Compare And Contrast Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

Almost everyone has seen a film adaptation of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and knows the basic plot of the story, but if you have read the novel, then you most likely disagree. Shelley’s book goes beyond a mad scientist and a mindless monster that are portrayed in films, as in the 2015 production Victor Frankenstein. Having an extensive imagination, and being an avid fan of reading, I opine that a book is always more fascinating than its movie counterpart, but in the case of Victor Frankenstein, I find it a simple fact. A rare similarity between the film and Mary Shelley’s novel is the setting in which the monster is created, at least up to the actual event of animation to the corpse. When reading the text, I imagine a rather large flat, filled …show more content…
Family and friends that are developed, and that help shape Victor’s own character, in the novel are eliminated by the movie producers. Although his mother dies, Shelley’s writing reveals to the audience Frankenstein’s love for his mother, father, brothers, and childhood friends. One can even interpret his obsession for creating life as a result of his mother’s death and wishing he could bring her back. After the monster is created, Victor’s concern for his family and friends and the turmoil he suffers through the creature’s vengeful acts take readers on an emotional rollercoaster of anticipation. By offering no background for Frankenstein’s life, before college, and removing the friends and family characters in the movie, the audience is left with only the assumption that he must be a mad scientist with no other motivation beyond a God complex. Not only do Victor’s loved ones escape the creature’s wrath, they are never even in danger, more so no wrath exists due to the undeveloped character of the monster. Frankenstein never has worry upon his shoulders in regards to his actions. No one dies, so he is never struck with the grief and regret described in the novel, either. It is understandable for producers to cut scenes and characters for time restrictions pertaining to films, but such an enormous amount of content is left …show more content…
Throughout the movie, Victor never pauses to contemplate his actions and consequences that can, and do, manifest from those actions. Even after he has slain the monster in terror, he writes that he knows where he went wrong in his creation and will correct his errors in his future experiment: he has learned nothing of value from his obsessive madness. Yet, in Shelley’s novel he demonstrates critical thinking as he states “A human being in perfection ought always to preserve a calm and peaceful mind, and never to allow passion or a transitory desire disturb his tranquility. I do not think that the pursuit of knowledge is an exception to this rule. If the study to which you apply yourself has a tendency to weaken your affections, and to destroy your taste for those simple pleasures in which no alloy can possibly mix, then that study is certainly unlawful, that is to say, not befitting the human mind”. Frankenstein realizes that his fixation on creating life by unnatural means, whether in the name of science or education, stripped him of all the things he truly loved. He understands that he became a mad scientist; however, in the film, this never occurs. Several morals are presented within Mary Shelley’s book, but not one is evident in the motion picture, which leaves its audience with a sense of emptiness. If there is no underlying message, no lesson to learn,