Predators Far and Near: The Sadean Gothic in Penny Dreadful

The Bride of Frankenstein is the most widely recognizable female monster in the Gothic horror tradition, and Showtime’s Penny Dreadful (2014–2016) is the most substantive treatment of this character in film and television history to date. This chapter presents Penny Dreadful’s Bride of Frankenstein as a complex character built upon a series of composites both fictional and historical. Like a palimpsest where earlier versions are still faintly visible under the new writing, in Penny Dreadful’s take on The Bride, earlier Frankenstein films, and historical layers echo throughout the series as Brona Croft is transformed into Lily Frankenstein. Personal histories of trauma and abuse don’t just inform, but drive The Bride’s actions throughout the show’s second and third seasons, ultimately guiding the open-ended finale for this character.