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103-475: The prototypical fictional mad scientist was Victor Frankenstein , creator of his eponymous monster , who made his first appearance in 1818, in the novel Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley . Though the novel's title character, Victor Frankenstein, is a sympathetic character, the critical element of conducting experiments that cross "boundaries that ought not to be crossed", heedless of

206-441: A gothic terror (or, in the first part, horror) in the reader. The monster, too, is sublime in its conception (obscurity, isolation), its size (out of the ordinary and frightening), the places it chooses and imposes on Victor (forests, peaks, valleys, abysses, vast deserts, tumultuous or frozen oceans), the unspeakable absoluteness of its solitude, the extremity of its feelings, the unpredictability of its character, its alliance with

309-409: A semantics of research and discovery. Thus, he uses probe into, penetrate, explore, discover, etc. to describe the dynamics of his action, and hidden recesses, deep secrets, unknown territories, further knowledge, etc. to delimit the field of his hard work. Very rarely, a verb like trespass is used to indicate that the work goes beyond any norm . If there is any judgment on the author's part, it's in

412-408: A simulator ride at Universal Studios Florida and Universal Studios Hollywood . The character's popularity has led to him giving the name to the computer programming language Frink . John Frink is generally depicted as Springfield's stereotypical nerdy, mad, and socially inept scientist, inventor, and mathematician. He wears thick glasses, a white lab coat (which was green in earlier seasons),

515-449: A "change of form" ( Meta-morphoses : In noua fert animus mutatas dicere formas / Corpora ), this is an act of creation, but with a technique, materials and energy. It was from Ovid's Prometheus that Mary Shelley drew both the idea of a living humanoid and the method for breathing life into it. What was the work of a Titan became that of a mortal, but one intoxicated by science to the point of believing in his own immortality. Like

618-580: A Halloween-inspired action figure that was packaged with Kids Meals at Burger King in October and November 2002 . In addition, Frink was featured on the cover of the October 16, 2000 issue of TV Guide . The professor has also affected real-life science. Frink , a computer programming language, was named after him. It is, according to creator of the language, "designed to make physical calculations simple, to help ensure that answers come out right, and to make

721-399: A blue bow-tie atop a white buttoned-up shirt, and pink pants, and has buckteeth and center-parted hair. Frink is a college professor at Springfield Heights Institute of Technology and runs his own astronomical observatory . He has an IQ of 197 – it was 199 before he sustained a concussion during the collapse of Springfield's brief intellectual junta  – and

824-490: A compromise between her fidelity and her condition as a woman, the offspring of a famous family, the widow of a poet of genius, evolving in a non-conformist medium, but a woman all the same in a society reluctant to accept feminist outbursts. This is how the reader could be taken in by Victor Frankenstein's contradictory statements, and find in them a vacillating ambiguity of Mary Shelley's ethical conceptions. His acts of contrition are easily contrasted, as adisplayed at

927-401: A constant game of hide-and-seek, swaying to the whim of her irony . This explains why the author sometimes seems to be moving in the direction of Walton's romantic enthusiasm , or even Frankenstein's, and at other times to be completely detached from it. All the more so, in fact, as this character's oscillation between euphoria and prostration is pushed to the extreme. Admittedly, this

1030-547: A few days, Frankenstein's father dies of grief . With nothing else left to live for, Frankenstein dedicates his life to destroying the creature. Frankenstein pursues the "fiend" or " Demon " (as he calls his creation) to the Arctic , intending to destroy it. Although he is rescued by a ship attempting an expedition to the North Pole , he dies after relating his tale to the ship's captain, Robert Walton. His creature, upon discovering

1133-454: A fundamental impossibility, as it's a question of passing from nothingness to being . On the other hand, the monster does not remain in a vegetative state, but proves to be endowed with a cognitive and moral consciousness in every respect equal to that of man. As far as the species is concerned, apart from its aesthetic aspect, it is even superior to man, surpassing him in strength, mobility and agility. Without specifying to whom and to what

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1236-650: A housefly?" Howard Waldrop and Lawrence Person of Locus listed the scene in The Simpsons Movie that features Frink's drilling machine invention as one of the highlights of the film. Frink has appeared in various merchandise related to The Simpsons , including issues of Simpsons Comics , the simulator ride " The Simpsons Ride " at Universal Studios Florida and Universal Studios Hollywood , and video games such as The Simpsons Wrestling , The Simpsons: Road Rage , The Simpsons: Hit & Run , and The Simpsons Game . He has also been turned into

1339-559: A mark of twisted scientific power, echoed notably in Stanley Kubrick 's film Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb and in the novel The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch (1965) by Philip K. Dick . A recent survey of 1,000 horror films distributed in the UK between the 1930s and 1980s reveals mad scientists or their creations have been the villains of 30 percent of

