Frankenstein Critical Analysis

The story of Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, has been told since 1818. Most people imagine “the monster” as this green beast with a square head and bolts sticking out of his neck. This image of Frankenstein is just one of the ways that somebody has retold the original novel, Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley. In fact, many people have tried to recreate the tale of Frankenstein in various movies. For example, Kenneth Branagh directed a movie in 1994, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, that came out close to the novel written by Mary Shelley herself. Branagh illustrated Frankenstein as an uneducated, horrid creature. Shelley’s novel portrays Frankenstein very differently. Shelley describes the monster as a very educated, well spoken, yet absolutely horrifying creature. Also, in Shelley’s version of Frankenstein, she provides instances, such as the monster moving quickly over snowy mountains, that Branagh left out of his film. These instances provide for a much more frightening monster than Branagh’s monster. Both the film and the novel tell the same story, even though Branagh’s film has a few changes. Victor Frankenstein, a mad scientist, is absolutely obsessed with trying to create life. He spends years trying to make this body that he has made out of different human body parts come to life, and he eventually succeeds. Victor was initially excited that after all his efforts and studying, he finally did something that nobody else has done. However, the tides quickly turned and Victor soon realized that he never should have created this monster. Before he knew it, the monster began murdering Victors’ family because of the fact that Victor stranded the monster after birth and left him to fend for himself. During this time, the monster was learning how to be “human” from the De Lacey family by stalkingly watching them through a hole in the wall of their house. This is one of the only instances where the monster felt love and affection. After observing the

Cited: Branagh, Kenneth, dir. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Tri Star Pictures, 1994. Film Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. Boston: Macmillan Press LTD, 2000