The theme of violence as depicted in both Ahmed Saadawi's Frankenstein in Baghdad and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein."

JOURNAL ARTICLE

Author: Nooruldeen Sabah Hasan, Dr. N. Solomon Benny, Ahmed Mishaal Sultan

Keywords: Violence, Postmodernism, Frankenstein, terrorism, Ahmed Saadawi

Abstract: This study aims to explore how Ahmed Saadawi's work, an Iraqi adaptation of Mary Shelley's, portrays violence as abjectness, as outlined in the powers of terror. In this book, dismembered corpses obliterated by explosions are aggregated to constitute a complete body. Consequently, this image embodies its cultivated essence, instigating a confrontation to seek vengeance against the individual who murdered and dismembered its corporeal form. In research inquiries, the investigator assumes the role of the monster, symbolizing an abject that embodies moral corruption and the catalyst of mortality. Shelley and Saadawi distinctly reference the creature. While Shelly's Frankenstein creature is devoid of human characteristics, it elicits sympathy; in contrast, Saadawi's monster references terrorism and its destructive powers. Saadawi's Frankenstein in Baghdad employs the violence of war as a metaphor for the erosion of humanity, resulting in individuals merging with a non-human existence, akin to a monster. The employs a postmodern framework to analyze the works of Saadawi and Shelley, focusing on the effects of Western aggression and its dissemination objectives. The researcher will conclude that individuals must renounce terrorism and its consequences, along with all forms of hatred. Only then will violence and carnage come to an end. Furthermore, individuals must cease endorsing Western terrorism and brutality to reclaim their humanity.

Article Info: Received: 09 Jun 2025; Received in revised form: 03 Jul 2025; Accepted: 08 Jul 2025; Available online: 11 Jul 2025

DOI: 10.22161/ijeel.4.4.4

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