1442-470: A parent to a child – is one of the main themes of the book. One of the characters of François-Félix Nogaret  [ fr ] 's novella Le Miroir des événements actuels ou la Belle au plus offrant , published in 1790, is an inventor named "Wak-wik-vauk-an-son-frankésteïn", then abridged as "Frankésteïn", but there is no proof Shelley had read it. Victor Frankenstein was born in Naples (according to

1545-608: A play of mirrors reminiscent of the nested, reflective structure, the monster to which Victor has nevertheless given life becomes the very projection of his death wish. The transgression has been placed under the sign of Thanatos : the monster is the negative double of his creator, his evil Doppelgänger who carries out the death sentence unconsciously pronounced by Victor on his family, his friend, his wife, whom he believes he adores but whom he has experienced as castrating , suffocating him with love, protection, moral comfort and social certainties. The being torn apart by suffering

1648-629: A robot battle (operating the robot). On the show, Frink has made mention of a wife, but there have also been jokes about him having had little contact with women in his life. Frink often appears in the Treehouse of Horror Halloween episodes of The Simpsons , which are not accepted as canon and always take place outside the normal continuity of the show. Frink's bizarre inventions and understanding of advanced physics usually fit well into these supernatural plotlines. In " Treehouse of Horror VIII ", Bart enters Frink's matter teleporter and – echoing

1751-434: A scene from the episode " The PTA Disbands ", in which Frink becomes a kindergarten substitute teacher and keeps one of the children's toys to himself because the children "wouldn't enjoy it on as many levels" as he did. Nick Griffiths of Radio Times named Frink one of the best characters of the show, stating that he has "always loved Professor Frink", particularly because of his appearance, gibberish talking, and overuse of

1854-501: A student at Eton College , he had "experimented with electricity and magnetism as well as with gunpowder and numerous chemical reactions", and his rooms at the University of Oxford were filled with scientific equipment. Percy Shelley was the first-born son of a wealthy, politically connected country squire, and a descendant of Sir Bysshe Shelley , 1st Baronet of Castle Goring , and Richard Fitzalan, 10th Earl of Arundel . As stated in

1957-440: A tendency to over-complicate simple matters and use or invent scientific terminology while expressing various concepts, e.g. "Father and I got along like positrons and antineutrinos !" or "microcalifragilistics". Frink often tries to use his mad and bizarre inventions to aid the town in its crises, but they usually do not work or only make things worse. Most of his inventions never function properly or are of no real use. He

2060-629: A usurpation of the sacred , the exclusive province of divinity. However, in both cases, the presupposed god is domineering, jealous of his prerogatives, vengeful even, Olympian Zeus (or Jupiter ), perhaps the God of the Old Testament . The punishment will be extreme, in the image of the crime or sin: family, moral and physical destruction. However, the constant reference to the major poetic texts of Mary Shelley 's contemporaries and friends - Wordsworth , Coleridge and, of course, Byron and Shelley - and

2163-430: A voice for Frink, he did an impression of Jerry Lewis 's character Julius Kelp from the 1963 film The Nutty Professor , and the writing staff started making Frink more of a parody of that character. Julius Kelp is a nerdy, mad professor, albeit not evil, and is often unsuccessful with his experiments, so Frink became more like that as the show progressed. The Simpsons creator Matt Groening told TV Guide that "He

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2266-585: A whole after he sees a tree destroyed by a lightning strike and a scientist explains the theory of electricity to him. It seems to him as if nothing can really be known about the world, and he instead devotes himself to studying mathematics , which he describes as "being built upon secure foundations." However, at the University of Ingolstadt in Bavaria , Frankenstein develops a fondness for chemistry , and within two years, his commitment and scientific ability allow him to make discoveries that earn him admiration at

2369-515: Is a departure from the Prometheus Unbound , which combines the liberation of the rebellious hero with the downfall of a cruel god, the principle and symbol of evil . The catastrophe takes on cosmic proportions, and the hopes of the modern soul are focused on the advent of a new universe. Shelley's stubborn belief in the ultimate triumph of love and the avenue of the Golden Age is fulfilled in

2472-470: Is a kind of stark representation of the romantic hero, but through the repetition of attacks and crises, the portrait of a character that psychiatry would call bipolar gradually emerges, rather unlike his creator. Indeed, as far as we know, and despite the tumultuous effervescence of her household, Mary cultivated the memory of her husband and was concerned with his work, but in a way that erased much of its radicalism , and she always sought to establish

2575-585: Is a member of the Springfield chapter of Mensa . Frink is generally very polite and friendly. He has a trademark mannerism of using Jerry Lewis -style gibberish when excited, such as "HOYVIN-GLAVIN!" and "FLAVIN" and impulsively shouting other words that have no relevance to the situation at hand. He also occasionally refers to the importance of remembering to " carry the one " in various mathematical calculations. When he rambles he often speaks incoherently in run-on sentences without pauses. Frink also has

2678-462: Is a mind-bending gut buster, the kind of pay-off that die-hard Simpsons fans live for." Frink is a popular character on The Simpsons and he has received acclaim from critics. Mark Hughes Cobb of The Tuscaloosa News named him his favorite secondary character from the show. Fort Worth Star-Telegram ' s Robert Philpot called the professor one of the five best supporting characters on The Simpsons , writing that "Springfield's mad scientist

