William Frankenstein

William Frankenstein is a fictional character featured in the 1818 novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus by author Mary Shelley. He is presented as the youngest son of Alphonse and Caroline Frankenstein and the younger brother of Victor Frankenstein. He lives with his family at their estate in Geneva, Switzerland. He is considered the darling of the Frankenstein family and is described as being quite tall for this age "sweet laughing blue eyes, dark eyelashes, and curling hair. When he smiles, two little dimples appear on each cheek, which are rosy with health".

Victor Frankenstein created a monster using the stitched together body parts from various corpses, and then abandoned his creation after seeing what he had done. The monster, seeking to hurt Victor, came upon William in the woods and strangled him to death to hurt Victor. William's death deeply saddened Victor and burdened him with tremendous guilt about having created the monster in the first place. Family friend and house servant, Justine Moritz, was framed for the crime by the monster and was summarily executed by hanging.

William Frankenstein did not appear in Universal's 1931 adaptation of Frankenstein by James Whale. Instead, the character is replaced with a little girl named Maria, whom the monster accidentally kills after throwing her into a lake to see if she would float.

He appeared in Frankenstein Monster #1 by Marvel Comics in January, 1973. He appeared in the 1994 film adaptation of Frankenstein by director Kenneth Branagh. In the film, he was portrayed by actor Ryan Smith. Actor Charles Wyn-Davies played young William in the film.

Actor Daniel Williams played William Frankenstein in the 2004 television movie version of Frankenstein produced by Hallmark Entertainment.

A version of William made a brief appearance in a flashback scene from the "Resurrection" episode of the Showtime series Penny Dreadful, where he was played by actor Lucas Farren. He appears in a scene where he attends the funeral of his mother.

Appearances

 * 1) Frankenstein (novel)
 * 2) Frankenstein (1994)
 * 3) Frankenstein (2004/I)
 * 4) Frankenstein Monster #1
 * 5) Penny Dreadful: Resurrection