Penny Dreadful's Literary Characters: Worst to Best

Showtime's Penny Dreadful is a series based on classic horror literature and film - it accumulates various literary gothic characters into the same (very Victorian and paranormal) universe. Creator John Logan impressively adapts these famous stories into one intertwining narrative, mostly through Vanessa Ives (Eva Green), his own original gothic character. The show takes its name from the short horror stories sold for a penny in the 1830s that became known as 'Penny Dreadfuls'. This list ranks the show's depictions and adaptations of iconic characters from the literary gothic. If you have not seen the show - major spoilers ahead!

All Images from Penny Dreadful - Showtime / Sky

6. Dracula

Dracula is introduced in the final season but is very important to the plot and the ending of the entire story. Dracula has been through many different iterations before and this is by no means the strangest, however it is the lowest on this list because of the major changes to the character's origin story.

Instead of being a Transylvanian nobleman, Penny Dreadful's Dracula dons an English accent and a career in the Natural History Museum in order to get close to Vanessa Ives. He is revealed to be the brother of Lucifer and is competing with him to win Vanessa Ives and her power.

Rather differently, the horror in Bram Stoker's novel is based upon the idea that this once human figure seeks only to drink blood by luring people with his wealth and intellect. The show's Dracula is less of a human-like monster but a biblical demonic entity akin to Lucifer. It's a lot more Paradise Lost than Victorian Gothic. Dracula in Penny Dreadful may be well performed and an enticing character to watch, but he doesn't resemble Stoker's original characterisation much at all.

5. Dorian Gray

Dorian Gray chases every vice and is self-serving. A painting reflects his inner ugly creature aging with every abhorrent act, so that Dorian remains appearing youthful and handsome. In Penny Dreadful, Dorian Gray follows this outline but he is almost exclusively focussed on his sexual appetites. He seduces anyone that he deems beautiful enough to flatter his own immortal darkness. Dorian witnesses how easily Vanessa Ives channels the dead and pursues her until he has her. He believes their dark gifts separate them from everyone else. He is attracted to Brona Croft because he knows she is dying, Ethan Chandler because of his mysterious crisis, and Lily Frankenstein because her body is reborn. There is not much more to his portrayal than sleeping with every main character that reminds him of himself in some way. (Sidenote: I must admit when I first watched years ago I thought he was mystifying but upon rewatch he's actually a menace to society lol). Yet, Reeve Carney's delivery of the character is still closest to book-accurate that I've seen.

Dorian is not as central in the series as others, so maybe this is why he is underdeveloped by comparison. He is low on the list because not having him destroy the painting by the end of the show like he does in the original story defeats the point of the character. It is as if he exists in Penny Dreadful to only further the arc of others. (The best example of this is Dorian's dalliance with protagonist Vanessa Ives. It triggers her episode of extreme demonic possession and tears down her careful control over it. This is a key plot point).

4. Van Helsing

Van Helsing is the vampire hunter from Stoker's Dracula. In Penny Dreadful he is a Haematologist called in to help with the findings of Malcolm Murray's mission and does not come face to face with Dracula on screen. Yet despite his short stint, Van Helsing feels authentic to Bram Stoker's original depiction. He adds a lot of intrigue to the plot with his knowledge of vampirism and the 'night creatures' that the main characters find themselves dealing with. His death is sad but truly horrific and dramatic especially because the one expert on the threat that the main characters face is suddenly eliminated from the show.

3. Dr Jekyll

Shazad Latif plays a younger version of Dr Jekyll than the man we meet in Robert Louis Stevenson's Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. Perhaps it was a mistake for the show to never utilise the most intriguing horror element of Jekyll by not having him transform into the monstrous Mr Hyde. It is an odd choice considering a central theme of Penny Dreadful is the relationship between good and evil and surely Jekyll and Hyde is the most literal Gothic example of this?

Yet, to explore Jekyll just as he is as an individual with an almost prequel-like take is an unexpected choice that hasn't been looked at in much before. Also the dramatic irony of the audience knowing the character's fate the whole time does add to it as a viewer and heightens the meaning of all his words and actions. This is because we can see the parts of Jekyll that will be extracted into Hyde simmering beneath Jekyll's surface. He has occasional outbursts of anger that he fights to control.

The show, like with its depiction of Dracula, includes its own character origin story with Jekyll . However, Dr Jekyll is higher on the list than Dracula because the changes are well thought out and expand upon the original idea of the character. An Entertainment interview with Latif states: 'Latif’s incarnation of Dr. Jekyll has a father in the English colonial military and an Indian mother, a vision Latif appreciates... “I don’t think we’ve ever seen a mixed-race Jekyll in this sense. Victorian England — historically, it’s correct. He’s already an outsider, which is a very nice way to start.”' We therefore get a direct explanation of the pain and anger Jekyll experiences as a result of his past and how he is treated by society.

