Bride of Frankenstein by James Whale - Movie Review Example

Bride of Frankenstein, unlike the original Frankenstein movie, depicts the story of the Shelley novel almost exactly and the monster in this film version has a compassionate appearance. "While in Frankenstein he was a murderous vengeful creature, the sequel presents a Monster the audience can sympathize with, thus bringing him much closer to Mary Shelley's original concept In one of them the Monster saves a girl from drowning and is 'rewarded' with being shot in the arm." (Bride of Frankenstein) There is a view that the monster does not deserve the kind of treatment it gets at the hands of the critics as there is nothing unnatural about the character.

In fact, it has behaved the same way that the audience would expect him to do and anything that results from his fury is the outcome of his make-up. It would be fair to state that the Frankenstein monster is the most misunderstood monster of all. In fact, "the Frankenstein monster's primary motivation is to be loved. While he is denied romantic love by the mate promised to him in Bride of Frankenstein, the monster is able to find brotherly love when he shares a meal with another societal outcast.

" (Bower, 291) In fact, the character has several elements in it that request better treatment from the audience and the director has been careful in providing the character with a very sympathetic face. "Director James Whale presents the monster as a tragic figure, even going so far as having him tied to a pole in a Christ-like position when he is captured by a mob of torch-wielding villagers earlier in the film." (Bower, 294). However, it is not completely true to state that the monster I nothing more than a sympathetic character, as there is a strong diverging perspective on the monster which considers the character as the main villain in the film.

"The word 'monster' - 'to warn', 'to show' - seems to imply that monsters hold up a sign that says in large letters, 'Here thou shalt not come.' Since society must define itself by that which it excludes, every social definition carries implicitly - or explicitly - the definition of its reverse." (White and Buscombe, 297) Thus, there are various examples that make the Monster in Bride of Frankenstein a disagreeable creature to several viewers. It is assembled from parts of dead bodies and its body is grotesquely disfigured.

There are also scenes that depict the character as relentlessly violent and its monster is responsible for the deaths of at least six people, including an innocent child. The Monster in the film never expresses any remorse whatever for his actions which also suggests the monstrous aspects of the character. In conclusion, the character of the Monster in the film Bride of Frankenstein is a disagreeable creature on the one hand, while, on the other, he is depicted as a sympathetic figure representing human qualities.