2781-443: Is a recurring character in the animated television series The Simpsons . He is voiced by Hank Azaria , and first appeared in the 1991 episode " Old Money ". Frink is Springfield 's nerdy scientist and professor and is extremely intelligent, though somewhat mad and socially inept. Frink often tries to use his bizarre inventions to aid the town in its crises but they usually only make things worse. His manner of speech, including

2884-474: Is a triumph of style over substance, with Hank Azaria giving him a ripoff Jerry Lewis voice that reminds you why we once thought Lewis was funny." On their list of the top twenty-five peripheral Simpsons characters, IGN 's Eric Goldman, Dan Iverson, and Brian Zoromski listed Frink at number fourteen, commenting that he fits nicely into the Simpsons universe "as the town's brilliant mad scientist." They highlighted

2987-495: Is afraid of the reactions such a story would provoke. The creature approaches Frankenstein and begs him to create a female companion for him. Frankenstein agrees, but ultimately destroys this creation, fearing the idea of a race of monsters. Enraged, the creature swears revenge; he kills Henry Clerval, Frankenstein's best friend, and promises Frankenstein, "I shall be with you on your wedding night." The creature keeps his promise by strangling Elizabeth on her matrimonial bed. Within

3090-409: Is also a divided being, in turn and at the same time creator and destroyer, provider of life and death, hunter and prey, executioner and victim. The abject monster turns out to be sublime, and the creator thought to be sublime turns out to be abject. This necessarily leads to an escape: the escape of the characters, who find each other only to lose each other, the escape of Victor, then of the monster,

3193-501: Is also the absolute solitude of the monster rejected by his creator and the common man, deprived of his feminine complement; such is finally, albeit to a lesser degree, the growing anxiety which, little by little, undermines the youthful and initially conquering enthusiasm of Robert Walton, alienated from his family, his crew and the commerce of men. Mary Shelley then borrows from the Prometheus of Ovid 's Metamorphoses , in which

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3296-442: Is first introduced in the novel when he is seeking to catch the monster near the North Pole and is saved from near death by Robert Walton and his crew. Some aspects of the character are believed to have been inspired by 17th-century alchemist Johann Konrad Dippel . Certainly, the author and people in her environment were aware of the experiment on electricity and dead tissues by Luigi Galvani and his nephew Giovanni Aldini and

3399-404: Is fitted in any sort to excite the ideas of pain and danger, that is to say, whatever is in any sort terrible, or is conversant about terrible objects, or operates in a manner analogous to terror, is a source of the sublime" "Whatever […] is terrible, with regard to sight, is sublime too" "Greatly night adds to our dread […] Almost all the heathen temples were dark […] The druids performed all

3502-402: Is no longer sure whether he is hunter or game. The act of transgression exists, but is never qualified as such. The vocabulary used by Victor, who is not Mary Shelley's spokesman, as he constructs his narrative by restructuring his life and putting it into perspective in the light of what he has retained from it, with its weaknesses, its emotional burdens, its weight of character, is limited to

3605-455: Is not made of such stuff as your hearts may be", parodying the lines "We are such stuff / As dreams are made on, and our little life. Is rounded with a sleep", spoken by Prospero . Then she's framed by bouts of deep despondency (sunk in languor); only Walton, captivated by the character, falls under her spell: "a voice so modulated", "an eye so full of lofty design and heroism". Professor Frink Professor John I.Q. Nerdelbaum Frink Jr.

3708-426: Is revived. In the latter episode, Frink is awarded a Nobel Prize . Frink first appeared in the season two episode " Old Money " that aired on March 28, 1991 . In that episode, Grampa Simpson inherits $ 106,000 from his girlfriend when she dies. He eventually decides to spend it on people who are in need of money and holds interviews. In one of these interviews, Frink introduces Grampa to his latest invention,

3811-571: Is the act of transgression - beneficial in one, evil in the other, responsible in the former, irresponsible in the latter. Only a few elements in Frankenstein recall this first version of the myth. First of all, the ambition shared by Walton, Frankenstein and even the monster in the central episode of the De Lacey family, to help mankind. Walton hopes to discover a hidden paradise beyond the polar ice caps; Frankenstein claims to conquer death and improve

3914-415: Is the inventor of, among other things, a frog exaggerator (which grossly misrepresents the size of amphibians), automatic tapping shoes for tap dancing, the sarcasm detector, hamburger earmuffs , the 8-month-after pill , and a drilling machine that can cut through anything. Some of Frink's unsuccessful inventions include his small remote-controlled plane that carries babies as passengers (it crashed),

4017-413: Is the prototypically conflicted mad scientist; though he is master of almost mystical scientific power, he remains a slave to his own desires for power and revenge. Rotwang's appearance was also influential—the character's shock of flyaway hair, wild-eyed demeanor, and his quasi- fascist laboratory garb have all been adopted as shorthand for the mad scientist "look." Even his mechanical right hand has become

