Frankenstein - assignment

Hello everyone! This blog is our assignment task and in this blog I am answering some question from the Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein - The Modern Prometheus (1818) 

                                              

Que.-1 Why was Victor not able to accept his dream experiment and its result?

Frankenstein believes that by creating the Monster, he can discover the secrets of “life and death,” create a “new species,” and learn how to “renew life.” He is motivated to attempt these things by ambition. He wants to achieve something great, even if it comes at great cost. Frankenstein might be desperate to “renew life” because he was still grieving for his mother. One stormy night, after months of labor, Victor completes his creation. But when he brings it to life, its awful appearance horrifies him. He rushes to the next room and tries to sleep, but he is troubled by nightmares about Elizabeth and his mother’s corpse. He wakes to discover the monster looming over his bed with a grotesque smile and rushes out of the house. He spends the night pacing in his courtyard. The next morning, he goes walking in the town of Ingolstadt, avoiding a return to his now-haunted apartment. The two years of Victor’s labour resulted in an ugly, hideous, giant 8 feet tall and equally broad creature. The first appearance of the creature frightened Victor, Victor when started an experiment he was with an ambition and he wanted to achieve his dream but after the creature was ready it got a life the social human inside the Victor woke-up. He started realizing that the society won't accept such a giant creature along with its hideous look. Society might run away or get afraid of it. 

Along with, Victor must not have realized that creature is like a newborn child, a complete clean stale. As a child, they didn't know how to talk, read, stand, sit and walk. He also didn't know any of them. Creature was innocent, kind and humble like an infant but Victor felt that he might be monstrous mentally same as his physical appearance. Thinking of the society and society’s reaction he abandoned the creature and could not accept his dream experiment.

Que.-2 What made the creature a monster?
The monster is Victor Frankenstein’s creation, assembled from old body parts and strange chemicals, animated by a mysterious spark. He enters life eight feet tall and enormously strong but with the mind of a newborn. Abandoned by his creator and confused, he tries to integrate himself into society, only to be shunned universally. Looking in the mirror, he realizes his physical grotesqueness, an aspect of his persona that blinds society to his initially gentle, kind nature. The monster faces rejection and fear from his creator and society. The monster is the worst kind of scientific experiment gone awry. He does acquire humane characteristics, even compassion for his "adopted" family, the De Lacey's. The creature also begins to learn about himself and gains general knowledge through the books he reads and the conversations he hears from the De Lacey's. As depicted by Shelley, the monster is a sensitive, emotional creature whose only aim is to share his life with another sentient being like himself. From the beginning, the monster is rejected by everyone he meets. He realizes from the moment of his "birth" that even his own creator cannot stand the sight of him. The monster is a vegetarian. While speaking to Frankenstein, he tells him, "My food is not that of man; I do not destroy the lamb and the kid to glut my appetite; acorns and berries afford me sufficient nourishment...The picture I present to you is peaceful and human. "At the time the novel was written, argued that practicing vegetarianism was the morally right thing to do. The monster was equal to all human beings but yet he was not accepted by society only because of his look. And this again and again rejection also by his own creator frustrated the creature and the fire of revenge glowed inside him. Also when he demanded for a female mate, Victor destroyed it before giving life to the female mate. This made the creature angry that why should I (creature) spend his life in solitude and Victor enjoys his life. And in this anger he killed victor’s wife on wedding night. Seeking revenge on his creator, he kills Victor’s younger brother.

After Victor destroys his work on the female monster meant to ease the monster’s solitude, the monster murders Victor’s best friend and then his new wife. We can see in the Novel that at the end Victor is in the same position like a creature alone with no partner and living life moving in the jungles in search of a creature.


