male whole who pursue other men as “affectionate lover[s] and faithful friend[s]," which finds obvious parallels in the language mary uses to describe victor's idealization of clerval: victor constantly refers to him as noble, pure, good, better than himself. the language of friendship in the 18th and 19th century was often emotionally demonstrative in ways we don't see now, yes—but here, in light of the aristophanic frame, it rings a little different.

so basically? clervalstein real

[forsaken--stuff]

[forsaken--stuff]

Academia, the fragile balance between the literary bliss of watching a text unravel in your essay and the urge to bang your head against the keyboard because it won’t unravel anymore

Academia, between the pride of staring at one finished page explaining the intricacies of symbolism in your favourite piece of literature and the exhaustion of spending two pages explaining that what you are about to say is pure speculation

Academia, finally finding your niche, knowing you have things to say but not knowing if you’ll ever get the funding to actually research it

[forsaken--stuff]

Victor Frankenstein syndrome aka you spent nights over nights crying and bleeding over this work and now that it's finally done you're just like "nvm. it's trash" and go to bed

[forsaken--stuff]

Hot take??

Arcane is a great adaptation of Frankenstein

Alright, so

Obviously Viktor is inspired by our Victor (because let's be honest, if a scientist is named Victor, it's either an homage or a direct reference) but I would argue that Jayce is also inspired by Victor in some way.

What are the main subjects of Frankenstein? Friendship, loneliness, progress and its consequences, hubris, acceptance and rejection (amongst others)

All of these themes are present to a degree in Arcane but I'd like to talk about the relationship between Jayce and Viktor especially. Viktor has the loneliness (he does his worst when he's alone), the destructive tendencies and the secrecy of Victor Frankenstein, Jayce has his enthusiasm, privilege, his obliviousness, his dramatic attitude, and intense attachment to a male friend. Jayce could arguably be qualified as a mix between Clerval and Victor.

Their relationship is at least homoerotic, at best fully romantic and both share this very strong bond that makes it impossible to live without each other. Jayce's relationship with Viktor is more complex than the one he has with Mel, just like Victor and Elizabeth's is not as romantic and his and Clerval’s.

Spoilers ahead for Arcane Season 2

When Viktor is brought back to life by Jayce, he becomes both creator and creature which I find extremely interesting. Since Viktor starts to endanger people, Jayce has to stop him, just like Victor has to stop his creature and the story ends with both of them vanishing together.

I'm not being great at explaining because I'm only in academia mode after I've had a very strong coffee and paced in my living room for fifteen minutes but I hope to be clear enough to make a point, I'll be working on Frankenstein adaptations next year (second master thesis) and I'm curious to get some opinions about this idea.

[forsaken--stuff]

as i was reading the 1818 annotated text of mary shelley’s frankenstein, i noticed that one of my favorite lines, “Clerval was a being formed in the very poetry of nature”, had an annotation by Shelley connecting it to The Story Of Rimini by Leigh Hunt.

i obviously checked it out, and found out that that line was describing PAOLO from dante’s inferno… as in paolo and francesca… THE star-crossed lovers… francesca was in an arranged marriage (familiar?) and sinned by falling in love with paolo… and theyre together in hell and regret nothing…

i’m actually weeping over this being a canon parallel. go stream francesca by hozier one billion times