4120-578: The Hanna-Barbera cartoons, an actual mad scientist did not appear until Switchin' Kitten (1961). Victor Frankenstein Siblings: Descendants: Victor Frankenstein is a fictional character who first appeared as the titular main protagonist of Mary Shelley 's 1818 novel , Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus . He is a Swiss scientist (born in Naples , Italy ) who, after studying chemical processes and

4223-513: The Nouveaux contes moraux et nouvelles historiques , published by Madame de Genlis in 1802, then in John Dryden 's translation, again published in 1810, and which she also knew from Rameau 's Pigmalion (1748), reductions of which for fortepiano were circulating throughout Europe . The novel also contains hints of Don Juanism : the hero's quest is never satisfied and, like the statue of

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4326-425: The "Gamble-Tron 2000", a machine designed to predict pro football scores (after it predicts one team will win by 200 points, Frink physically attacks it on live television), and a burglar-proof house that sprouts legs and runs away from potential danger (the legs of which collapsed causing the house to crash to the ground and catch fire). As a scientist, Frink has discovered and cured "Frink's Disease" and discovered

4429-505: The 1831 edition of Shelley's novel) to a Swiss family . He was the son of Alphonse Frankenstein and Caroline Beaufort, who died of scarlet fever when Victor was 17. He describes his ancestry thus: "I am by birth a Genevese ; and my family is one of the most distinguished of that republic. My ancestors had been for many years counsellors and syndics ; and my father had filled several public situations with honour and reputation." Frankenstein has two younger brothers – William,

4532-504: The Alpine peaks, infinity and eternity on the icy oceans. As explained by Edmund Burke in 1757, it is based on astonishment, and to a lesser degree, admiration and reverence, all notions, in fact, by-products of terror (see, according to Burke, the Latin words stupeo or attonitus ). The ingredients are darkness, power. A few quotations from Burke help to understand this aspect: "Whatever

4635-544: The Death Ray, claiming that "it is just a prototype. With proper funding I'm confident this little baby could destroy an area the size of New York City!" Grampa responds with "But I want to help people, not kill 'em!", to which Frink replies "Oh. Well, to be honest, the ray only has evil applications. You know my wife will be happy, she's hated this whole Death Ray thing from day one." In the original script, Frink appeared more evil. However, when cast member Hank Azaria ad-libbed

4738-524: The Greek myth of Prometheus, struggling against the omnipotence of Zeus , stealing fire from Olympus and bringing it to mankind to help and save them. In this version of the myth, the rebellious Titan intends to break human destiny by giving them the primary element of energy, and thus of technology, as well as a symbol of Knowledge. He is Prometheus Pyrophoros , the bearer, transporter and provider of fire. This Prometheus, whose name means "Provider", sees beyond

4841-622: The Titan, he uses know-how, in this case acquired through study, particularly of the so-called natural sciences, physics and chemistry . Like the Titan too, he is seized (numbed) by a feverish enthusiasm for his decision, the accomplishment of his work, the final technical act conferring the spark of life. The "energy of the ether" was replaced, in a period of scientific discovery, by what Victor's intuition first called "particles of celestial fire", then what his knowledge enabled him to identify as "the galvanizing use of electricity". He succeeded in what

4944-479: The Titan, rather than coming to man's aid, usurps the power of the gods, then fabricates man and confers on him, through manipulations of "ethereal energy", the most mysterious and sacred of goods - life. He is the Prometheus Pyrophoros et plasticator , i.e. the thief of fire, then the shaper, the craftsman who transforms clay into man. Beyond the original meaning of Ovid's title, for there is more to it than

5047-471: The act of giving it life. The creation itself is presented as based on abnormality. The monster's body is a mass of dead flesh and animal flesh. Admittedly, the process responds to a possibility evoked by certain eighteenth-century scientists; however, there is a desacralization of the human being, a corruption of his integrity, a defilement of his purity, all in the light of a Judeo-Christian vision of Man. Mary Shelley does not refer to it explicitly, but

5150-454: The application of the "instruments of life", he will not cease to decay before perishing altogether. Likewise, and in this respect similar to his creator, also abandoned by his god, the monster finds himself isolated in a universe whose harmony he perceives but cannot share. So he puts his body in unison with his soul and entrusts it to the inaccessible peaks and icy deserts that respond to the coldness of his heart, dragging along his pursuer, who

5253-560: The auspices of the Nazis , especially those of Josef Mengele , and the invention of the atomic bomb , gave rise in this period to genuine fears that science and technology had gone out of control. That the scientific and technological build-up during the Cold War brought about increasing threats of unparalleled destruction of the human species did not lessen the impression. Mad scientists frequently figure in science fiction and motion pictures from