Que.- 3 Who is suffering from Deformity in the novel? What kind of deformity and disability is there? Who decides what deformity is?
The creation characterizes his physical appearance as a deformity because by the time this particular story is told in the larger scheme of the novel, he already has a firm grasp of language and comprehends conceptually aesthetic standards of corporeal beauty. As such, when the creation sees his reflection in the pool of water, he has an epiphany; he realizes he does not look even remotely similar to anyone else around him. Thus, such an observation on the part of the creation foreshadows the manner in which he is and will be received by others, as something instead of someone, thereby bestowing on him a nonhuman presence. A distinction like this further implies that he is more of a creation than a male human being, and as a result, he is considered inferior and misshapen. The creation seems to be an object of disgust and horror to all of those with whom he comes into contact, he develops a consciousness that he is ugly and it is this low esteem in regard to his appearance that becomes a disability.
According to the novel, as mentioned above, the physical deformity is shown in the character of the creature. But if we look at the things and sympathize with the creature we realize that the real deformity is in the mind of society. The mental deformity is perceived when we see the behavior of society towards creature only because of his physical appearance, no one tries to talk to him or tried to understand him or know him everyone started beating/ lynching him whenever they saw him in such a manner that creature started living in jungles. Their behavior towards the creature was only because of his looks. By the acceptance of the creature blind old man justifies that the creature was surely abandoned by everyone because of his looks. Through this we can easily say that in spite of the creature suffering from the deformity or disability the real deformity in the minds of society is judging people on their outer looks instead of inner beauty. As it is said- ‘never judge a book by its cover.’ 

What deformity is is decided by the majority of the same type of people. For example if there is an area where the people are without nose and ears and if a person enters there with nose and ears then that person becomes a deformed one for the people of that area. In the case of the creature, the society found the creature to be deformed as it was giant in comparison to them and had a lot of scars on its face which the society didn't have.

Que.-4 Can appearance overpower reality?
Appearance vs Reality is one of the most common themes used in literature to this day and has been explored in many ways. Phaedrus once stated, “Things are not always as they seem; the first appearance deceives many.” Appearances can deceive people because humans are so prejudiced against people that do not look, talk, walk, or act like them. Appearances and reality are two very distinct things, with one being a blindfold to one’s judgment and the other being a wake up call. In Novel Victor, a scientist; The monster, Victor’s creation; and Justine Moritz, who is accused of murder; all appear to be something they are not. Victor, Justine, and the creature are all examples of the struggle between appearances and reality.

Victor is scientist and his ambition shows the love for life and creature we love the character but creature get alive he abandon him and we see his negative side reality comes to us, same happens with the creature in the novel, he is always judged on his looks and no one accepts him despite he was kind, innocent and humble everyone judged him to be wild and monstrous sur to his looks. Also the character of Justine, she is accused for the murder of the William as belonging of William was found with her bur the reality was something else. This is how the appearance deceived the reality of these characters. Talking in context to appearance overpowering reality is seen in the character of the creature. The reality of monster was kind, innocent and humble he was like a child but the discrimination of society and human towards him, abandon by his own creator saddened him, he was disturbed by the behavior of society only based on his looks. After getting beaten by the DeLacey family he got frustrated and decided to take revenge for making his appearance hideous from his creator. Till that creature realized that he is ugly so one one is accepting him and thinking of him being a monster. The creature thought- if they are thinking me to be a monster then now I'll be a monster. And in power of being the monster he takes the revenge from his creator as mentioned in answer 2. Here we see that yes, appearance can overpower reality. And the example from the novel is the creature.


Que.-5 Who is the real villain in Frankenstein?
At first glance, the monster in Frankenstein is a symbol of evil, whose only desire is to ruin lives. He has been called A creature that wreaks havoc by destroying innocent lives often without remorse. The Monster is Frankenstein’s antagonist. He prevents Frankenstein’s goal both by what he does and what he is. Frankenstein’s ambition is to achieve something great, but the Monster’s terrifying appearance forces Frankenstein to recognize that not only has he not achieved something great, he may have done something terrible. Once the Monster starts killing everyone Frankenstein loves, Frankenstein can’t help but acknowledge that his creation has the potential for evil. After being thwarted in his desire to create something good, Frankenstein’s ambition requires him to destroy the Monster, but again the Monster thwarts him. Another possible antagonist is Frankenstein himself. Frankenstein directly thwarts the Monster’s goal of human connection by refusing to sympathize with the Monster himself and refusing to create a companion for him. The Monster initially sees Frankenstein as a father figure, but Frankenstein denies him a familial relationship. But after the novel is looked at on different levels, one becomes aware that the creature wasn't responsible for his actions, and was just a victim of circumstance. The real villain of Frankenstein isn't the creature, but rather his creator, Victor. As a romantic novel Victor is responsible, because he abandoned his creation. As an archetype novel, Victor is the villain, because he was trying to play god .When Victor created the creature, he didn't take responsibility for it. He abandoned it, and left it to fend for itself. It is unfair to bring something into the world, and then not teach it how to survive. The creature was miserable, and just wanted a friend or someone to talk to. Here if we see Victor as an antagonist then we should not miss that Victor is representing the human society in the Novel especially after the creation of the creature.

