Brides and Automata in The Frankenstein Chronicles

This article offers an analysis of the television series The Frankenstein Chronicles (TFC), positioning it as a significant contribution to the neo-Victorian revival of the Frankenstein narrative within contemporary televisual seriality. By integrating historical and contemporary anxieties surrounding identity and mortality, TFC underscores the relationship between biotechnological advancements and shifting societal perceptions of life and death. Central to this exploration is the character of Esther Rose, a working-class Jewish seamstress who embodies the monstrous feminine archetype of the Bride of Frankenstein, reinterpreted through a postfeminist lens that highlights her intersectional trauma as a mourning mother. Esther’s narrative serves as a critique of the Victorian patriarchal association of femininity with artificiality, thus emphasizing the ethical dilemmas surrounding scientific progress within the context of capitalist extractivism and the mechanization of marginalized groups.