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5356-413: The beginning of his story, with, for example, the fiery heroic-comic speech he addresses to Walton's sailors, in which he enjoins upon them the firmness of a grand design and the duty of heroism . The exhortation is peppered with ironic nods to William Shakespeare , including the young Henry V 's speech to his soldiers, St Crispin's Day , and a disguised quotation from The Tempest in the line "This

5459-585: The call of the French materialist philosopher, La Mettrie (1709-1751), in 1747, in his Homme machine , for the advent of a "new Prometheus" who would set in motion a reconstituted human machine. Mary Shelley did not invent the expression, which had already been used in the early 18th century and, closer to its end, by Immanuel Kant , and Frankenstein goes far beyond the technical substratum, presenting, in addition to its borrowings from myth , metaphysical , aesthetic and ethical aspects. Frankenstein tells

5562-484: The ceremonies in the bosom of the darkest woods {…} No person seems better to have understood the secret of heightening, or of setting terrible things, if I may use the expression, in their strongest light by the force of a judicious obscurity than Milton." "To make any thing very terrible, obscurity seems in general to be necessary." "I know of nothing sublime which is not some modification of power" "[…] strength, violence, pain and terror, are ideas that rush in upon

5665-410: The character after his friend and fellow television writer John Frink , who was later hired on The Simpsons . Frink's nonsensical utterances are written in the scripts as "Frink noise". Azaria has voiced Frink ever since the first appearance of the professor. Of the many characters that Azaria voices, Frink is his favorite because he was a fan of Lewis in his younger years and he enjoys imitating

5768-450: The commander, the monster appears and precipitates Frankenstein into the bowels of a psychological hell, whose fire is the "bite" of glaciation. It also evokes the more recent eighteenth-century Faust ; Shelley refers to the Faustian idea that knowledge intoxicates the soul and proves dangerous when it becomes excessive, becoming in itself "a serpent's bite". Mary Shelley first refers to

5871-497: The consequences, is present in Shelley's novel. Frankenstein was trained as both an alchemist and a modern scientist, which makes him the bridge between two eras of an evolving archetype. The book is said to be a precursor of a new genre, science fiction , although as an example of gothic horror it is connected with other antecedents as well. The year 1896 saw the publication of H. G. Wells 's The Island of Doctor Moreau , in which

5974-534: The death of his creator, is overcome by sorrow and guilt and vows to commit suicide by burning himself alive in "the Northernmost extremity of the globe;" he then disappears, never to be seen or heard from again. While many subsequent film adaptations (notably the 1931 movie Frankenstein and the Hammer Films series starring Peter Cushing ) have portrayed Frankenstein as the prototypical " mad scientist ",

6077-415: The decay of living things , gains an insight into the creation of life and gives life to his own creature (often referred to as Frankenstein's monster , or often colloquially referred to as simply "Frankenstein"). Victor later regrets meddling with nature through his creation, as he inadvertently endangers his own life and the lives of his family and friends when the creature seeks revenge against him. He

6180-465: The direct allusions to works such as Tintern Abbey , Childe Harold's Pilgrimage and Mutability , which rest on a substratum of diffuse pantheism , would suggest that the divine order and the natural order merge. One of the functions of nature in Frankenstein is to suggest, if only on a sensory and perceptual level, the presence of transcendence - harmony in the Rhine valley, sovereign grandeur atop

6283-430: The divine order and has remained abandoned by God, solitary, deprived of certainties, on icy continents in the image of the glaciation from which his soul suffers. However, he will not be saved: the exorcism of his story will not save him from physical death, the last avatar of the death of his being that occurred when he gave life to the monster; he would thus have placed his own life in a hideous body, because, since

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6386-433: The divine order, that is, against God himself; like Milton's God, Victor abandons his creature; like Satan, Victor and his creature express their loneliness and despair; like Satan too, the monster suffers but does not submit, deciding in the end to choose Evil ; like Milton's Adam , finally, he reproaches his creator for having taken him from the earth to make human clay. Like Coleridge's sailor, Victor has destroyed

6489-460: The element "Frinkonium". He has also mastered astrology to the point where he can use it to accurately predict the future, and has been shown to be capable of time travel. The professor has a son who is seen in " Brother, Can You Spare Two Dimes? " during a convention for infant and toddler products as a pilot of a remote-controlled plane (he flies out the window of the building while in the plane and crashes), and in " I, (Annoyed Grunt)-Bot " at

6592-424: The elements (storms, glaciers, darkness, earth, water, fire). For the sublime also lies within human beings. Like a natural landscape, the panorama of the soul arouses astonishment, admiration and respect, or else, by opposition or default, sinks into ridicule (ludicrous, according to Burke). Soon, the inner landscape becomes nocturnal, on the edge of consciousness, a dark, convulsive , spasmodic turmoil; through

6695-442: The father. In a review of that episode, which aired around Halloween in 2003, Robert Bianco of USA Today wrote that it is hard to tell Frink and his father's voices apart: "Azaria voices Frink with such a spot-on Lewis imitation that it's sometimes hard to tell which one of the two nutty professors is talking." In addition, The Knoxville News-Sentinel ' s Terry Morrow commented that "to hear Lewis doing Azaria doing Lewis

