Tortured, predatory, and often violent, male protagonists are overly romanticized in gothic stories. As an inevitable byproduct of the genre, the love interests and leading men in many gothic tales are seductive because they are dark, and utterly tragic. Yet, audiences still watch in awe, hearing the faint voice of hope in the back of their minds whispering, «I can fix him.»

Girl, no you can’t. 

Insatiable vampires like Dracula or Damon Salvatore from The Vampire Diaries lurking creeps like the Phantom from The Phantom of the Opera, and even the charmingly manipulative Heathcliff from Brontë’s 1847 story Wuthering Heights are all downright toxic. Despite society’s centuries-long obsession with the classic bad-boy love-interest trope, Frankenstein’s monster in Guillermo Del Toro’s recent rendition of the tale has unexpectedly broken the mold of male toxicity. Gothic boyfriends aren’t always monsters. They can proudly share their compassion, empathy, and sensitive nature with their love interest instead of preying on fear and fascination.

Finally, we have an undead gothic boyfriend who is a decent example of the ideal partner, and he is ironically the product of a hubristic science bro’s god-complex science experiment.

Via u/verbatim.books