Frankenstein by Mary Shelley - Movie Review Example

?Introduction Many literary critics consider Mary Shelley's Frankenstein as one of the most impressive and imaginative Gothic horror novels of all times. In the novel, Shelley managed to create one of the most phenomenal creatures in literary history: Frankenstein monster. The epistolary style that the author employs allows the reader to view the circumstances from varied viewpoints and draw conclusions from the plot and the characters. The book The plot has a variety of story-lines rolled into one. The main however is about a Doctor Victor Frankenstein who though born to a well-to-do and loving family, is over- ambitious and thirsts to prove himself. After achieving excelling academically, he designs a technique of creating life from a fusion of inanimate objects, dead bodies an animal parts. The doctor is not satisfied with achieving conventional feats but is determined to create a living being. It is this ambition that leads to the creation after years of painstaking work. It is this creation that leads to Victor's downfall. The creation is 8 feat tall and due to the use of human parts that do not march his massive size, is hideous. He is described as having watery yellow eyes, a withered, yellowish, translucent skin which barely conceals his muscular system and blood vessels. The only good aspects of his appearance are his perfect, white teeth, long black hair and his black lips. The doctor, who had hoped to create a beautiful being is shocked by his creation and flees the room immediately after realising how his creation looks. This initial rejection greatly saddens the creature who has superior intellect and he disappears. The experience makes Dr. Frankenstein ill and he is nursed to health by Henry Cleval, a childhood friend. After recovery, Victor returns home only to find his brother William murdered and the creature near the scene of crime. He is convinced that he is the killer but has no way of proving the same and as a result William's Nanny is convicted and hanged for the crime. Self- reproach makes the grief-stricken Victor retreat into the mountains where he hopes to find peace. However, in the mountains, the creature approaches him and ignores his threats and cajoles. He requests Dr. Frankeinsten to listen to his side of the story. The Creature eloquently narrates to his creator his own encounters with people, after they parted ways. He tells how he feared them and opted to spend a year living in a hideout near a cottage where he was able to observe the DeLacey family who lived there and grew fond of them. Through observation the creature educated himself and became self-conscious. He found a lost books and taught himself how to read. On seeing his appearance in a pool of water, he realized how ugly he was compared to the human beings he was watching. At last he gained courage and approached the family attempting to establish a friendship with them but afraid of his hideous looks, they chased him away before leaving the residence permanently. In a fit of rage, the monster set the cottage ablaze and left. Later, the creature was shot and wounded by a man after seeing him with a young girl who he had just rescued from drowning in his arms. After the incident, the monster met a young boy who turned out to be William, Victor's brother hoping to establish a friendship, counting on the boy's age not to fear his deformity. However, William cried out on seeing his approach and threatened him with his family name :the Frankensteins. The creature then grabbed William by the throat attempting to silence him,but ended up strangling him. He considered this as his first act of revenge against Doctor Frankenstein. He then framed William's nanny for the murder. The monster demands that Doctor Frankenstein create female companion for him who looks like himself. He articulates his right to happiness. He promises William that should he honor his request, he and his newly created mate will go to South America to live in the wilderness in the areas uninhabited by man and would never appear again. Frankenstein reluctantly agrees to this as he fears for his family. He starts to work on a mate for the monster but realises the gravity of the repercussions of his actions should the two breed and create an entire race that would threaten the very survival of humanity. He therefore destroys the female creature he is working on. The male creature who had been following him witnesses this and is prompted to revenge. He vows to Victor that he will give him company in his wedding night. The creature then kills Victor's best friend Clerval. Victor is briefly jailed for this death and then acquitted. On his wedding night, Victor prepares to fight it out with the monster and tells his new wife Elizabeth to go to her room. Unknown to him, the creature does not intend to fight him. Instead he kills Elizabeth. Overcome by grief from the series of deaths in the family, Victor's father dies. Victor then vows to pursue the creature. The two later meet and the creature tells him to catch him if he (Victor)can. He pursues him for months until they reach the Arctic Circle. However, he does not kill him. He instead asks his friend Robert to do the same when he recalls the memories of all that he killed and