It’s alive and (side-)kicking! Frankenstein’s double acts

In Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein has no assistant and gives birth to the creature alone. In the film versions, however, he is often supported by one or several assistants. According to the logic of the supplement, what looks like a mere adjunct turns out to double Frankenstein’s identity in many ways that unveil its deferred and different significations. Frankenstein’s cinematic sidekicks might well be expressions of his interal duality, insidekicks comparable to those the “hideous progeny” gives in the fertile womb of its mother.