6798-419: The film The Fly – it results in an accidental mix between Bart's genes and the genes of a housefly that was also present in the transporter at the same time. In " Treehouse of Horror XIV ", it is revealed that Frink had a father who was killed by a shark, whom he brings back to life in the episode by piecing together his body parts. Unfortunately, the man decides to steal body parts to improve himself after he

6901-550: The films; scientific research has produced 39 percent of the threats; and, by contrast, scientists have been the heroes of a mere 11 percent. Boris Karloff played mad scientists in several of his 1930s and 1940s films. The Mad scientist was a staple of the Republic/Universal/Columbia movie serials of the 1930s and 40s. Examples include: Mad scientists were most conspicuous in popular culture after World War II . The sadistic human experimentation conducted under

7004-469: The fire that is stolen and then lost, giving warmth, light and nourishment; the destructive fire that sets the cottage ablaze; the fire of the pyre or of Hell, or the purifying fire that, as the book promises, will forever consume the monster itself, a morbid emanation of Victor's pseudo-creative imagination. The third point is undoubtedly the allegory of the chained Titan's suffering: such is Victor's mortifying despair, walled in by his silence and pain; such

7107-601: The fire that promoted him to being. The quest remains nothing more than a sterile, frozen quest; the fruits have not "kept the promise of the flowers". The story is never told by a heterodiegetic narrator . Successive layers of first-person narration are superimposed by the echoes left in the various listeners and the reader. None of the three narrators is Mary Shelley 's spokesperson, at least not unreservedly. She entrusts each with words, and therefore character traits, principles, actions, feelings and emotions that she seems to approve of, and others that she rejects. The good and

7210-589: The following as the professor's most memorable line: "Sorry I'm late. There was trouble at the lab with the running and the exploding and the crying when the monkeys stole the glasses off my head." Several critics have commented on Frink's inventions. Patrick Goss of MSN 's Tech & Gadgets wrote that "When it comes to gizmos, Frink is the king", and listed the Death Ray as one of the greatest gadgets featured in The Simpsons . Although he added that it "was not one of [Frink's] most successful", since it never received

7313-639: The funding it needed from Grampa. On the same list, Goss also featured Frink's automatic phone dialer, intra bovine ice-cream maker (an invention that is inserted into a cow and uses the four stomachs to mix the various ingredients), and hamburger earmuffs. In a profile about Frink, the publication UGO Networks wrote: "Where would the town be without your Jerry Lewis/Julius Kelp-inspired voice and antics? A lot safer most likely. Professor John Frink's inventions range from distracting to disruptive. Who can forget his hamburger earmuffs? Or his teleportation device, responsible for switching Bart Simpson's head with that of

7416-451: The human condition, which he befriends. As a Titan, he enjoys immortality, and his punishment, according to Aeschylus , is to be chained to Mount Caucasus in India and tortured by the eagle, which gnaws away at his liver every day, regenerating it at night. Byron had written his poem Prometheus in 1816, but Percy Bysshe Shelley 's Prometheus Unbound was another contemporary work featuring

7519-459: The human race; the monster provides the De Laceys with firewood: here, in grotesque miniature - for while he possesses the Titan's power, he lacks its mighty beauty - is a vignette reproducing exactly the main gesture of the myth, that of providing man with fire. The second element is fire itself, the symbolism of which runs through the novel: the fire-energy of the storm that strikes down the old oak;

7622-559: The impulsive shouting of nonsensical words, has become his trademark . Frink was originally depicted as an evil scientist in "Old Money", since he was trying to secure funding for a death ray . When Azaria ad-libbed a voice for the character, he did an impression of Jerry Lewis 's Julius Kelp character from The Nutty Professor . The staff liked the voice and therefore changed Frink to be more like Julius Kelp, both in appearance and personality – he became more nerdy, and went from evil to just mad. Lewis later guest-starred on

7725-411: The laws of nature. It is his curiosity about the cause of life that leads him to creating the monster. Obsession plays a major role in the development of Frankenstein's character. First, as a child , he is obsessed with reading books on alchemy , astrology , and other pseudo-sciences . Later, as a young man, he often spends the entire night working in his laboratory. He then becomes enthralled with

7828-482: The liberation of mankind. It was likely from Ovid's Prometheus that Mary Shelley drew both the idea of a living humanoid and the method for breathing life into it. What was the work of a Titan became that of a mortal, but one intoxicated by science to the point of believing in his own immortality. Like the Titan, he uses know-how, in this case acquired through study, particularly of the so-called natural sciences, physics and chemistry . In many ways, however, it

7931-402: The locals, swears revenge on his creator. When his youngest brother, William, is found murdered , Frankenstein knows instantly that his creation is the killer, but says nothing. The Frankensteins' housekeeper, Justine, is blamed for the boy's death and executed ; Frankenstein is wracked with guilt but does not come forward with the truth because he thinks no one will believe his story, and he