After the creature got alive the main thought what Victor got was keeping the society in the center he didn’t see his own dream coming true but thought as a normal human that creature won't be accepted by the society. So here we can say that Victor is a villain ultimately the society is the real villain.


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Movie Review - Frankenstein

 Frankenstein- The Modern Prometheus

The Novel ‘Frankenstein- The Modern Prometheus’ is an 1818 novel written by English author Mary Shelley. Shelley started writing this novel when she was 18, and the first edition was published anonymously in London on 1 January 1818, when she was 20. Her name appeared in the second edition published in Paris in 1821. Lord Byron’s suggestion of a ghost story competition to while away their Swiss holiday inspired Shelley’s Frankenstein. She named the scientist Frankenstein, getting inspired from the ‘Frankenstein castle’ in Germany.

This Novel is dark it has lot of death and murder. The major theme of the novel is ‘Danger of pursuing knowledge.’

Mary Shelley’s novel ‘Frankenstein - The Modern Prometheus’ has inspired a number of films from 1910, The first adapted movie was ‘Frankenstein (1910)’ American short silent horror film produced by Edison studios and Directed by James Searle Dawley to ‘The Frankenstein Chronicles (2015)’ as a British television period crime drama series that was first aired on ITV encore. Among these, the movie which was most faithful and close to the novel is Frankenstein (1994) directed by Kenneth Branagh who stars as Victor Frankenstein, despite several differences and additions to the plot of the novel.  

Casting in the movie:

• Robert De Niro- Creature
• Kenneth Branagh - Victor Frankenstein
• Tom Hulce- Henry Clerval
• Helena Carter- Elizabeth Lavenza
• Hannah Gordon- Young Elizabeth
• Ian Holm- Alphonse Frankenstein
• John Cleese - prof. Dr. Waldman 
• Aidan Quinn - Robert Walton
• Richard Briers-  blind grandfather
• Robert Hardy - Professor Krempe
• Trevyn McDowell - Justine Moritz
• Celia Imrie - Mrs. Moritz
• Cherie Lunghi- Caroline Frankenstein
• Ryan Smith  -  William Frankenstein

Roger Pratt was the cinematographer of the film. There is awesome heavy use of circular cameras where the camera is just walking around the subjects in multiple scenes. I think it was a little overused. It makes me nauseating sometimes. 

Victor Frankenstein and Elizabeth Lavenza, both very well played characters in the film. Here, the monster is very understated, Robert DeNiro plays pretty well, He gets the good makeup and stitches. The movie is extremely fast- pace we don’t get any breathing time to connect with the main characters. The movie has a much more dramatic direction than the book did.

Similarities in the original text and movie:

Frame of movie:

The Movie ‘Frankenstein (1994)’ is closest to the narrative of Mary Shelley’s Novel in comparison to many other movie adaptations as it has preserved the narrative of the novel. Most adaptations of this novel have entirely removed the subplot of Arctic explorer Robert Walton as an listenser of Frankenstein's memories as in the novel. While in ‘The curse of Frankenstein (1957)’  narrates his story to someone unfamiliar. However, ‘Frankenstein (1994)’ does not only retain Robert but performs the same role and also in the same setting - The Arctic.

Creature:

The presentation of the creature is also significantly laid out the same as in the Novel. In the original novel the creature educates himself and becomes fluent and intellectually sophisticated and similarly in the Novel. Many other adaptations instead present the creature as unclear and stupid.

Device of writing:

The Novel is related through an epistolary narrative structure, and there are frequent references to writing--the characters write each other letters, Frankenstein keeps records of his experiments, etc. shows the characters writing or using objects associated with writing, film too gives same emphasises on writing.

When Victor was departing to study at Ingolstadt, his father presented him with a gift from his late mother-a journal. The journal itself is blank, except for his mother's inscription noting that it is Victor Frankenstein's journal and will be filled with his deeds. In the same journal Victor writes about the creation of Creature which later helps Creature to know about his existence. The emphasis on the journal as a treasured gift also establishes the importance of writing to these characters, and it is one that is echoed throughout the film. After Victor brings the creature to life, he records his disappointment in his journal. Significantly, he also notes to himself that the journal will be destroyed to keep his experiment secret. This scene affirms the importance of writing. He may have stopped writing to his family, but that doesn't mean he stopped writing.

