Title: The Bride of Frankenstein: Pandora’s Bride
Author: Elizabeth Hand
Date of First Publication: 2007
Place of Publication: Dark Horse Books
Type: Novel
Characters: Victor Frankenstein; The Creature; Elizabeth Frankenstein
Themes: ANDROID; BYRONIC HERO; MAD SCIENTIST/MONSTER; QUEER FRANKENSTEIN; SYMPATHETIC MONSTER; WOMEN WRITING MONSTERS
Critical Summary: Elizabeth Hand’s novel The Bride of Frankenstein: Pandora’s Bride strives to expand upon the mythos of the 1931 film inspired by Mary Shelly’s original work. The story takes particular interest in the sequel to the first film The Bride of Frankenstein. The titular bride serves as the main character, going by the name Pandora for much of the story. Pandora and her creator, Dr. Pretorius, are on a quest to defeat Henry Frankenstein (The analogue for Victor in the film adaptation) before he creates an army of female monsters to serve as a means of enslaving humanity.
This story is incredibly fast paced and involves a variety of characters and stories. This results in it exploring a wide spectrum of themes. The relationship between mad scientists and their respective monsters is seen throughout the narrative. Pandora’s and her creator’s father/daughter bond is frequently juxtaposed to the antagonism between Henry and his monster. Towards the end of the novel, a third scientist/monster relationship is introduced—along with the android theme. While searching for Henry, Pandora seeks out the aid of Dr. Rotwang, who is famous for creating the Fembot. The Fembot is described as a female android whose intelligence quickly grew beyond that of her creator. What she learns leads her to abandon him to advocate for women’s rights throughout Weimar Republic Era Germany.
The story focuses a great deal on women’s place within the society. While Fembot is a computer who immediately recognizes her situation and immediately begins expressing her anger and distrust, Pandora is a living being that needs to learn what it means to be a woman within her society. When Pandora is confronted by hostile men at the start of the story, they often underestimate her abilities because of her gender. This initially makes Pandora decide that she does not want to be a woman, if this is how they are treated. She tries dressing in men’s clothing and finds she likes it quite a bit, but she still does not exactly feel masculine. She decides the she is comfortable as a woman, but wants to push the limits of what is considered socially acceptable. She spends a great amount of time with a promiscuous dancer named Thea, with their fairly ambiguous relationship often towing the line between romantic and platonic. Pandora also struggles with the idea of becoming the wife she was created to be. Frankenstein’s creature within the narrative appears frequently and is introduced at the beginning waiting expectantly for Pandora to awaken and become his. Pandora initially despises him for this, deciding that she does not want to deal with anyone who attempts to control her destiny. However, by the end of the story, Pandora has come to understand the creature better. She reaches the conclusion that she does not hate or resent him for viewing her only as a potential wife, because through their interactions she believes he has learned to accept her as just a true friend. This reveals the main message Hand seems to be exploring as a female author. At the climax of the story, Elizabeth Frankenstein attempts to sway Pandora to her side by arguing that men are incapable of change, while women consistently are forced to adapt to fit the situations men put them in. Pandora agrees that there are many issues with the existing gender roles, but decides to support humanity due to seeing the ability of men to change through the creature. Hand appears to be imparting a message that encourages cooperation between the genders, not animosity based on past wrong doings.
Administrative Notes: Nate Roe, CSUF; Dr. David Sandner (editing)