8034-428: The mind together" Mary Shelley uses the ingredients analyzed or simply listed by Burke to associate Victor Frankenstein's transgression with the notion of the sublime , either to make him describe his states of mind, whether inhabited by torment or exaltation, or to create the illusion that landscapes impose notions of greatness and disquiet, elevation or unease (steep valleys, dark forests, etc.), or simply to arouse

8137-484: The morgue, and reanimates the corpses. Fritz Lang 's movie Metropolis ( 1927 ) brought the archetypical mad scientist to the screen in the form of Rotwang , the evil genius whose machines had originally given life to the dystopian city of the title. Rotwang's laboratory influenced many subsequent movie sets with its electrical arcs , bubbling apparatus, and bizarrely complicated arrays of dials and controls. Portrayed by actor Rudolf Klein-Rogge , Rotwang himself

8240-473: The mythical figure. Although written after Frankenstein , between 1818 and 1819, Mary Shelley was familiar with its gestation and genesis as Percy Bysse Shelley was her lover and eventual husband. Prometheus Unbound , a four-act play depicting the Titan, more or less mingled with the Lucifer of Milton 's Paradise Lost , a champion of moral and humanitarian virtues, freed from the yoke of Jupiter and heralding

8343-468: The not-so-good, the evil and the not-so-evil are all mixed up to varying degrees, and the author uses a range of devices, albeit rather limited and rather stereotyped , to let her degree of sympathy, aversion or amused contempt shine through. At times, she approaches the narrators - who are never protagonists in the raw, since all actions belong to the past and are filtered through a network of successive consciousnesses - only to distance herself from them in

8446-478: The novel portrayed him as a tragic figure . In the book , Frankenstein has many characteristics of a great scientist. At a young age, he has the initiative to study natural philosophy and mathematics. As an adult , he attributes his accomplishments in chemistry to the effort he put into the discipline, rather than his intelligence. Frankenstein also has great curiosity about the world, and even recalls that some of his earliest memories were his realizations about

8549-473: The novel, Frankenstein's family is one of the most distinguished of the Genevese republic and his ancestors were counselors and syndics. Percy Shelley's sister and Frankenstein's adopted sister were both named Elizabeth. On 22 February 1815, Mary Shelley delivered a baby two months premature; the child died two weeks later. The question of Frankenstein's responsibility to the creature – in some ways like that of

8652-490: The period. Mad scientists in animation include Professor Frink , Professor Farnsworth , Rick Sanchez , Rintaro Okabe , and Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz . Walt Disney Pictures had Mickey Mouse trying to save his dog Pluto from The Mad Doctor (1933). Depictions of mad scientists in Warner Brothers' Merrie Melodies / Looney Tunes cartoons include: While both Tom and Jerry dabbled in mad science in some of

8755-462: The plunge. There is thus a very modern dimension to Mary Shelley's use of this Prometheus as metamorphoser, creator, artist-craftsman. Like the Titan, Victor uses clay (the living having returned to dust) and shapes it into a living being. The being had returned to nothingness, and from nothing, he promotes it back to being, in an act that is above all scientific: imagination has joined forces with experimentation, equipping itself with new techniques,

8858-399: The pursuit of one by the other, then of the other by the one, quests as ardent as they are senseless, Walton's, Victor's ("ardour that exceeded moderation"), the monster's ("dream of bliss that cannot be realized"), leading to nothingness. Walton fails to reach the continent of happiness; Victor destroys his loved ones by procuration before destroying himself; the monster immolates himself with

8961-419: The right to confer life belongs, Mary Shelley suggests that, in any case, it does not belong to man other than by natural transmission. Frankenstein , through its title, its overt and covert quotations, its allusions and vocabulary borrowings, refers to the myth of Prometheus, and then to Paradise Lost , one can conclude that the order it presents is above all divine. The act of transgression thus appears as

9064-409: The scientist is the new Prometheus, dominating hero, master of the world. In this respect, Frankenstein raises questions that are still relevant today: science can destroy man, but it can also modify, use and manipulate him. The fact that this Prometheus poses the problem of his power implies, de facto, that alongside cognitive awareness, moral awareness must intervene to avoid not only the "ruin of

9167-530: The scientists of the time hoped one day to achieve, in fact the old foolish dream of the alchemists ; the idea, the imagination, the enthusiasm, it was first Cornelius Agrippa and Paracelsus , then more rationally, Professor Waldman, no doubt inspired Mary Shelley by Humphry Davy , writing in 1816: "science has conferred on him [man] powers that might almost be called creative [...] to interrogate nature [...] in mastery [...], and to penetrate its deepest secrets"; fiction erases Humphry Davy's "almost" and takes

9270-424: The show as Frink's father in the 2003 episode " Treehouse of Horror XIV ". The professor has received acclaim from critics, particularly for his bizarre inventions such as the hamburger earmuffs , and he has appeared on many reviewers' listings of their favorite supporting characters from The Simpsons . Frink has been featured in other media relating to the show, such as comics, video games, and The Simpsons Ride ,