After Victor leaves for Ingolstadt, writing is used as a gauge of his mental health. Initially, he writes to his cousin and love interest, Elizabeth, as well as the rest of his family regularly. One scene shows Elizabeth reading aloud one of his letters to the other members of the household, as Victor recounts his friend Clerval's difficulties in passing anatomy. A separate, more intimate letter is included to her in which he fantasizes about their wedding night. She refuses to share this letter with the others. This scene emphasizes the importance of writing within the context of the film.

Victor and The Creature as Doubles:

In the Novel, the creature seeks revenge on Victor for creating him and abandoning him. He pursues Victor and then kills his younger brother. Toward the end, the situations have been reversed, and Victor is pursuing the creature to take revenge for Elizabeth's murder. 

These elements are present in the film adaptation, but the film makes this connection even more apparent in its presentation of the story. The scene where this doubling is most evident is after Elizabeth's death. Earlier, Victor had agreed to create a bride for the creature but realising the consequences he decided to destroy her instead. The creature swore vengeance and promised Victor that he would also be deprived of a wedding night. These elements are all present in the book.

Difference between film and Novel:

The film removes any reference to the Safie subplot from the novel. However, the film's most obvious changes are the portrayals of the deaths of both Justine and Elizabeth. In the original novel, both die. That is one significant difference between this film adaptation and many others- many films do not portray the women dying onscreen or even rewrite the plot so that the one or both of the female characters live. Mary Shelley's Frankenstein preserves the women's deaths. However, the details of their deaths in Branagh's film are quite different from the source text.

No time is given in the movie for any time of character development while we can clearly learn about the character’s in the novel. We don’t even get time to see how Victor is digesting the things that happened to him. We cannot  get closely connected to or empathize with the movie characters. The movie is relying more on music and is really little more sometime.

Creature:

In the book the creature is 8 feet tall but the monster in the movie is about the same height as Victor Frankenstein, He is not that menacing as pictured in the Novel. We don’t get insight into the monster in the movie as much we do in a book. A scene in a movie where creature comes alive and victor realises he made a mistake. In the movie there comes an awkward scene where Victor tries to get off two legs they slip and roll and finally chains it up and is just kind of nowhere to realise what he has done and says “What have I done! What have I done!” The novel does a better job here - putting over the head of the creature holds the creature and just realises how hideous and ugly it is and there is no way that anyone would accept him in the society and he is horrified by it.

Justine’s Death:
In the Novel, Justine is accused as the murderer of Victor's brother, William. However, the death occurs after a trial and is not described by witnesses. Indeed, Victor mentions the death and moves on. In the movie, Justine's hanging is graphically portrayed. Not only is the hanging viewed by the audience, but it is essentially a mob lynching with no trial to precede her demise.

Elizabeth’s death:

Elizabeth's corpse is briefly described in the original source text, but her actual death scene in which the creature strangles her is not narrated. In the film, however, her death is explicitly portrayed and is far more graphic than her fate in the book. In the film, the creature does not kill her by strangling her; instead, he rips out her heart. He then knocks her onto the floor, causing her to slam her face against a nightstand with a candle on it. As a result, her face and hair catch on fire. All of those actions are portrayed onscreen. Afterward, Victor takes her corpse home to reanimate her, it is clearly implied that Victor beheads her. The camera lingers on him stitching her head onto Justine's corpse. After her reanimation, the scars and after effects of his surgery and the injuries she sustained from the creature's attack are clearly depicted. She then burns herself, once Victor and the creature start fighting over her. The camera again lingers as she runs through the house, engulfed in flames, before plunging to her death. In the film, it is not enough that Elizabeth dies, she must die in a particularly graphic way, not even once but twice. 

References:

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Dir. Kenneth Branagh. Perf. Kenneth Branagh, Robert De Niro, and Helena Bonham Carter. TriStar Pictures, 1994. DVD. 

Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein; or The Modern Prometheus. 2nd ed. Ed. Susan Wolfson. 1818. New York: Pearson Longman, 2007. Print. 

Link to read The Novel 'Frankenstein - The Modern Prometheus' online

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