his (Victor's) life that he destroyed. To an unbiased reader, the creature's later atrocities are justifiable and even a rationally thinking man would behave as such in the face of the rejection, discrimination and hatred that the human beings show to the creature in return to its attempt to establish a cordial relationship with them. The fact that Victor rejected his creation from his physical appearance and not from his character leaves a lot to be desired. Victor's rejection is explicit from the fact that he does not give a name to the creature, instead referring to him with extremely derogatory terms such such as "monster", "demon", "creature", "devil", "wretch""fiend", and "it". In one of Frankenstein's conversations with the monster, he addresses it as "abhorred monster", "vile insect", "fiend", "abhorred devil" and "wretched devil". This ought to draw some considerable sympathy to the creature. Dr. Frankenstein constantly dehumanizes his creation by his treatment to him as though he were some monster. He fails to give the monster any chance to live a real life. The monster has to live a pre-determined, sad life as he is unable to connect or form a relationship with any human including his creator. Doctor Frankenstein's refusal to create new mate was the last seal to his sad fate. The author does not really expect the reader to regard the creature as a monster per se. She goes to great lengths to bring out the other nature of the creature before he attained his vengeful attitude. He is brought out as a romantic, emotional and social being. The first parts of the book lay great emphasis on the creature's appearance. It must be noted that it is Victor who narrates this. This story of the creature's birth must therefore be seen from Victor's perspective. He gives a biased picture, extolling the hideousness of the creature to great levels. The initial introduction of the creature to the reader is also heavily biased. The choice of words are aimed at giving the reader a negative attitude towards the creature. That a corpse brought up to life is enough to put the reader off. The fact that his time of creation is characterised with many features traditionally associated with is such as a `dreary night of November' pattering of rain`dismally against the frames' , darkness underscore the factor that Victor wants us to see the creature as evil. The phrases used in the description of the creature or of equally great importance to the story. The description is of sheer monstrosity. This too must be taken as Victor's view of his creature. The creature's first act after its creation shows his social nature. He stretches out to reach at Dr. Frankenstein with a grin wrinkling his face. The choice of diction at this juncture may put the reader off. However, a grin is a sign of friendliness. He reaches out to seek for guidance akin to how a newly-born baby behaves in its first moment. The reaching out is an attempt to create a social bond which is spurned by the creator himself. The creature's sad narrative propels the the reader to empathise with him and realise that despite his physical deformities, the creature is social, emotional and longs for bonding with humans. One of the most powerful points in the narration is the creature's experience at the sight of the DeLaceys. The Monster who has seen his own ugliness in reflection, is awed by the girl's delicate beauty and Felix' rugged god looks. However, he does not feel jealous of them but instead longs to bond with them and yearns to touch them. He also appreciates nature's beauty and is hypnotized by sweet songs of birds which he tries to mimic but instead gives out horrible sounds that frighten even the owner himself. The creature should be excused for his monstrosity such as the incidences when he greedily devours an old man's breakfast. This is because since his creator fled son after his creation, and he (monster) has not had a chance to live in a conventional society, he has not been taught to differentiate between the right and the wrong. The creature's continued tolerance to abuse and prejudice against him his huge frame and massive strength notwithstanding, is a sign of a kind heart that. He does not seek revenge in instances such as when the instances villagers attack him and unleash dogs towards him when he wonders into the village is a sign of wider society has an instant effect on the creature's behaviour, as prejudice and fear caused by the monster cause them to act inappropriately towards it. They disregarded its feelings, `attacked (it)' and even `unleashed several dogs' as soon as it `wandered into a nearby village'. When the creature realises that the deLacey family that he admires and idealises as the perfect beings are poor, he decides to do what he can to help them in their situation and opts to place massive piles of logs for them to burn in front of their cottage. This shows that he monster felt obliged to share in the family's happiness and sorrow as well. He only seeks the warmth from companionship but not material wealth. When at last the monster manages to meet the old man, his (the monster's) politeness and civility towards him stand out. The fondness with which he speaks about the De Lacey family referring to them as benevolent educators for educating him