9373-553: The socio-cultural context of the action presupposes its existence as an integral part of the collective consciousness . A dead body can only be resurrected by the One who created it, and animal flesh is not in the image of God. At the beginning of the 19th century, the state of science rejected the possibility on the horizon of the inconceivable; this is therefore an extreme example, a kind of symbol of transgression. Even when galvanized by electricity, this gift of life seems to run up against

9476-534: The soul" but also that of man himself. In addition to these two versions of the Prometheus myth, there are borrowings from Milton 's Paradise Lost , often mentioned in the Shelleys' diaries, particularly when William Godwin published his work on the poet's nephews, and from Coleridge 's poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner . Like Milton's Satan , Mary Shelley's modern Prometheus has rebelled against

9579-432: The story of a man seeking to surpass his condition, akin to that of Icarus , the bird-man destroyed by the physical order of the universe. Frankenstein also evokes Pygmalion , king of Cyprus and a sculptor in love with the statue of a woman he has just completed, a new Galatea of flesh and blood after Aphrodite breathes life into her. The latter myth was known to Mary Shelley , who had read it first and foremost in

9682-409: The study of life sciences – mainly dealing with death and the reanimation of corpses. Finally, after the monster is created, Frankenstein is consumed with guilt, despair, and regret, leading him to obsess over the nature of his creation and seek revenge. Mary Shelley 's novel presents a Promethean theme of defiance of the gods, in reference to the mythological hero. The title of the novel echoes

9785-501: The titular doctor—a controversial vivisectionist —has isolated himself entirely from civilisation in order to continue his experiments in surgically reshaping animals into humanoid forms , heedless of the suffering he causes. In 1925, the novelist Alexander Belyaev introduced mad scientists to the Russian people through the novel Professor Dowell's Head , in which the antagonist performs experimental head transplants on bodies stolen from

9888-424: The unfolding of the action and Frankenstein's psychological punishment, rather than explicitly expressed by the successive narrator(s). Only the monster is led, like Milton 's Adam , to deplore the advent of an undesired life; still, this is an existential misfortune that he endures, rather than an ontological refusal of accession to being. Transgression consists in the making of a being, then and above all in

9991-459: The university. He then becomes curious about the nature of life and his studies lead him to a miraculous discovery that enables him to create life in inanimate matter. Assembling a humanoid creature through corpse assembling and ambiguous means involving electricity , Frankenstein successfully brings it to life, but he is horrified by the creature's ugliness . He flees from his creation, who disappears and, after several negative encounters with

10094-557: The victory over Evil of a hero free of all taint and entirely worthy of representing the Good . Purified by suffering, inhabited by humility and mansuétude , disavowing his ancient pride and hatred, he becomes on his rock a figure of Christ on the cross. His deliverance implies the fall of Jupiter , which is precisely the birth of the Golden Age. The only thing Shelley 's Prometheus Unbound and his wife 's Frankenstein have in common, then,

10197-542: The voice of the Nutty Professor. He has said that "once you start talking like [Julius Kelp] it's very hard to stop. On each take, I'll make it sillier, I always have. I'll add more and more stupid noises and sounds to it. If they let me keep going, it gets ridiculous." As a homage to Lewis, Azaria conceived the idea of the Treehouse of Horror XIV segment in which Frink revives his dead father, with Lewis guest starring as

10300-414: The word "the", and because of his inventions such as the matter teleporter that turns Bart into half-human half-fly. The Sydney Morning Herald ' s David Hollingworth profiled Frink in his list of "TV's great tech figures", writing that apart from being smart, the professor is best known for his "rather idiosyncratic speech patterns – hmmguyvin-whey-hey." Joe Rhodes of TV Guide listed

10403-399: The work of Alessandro Volta at the University of Pavia . Percy Shelley , Mary's husband, served as a significant influence for the character. Victor was a pen name of Percy Shelley's, as in the collection of poetry he wrote with his sister Elizabeth, Original Poetry by Victor and Cazire . There is speculation that Percy was one of Mary Shelley's models for Victor Frankenstein; while

10506-472: The youngest, and Ernest, the middle child. Frankenstein falls in love with Elizabeth Lavenza , who became his adoptive sister (his blood cousin in the 1818 edition) and, eventually, his fiancée . As a boy, Frankenstein is interested in the works of alchemists such as Cornelius Agrippa , Paracelsus , and Albertus Magnus , and he longs to discover the fabled elixir of life . At the age of fifteen, he loses interest in both these pursuits and in science as

10609-466: Was just written as a mad scientist character until Hank did the voice, and suddenly he became this nutty professor persona. What I love about Hank is that, you give him a single line – and most of these characters have very few lines – and he just brings it to life. Every time." Frink was originally animated without his buckteeth; they were added later on to make him look even more like Lewis's character. Writer Jay Kogen named

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