His parents symbolically demonstrate the two dispositions that reside within Jekyll. He loved his mother because she was kind but his father was evil and ruthless. This conflict contained within Jekyll has more for Penny Dreadful to narratively work with as it offers a nuanced exploration into the complexities of good and evil existing within one person - which is more in line with the show's refusal to portray a simple binary of light and dark with its characters. Afterall, Logan's commentary on the evil in us and around us tends to manifests itself in less literal and more thought provoking ways.

Jekyll's last scene is perfect. He reveals his colonialist father died and that he will inherit his father's wealth and his title. He says his title is now Lord Hyde. He then walks down a dark corridor that has interval patches of light peeking through the ceiling. His face travels through alternating patches of dark and light in the final shot to foreshadow the future we know he is about to walk into. Penny Dreadful thus ties up his appearance in the show effectively which can't be said for all the characters on this list.

2. Victor Frankenstein

Logan's portrayal of Frankenstein focusses more on the Gothic elements of Mary Shelley's novel rather than the Romantic. Although, an appreciation of the genre is granted space in the show through references to Romantic-era poetry. A few characters consistently use poetry to alleviate their suffering, including Victor Frankenstein. In fact, Victor's large collection of poetry is seen and read from throughout the series. As a scientist who doesn't really believe in God, poetry is Victor's form of religion and an example of his obsession with the questions of life and death. The plot is then free to pull from the Gothic of Frankenstein to - understandably - match the horror-tone at the centre of the series, whilst still recognising the Romantic basis of Victor Frankenstein's character.

Victor originally believes that the only worthy pursuit of scientific discovery and glory is to break the veil that lies between life and death. Throughout Penny Dreadful he reanimates three corpses and each have sad and horrific consequences for him. Plagued with what he has created and the complexities of morality and suffering that it unleashes onto others, Victor develops an addiction to his medicines.

Victor is also employed by Malcolm Murray where he develops a unique friendship with Vanessa Ives. They connect because Vanessa has a fundamental understanding of the good and bad that exists within a person and she helps Victor in his battle with this. An amalgamation of his personal horror storyline, his creations, and his friendship with Miss Ives develops Victor's own 'transformation' from egotistical ambition to selflessness. He learns to accept and value human connection, the human condition, and the meaning death gives both these things. This changes Victor's perspective on reanimating the dead. Harry Treadaway's performance of this feels authentic to the novel.

It is also important to applaud how Penny Dreadful's Frankenstein and creature don't fall into the reduced dynamic of the 'eccentric doctor' and the evil monster that is often portrayed in pop culture. Victor and the creature both embody the moral and immoral within humanity and within each other - this is Shelley's original conception. The series is more than faithful to this. 'What am I but an extension of you?' the creature asks Victor, they say 'thee and me' as if they are one in the same. Only when Victor Frankenstein accepts this does he begin to understand his actions and existence.

1. Frankenstein's Monster (The Creature / John Clare)

Just like with Victor, Penny Dreadful naturally delivers a very book-accurate version of Frankenstein's monster. The 'creature' is Dr Frankenstein's first reanimated corpse whom he abandons the moment he comes to life in extreme agony and fear. The bitterness we see from the creature as a result feels just as it does in Mary Shelley's writing.

Whilst the creature is murderous and has a 'horror' look to him, the cruelty he suffers at the hand of mankind and his creator also gives him a crash course in humanity. The show expands upon the original version by showing the creature's experiences of the world more from his perspective which we only get a glimpse of in the book. Therefore we see that when the creature is away from Victor, and the insurmountable rage that relationship causes him, he is self-conscious and afraid of the world because of the cruelty he endures. Yet eventually, he also discovers the kinder side to humanity as well. The creature is shown some friendship which balances his anger and pessimism at the world a bit more. He also learns of love and the large capacity of human emotion through reading poetry. So much so, he names himself after the poet John Clare. Experiencing poetry and some kindness, he gets a taste of the happiness that could exist for him. The creature thus decides he wants nothing more than to love and be loved.

The creature does not think himself human because of his pain, loneliness and anger, and because of the terrible things he's done, yet he comes to realise Victor feels the same, and maybe that means he truly is human. It is a beautiful and range-full performance by Rory Kinnear and is so aligned with Shelley's origination of the character. The writing of his character along with Vanessa Ives also carries Season 3 which is where the writing quality for the rest of the original Penny Dreadful characters begins to drop.