albeit unknowingly shows an appreciative being who is thankful for whatever he is given even if his benefactor never intended to give him the same. The purpose of the visit is to request for the family's friendship. The old De Lacey is the only one who seems to recognise the creature's character that is laden with virtue and comments that the creature seems to be noble and virtuous. The words are a source of great joy to the monster, who for a fleeting second thinks that he has found acceptance. His appreciative nature is reinforced when he profusely thanks De Lacey for his `kindness'. When Felix and Agathe enter and attack the creature, he does not hurt them although capable of doing so, opting instead to move away. He does not even take revenge when he is beaten with a and shot on the shoulder by Felix. After the incidence, the monster still seeks to mend fences with the De Laceys and plans to visit them, determined to win them over, starting with the old man. This portrays his forgiving nature. When he finds the house empty, he is at first gravely worried that something dreadful has happened to them but feels unwanted and despised when he learns that they ran away from him. It is at this point that he decides to seek Frankenstein to seek justice. Attempting to seek Frankenstein to resolve his problems can be equated to the extremely common practice of feeling vexed towards their creator for what they perceive as injustices towards them. The death of William is as accidental since the monster does not intend to harm him. However, he realizes that he can use the death to coerce his creator to give him what he considers justice. When they finally meet, his demands are simple realistic and present a long term solution. He does not seek further revenge against humanity. He only wishes to be happy with a mate of his type. That he should consider seeking a female of his kind for a companion shows his nature as romantic and social. The fact that he wishes to leave mankind forever to leave in peace in the wilderness shows that he is willing to let go of his personal comforts to avoid conflicts with humans projects him as a diplomat.. One can argue that in justice the killing of Elizabeth is justifiable. It is a retribution for Victor destroying and in a way `killing' his would be wife. It is also arguable that while Victor had a chance of finding another wife with whom he could bond emotionally, the monster stood no such chance and hence his loss was greater. Though some of his latter actions are morally inexcusable, the monster is most likely suffering from depression tendencies that sometimes lead a virtuous person to commit such atrocities. Mary Shelley's monster is therefore a polite, kind, humane,forgiving, social and romantic being who turns evil in response to injustices that the people around him mete on him. The 1931 film Frankenstein directed by James Whale creates a completely new monster from the one in Mary Shelley's book. The monster in most case does evil for evils sake and not because he has been provoked toward the same. He is also of blood- thirsty, incoherent and unintelligent unlike Shelley's monster. Whale's monster is welcomed cordially by his creator, Henry Frankenstein and even asked to sit down unlike the original creature. However initial misunderstandings bring the creature and its creators to a huge conflict in which it kills Dr. Waldman, one of Henry Frankenstein's associates and seriously injures another. The films The monster is also treated cordially by a young girl but ends up drowning her. He then attempts to murder both Victor and Elizabeth but both survive miraculously. The villagers then hunt him down and apparently kill him. However, in the sequel the The Bride of Frankenstein it is revealed that he survived. He further kills the father of the girl he drowned. In this film, the monster also faces discrimination due to his hideousness coupled with the atrocities he has committed and continues to commit. He is shown extreme kindness by an old man who shares a meal with him but ends up burning his cottage in a fight that did not concern the old man. The monster does not demand for a mate. Instead, it is Doctor Septimus Pretorius, an evil genius and a former associate of Dr. Henry who asks the monster to kidnap Elizabeth in an attempt to coerce him to create a mate for him. Pretorius is even thirstier for power and to feel divine than Henry was. Henry does not have an alternative but to create the mate. The monster on realising that the new mate does not love him, kills her, Pretorius and himself. It is important to note that the mate was not created at the monster's request hence it was selfish to react as viciously as he did when the mate fails to reciprocate his love. When the mate fails to love him, he kills her which is the height of selfishness. He kills Pretorius, his benefactor meaning he shows no gratitude to anyone. Conclusion The two monsters,the one in the book and the one in the film, face similar problems. However, the latter is in an environment where he is more accepted abut his lack of brainpower and his heinous nature and lack of character make him much less admirable than the former. Works Cited Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. Dover Thrift Editions. Print Read More