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Essay on Frankenstein, Movie And A Book
Was Frankenstein's monster good or evil? In today's society, it seems clear cut that someone who rips the heart out of an innocent person must be evil. However, this simply reflects our inability to look at such an event from a non-anthropocentric point of view. From the perspective of the monster, he only wanted revenge against a world that turned its back on him. What about its creator, Victor Frankenstein? Was he good or evil? In his intellectual quest for understanding the nature of life, he manages to destroy everything he loves.
I think this illustrate nicely the ethical dilemma that arises when tampering with the forces of life (I'd say it's worth the risk) (Zschirnt, 669).
In what is unquestionably her most famous work, Mary Shelley creates a picture of the irresponsible creator and the creation gone horribly awry. In the equally famous movie bearing the same title, James Whale and Boris Karloff create a portrait of science gone bad. Somehow this movie version has become the ubiquitous picture of Frankenstein in today's world, even though the only similarities between it and the book are merely cosmetic.
On the surface the movie resembles the book with a few minor changes to make the story better for the screen, but if you look past appearances you will find that the very essence of the novel, that which makes it the classic it has become, has been squeezed from the movie. One of the most important changes can be found at the very instant of the monster's creation.
"Breathless horror and disgust filled my heart. Unable to endure the aspect of the being I had created, I rushed out of the room," (Shelley 35). Mary Shelley shows us a Frankenstein who is so horrified by his creation, so disgusted by his appearance....
