Title: Thermidor

Author: Siobhan Carroll

Date of First Publication: 2016

Place of Publication: Eternal Frankenstein

Type: Short Story

Characters: Justine Moritz; Victor Frankenstein

Themes: MAD SCIENTIST/MONSTER; SYMPATHETIC MONSTER; WOMEN WRITING MONSTERS; ANDROID; POSTHUMAN; RACE/POLITICS; QUEER FRANKENSTEIN; BYRONIC HERO

Critical Summary: In this short story, Justine’s story continues far past her story arc in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Justine’s death in Shelley’s original story is unsettling and contributes heavily to the direction in which the plot ultimately goes. In Carroll’s story however, we are able to have more time to explore Justine, albeit not in the way one would expect. In “Thermidor,” Justine is still killed, but here she is reanimated by Victor, and turned into a sort of Creature herself. Justine’s life has been preserved by having various body parts of hers swapped out so as to reanimate her corpse. Justine is accompanied by a Marquise in this story, who is violently murderous, while maintaining a calm and unsettling exterior. Justine assists the Marquise and their other acquaintance, Dr. Seguret, in the capture, brutal murder, and experimentation of several women. Justine, though alive thanks to the foreign body parts she now possesses, is also changed mentally and emotionally by Frankenstein’s work. Upon learning of Elizabeth’s death, Justine is disturbed at her inability to feel a level of sadness that she deems appropriate for the death of a close friend. This disturbance translates into Justine taking inspiration from the townspeople’s plans to retaliate against the Marquise and Dr. Seguret. Knowing that the townspeople plan to attack in a matter of hours, Justine takes matters into her own hands and murders Dr. Seguret. Following Dr. Seguret’s death, Justine then frees and enlists all the ‘creatures’ that have come from the cruel torture and experimentation of the Doctor and the Marquise. Finding purpose in this, Justine leads her “monsters” into the streets, marching them in what she calls “The Festival of Thermidor.”

The story follows in the same vein of Shelley’s work, namely in the way a scientist has brought about a monster through artificial means. In this reimagining of the original work, Carroll has brought more focus onto the monster and its actions, as opposed to the perspective of the creator-scientists.

Administrative Notes: Hannah Summy, CSUF; Matthew Vu (editing)