References: Penny Dreadful Season 3

The entirety of Penny Dreadful is steeped in inspiration from classic works of horror. Occasionally, this inspiration comes out in small references and quick allusions. Other times, it comes out in full adaptations of entire characters and storylines. Within this article, we’ll be breaking down all of these inspirations and explaining the original work from which it was derived.

 

Warning: Spoilers for Penny Dreadful Season 3

The Creature/Caliban/John Clare

Season 3 of Penny Dreadful, bring about even more differences between the television and literary version of Frankenstein’s monster. In the book, the monster stayed in the arctic, deciding he would die far away from society. In addition, the book version of the monster never had a family and did not regain memories.

Dracula

Dracula is clearly based on the titular character from Bram Stroker’s Dracula. Both character’s are vampires with a desire for world domination and the propagation of their unique race.

However, besides this, the two characters are very different. This season shows that the show version of Dracula was an angel who lost a war with God and was banished to Earth. He also is working to wed the Mother of Evil in order to gain control of Heaven. Neither of these motivations are present in the literary version of the character.

Henry Jekyll

The character of Henry Jekyll originates from Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. Both versions of the character are obsessed with the internal battle between good and evil and are looking for a way to resolve this struggle.

However, Penny Dreadful’s Jekyll uses his treatment on others, while the book version uses it on himself.

Henry Jekyll’s position as a prominent figure at an insane asylum might be an allusion to Dr. Seward from Bram Stroker’s Dracula.

Renfield

Like other characters in Penny Dreadful, Renfield is based after a character in Bram Stroker’s Dracula. In both versions, the character is a servant of Dracula who is obsessed with drinking the blood from animals.

However, this is essentially where the similarities stop. Instead of being a responsible secretary who is reluctantly drawn into Dracula’s service, the novel version of Renfield is a lunatic in Dr. Seward’s insane asylum. He enters Dracula’s service willingly but soon grows fond of the story’s protagonists. This leads him to turn on Dracula, which causes Dracula to kill him. Almost none of this is reflected in Penny Dreadful.

Dr. Seward

The character of Dr. Seward originates in Bram Stroker’s Dracula. In this novel, Seward is also a psychiatrist who records conversations on a phonograph.

However, the novel version of Seward plays a much larger role in the fight against Dracula. He allows his compatriots to use his house as a home base and accompanies them on nearly every leg of their fight. The book version is also male, while the television version is female.