Mary Shelley was only 20 years old when she first published “Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus” in 1818. Shelley’s name was left off of the first publication of the iconic novel (it was 1818, after all) but when a second edition was published in 1821, Shelley finally got the credit she was due. 

Let’s get this out of the way at the start—we know the green guy screaming about fire being bad as the townspeople chase him with torches is technically “Frankenstein’s Monster,” but let’s be honest, we all call him Frankenstein. When I say Frankenstein you don’t think about the doctor, you think about the dude with the bolts in his neck. So when we say Frankenstein Tattoos, that’s who we’re talking about.

I’m a literary nerd who loves being argumentative, and I know Mary Shelley wanted us to all think about the Dr. and how he created the monster, but that’s not what happened. 

For this collection of tattoos we clearly focused on the monster, but we included the whole Frankenstein family. We’ve got the Bride. We’ve got the Doc. We’ve even thrown in Igor since, if I’m being completely honest, my first exposure to Frankenstein came from Mel Brooks’ “Young Frankenstein.” 

Like all great horror, Shelley’s novel can be seen as so much more than just a scary tale. Many have argued that the book is an indictment of the Industrial Revolution, with Dr. Frankenstein’s work creating the creature telling a cautionary tale about what happens when man tries to play God. While others (most notably Guillermo Del Toro) believe the book is a bit of an allegory on what it’s like to be a teenager, a time when you feel completely alone in a scary world that you had no say on whether or not you wanted to be a part of it to begin with. 

Regardless of what you think Shelley’s original intentions were, she crafted a timeless story that people continue to love after two centuries. Enjoy these Frankenstein Tattoos.