Assignment 103: Pride and Prejudice

This Blog is an Assignment of paper no.: 3 Literature of the Romantics. In this assignment I am dealing with the Novel Pride and Prejudice's Modern Woman.

Jane Austen’s Modern Woman:Elizabeth

Introduction to Writer:

Jane Austen was born at Steventon on December 16, 1775, the youngest of seven children. She received her education—scanty enough, by modern standards—at home. Besides the usual elementary subjects, she learned French and some Italian, sang a little, and became an expert needle-woman. Her reading extended little beyond the literature of the eighteenth century, and within that period she seems to have cared most for the novels of Richardson and Miss Burney, and the poems of Cowper and Crabbe. Dr. Johnson, too, she admired, and later was delighted with both the poetry and prose of Scott. The novel was published in 1813 but was completed in 1797 and initially titled First Impressions. It is set primarily in the village of Longbourn 1 mile from Meryton in Hertfordshire in England. In general, Austen occupies a curious position between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

The most remarkable characteristic of Jane Austen as a novelist is her recognition of the limits of her knowledge of life and her determination never to go beyond these limits in her books. She describes her own class, in the part of the country with which she was acquainted; and both the types of character and the events are such as she knew from first-hand observation and experience. But to the portrayal of these she brought an extraordinary power of delicate and subtle delineation, a gift of lively dialogue, and a peculiar detachment. She abounds in humour, but it is always quiet and controlled; and though one feels that she sees through the affectations and petty hypocrisies of her circle, she seldom becomes openly satirical. The fineness of her workmanship, excelled in the English novel, makes possible the discrimination of characters who have outwardly little or nothing to distinguish them; and the analysis of the states of mind and feeling of ordinary people is done so faithfully and vividly as to compensate for the lack of passion and adventure. She herself speaks of the "little bit (two inches wide) of ivory on which I work," and, in contrast with the broad canvases of Fielding or Scott, her stories have the exquisiteness of a fine miniature. 

Women of that time:

The Regency is a period which started in 1811, when the Regency Act was passed and George, Prince of Wales became Prince Regent, replacing his father George III who was mentally ill. The period ended with the death of George III. During these years, many women established themselves as prominent writers. One of them was Jane Austen, who decided to depict traditional female roles during the Regency era. In those times it was hard to be a woman, especially a woman writer. Women's style of writing was considered to be inferior to men’s writing style.. It is evident that women were misjudged, mistreated, and discriminated against by men. Imperfection became a synonym for women, even when it came to their writing style. Therefore, it is not surprising that women led submissive lives and they had to accept. 

In other words, in Austen's time women thought that they could do nothing but what was expected from them; they were dominated by men. Marriages were arranged, mostly within the same social class. Even middle-class parents wanted their daughters well situated. Love was not important when it came to choosing a husband. Women did not have much choice; unmarried, older than twenty, women were considered to be a burden to their families and many women got married, so that society would not look down on them. They could become governesses; yet, that “was a position beneath the social rank and status of middle and upper class young women and was thus regarded as humiliating” (Swords). A woman’s happiness depended entirely on her parents’ approval until she got married: “women can be seen as oppressed victims of a patriarchal society, subordinate first to their fathers and, then, to their husbands who had, of course, been selected by their fathers'' (Swords). Moreover, women could not inherit property. 2 Once married, they lost control over both their possessions and their fate and became their husbands' property.

Elizabeth Bennet:

The novel Pride and Prejudice deals with the life of the sisters from the Bennet family. It focuses on the life of Elizabeth, the main protagonist of the story. The Bennet family belongs to the middle class. Mr. Bennet does not have a male heir.

Elizabeth “Lizzy” Bennet is the second daughter of the Bennets. She is twenty years old. . Because of her intelligence and observations, she is one of the most famous literary characters of all time: “For the first time in English literature, outside Shakespeare, we meet heroines who are credible, with minds, with the capacity to think for themselves, with ambition and wit”. She is Mr. Bennet’s favourite child.  In contrast, she is the last dear to her mother because “she is not half so handsome as Jane, nor half so good humoured as Lydia” (Austen, Pride and Prejudice 5). Yet, Elizabeth transcends her family members in her manners and understanding of life. Moreover, Elizabeth states her opinion directly and has a sharp tongue, which often shocks those who believe that ladies cannot be allowed such freedom. During her conversation with Lady Catherine, who is a very powerful woman, she answers a lot of questions but with some reservation and asserts her opinion on the social norms.

Lady Catherine is astonished by such an answer because Elizabeth openly challenges social norms regarding female behaviour. When Lady Catherine finds out that the five daughters have been brought up without a governess, she is shocked because it is unimaginable that young women have not been taught necessary skills such as drawing and playing an instrument. Elizabeth understands the true purpose of marriage, something that neither her mother nor her sisters do. When she rejects Mr. Collins. She even rejects Mr. Darcy’s first proposal because she believes him to be an immoral and evil man. He is very rich, richer than Mr. Bingley. Her attitude towards marriage is visible from the way she speaks with Charlotte, her dearest friend, when she hears that Charlotte has accepted Mr. Collins’s proposal. She feels sorry for her friend because she knows that she and her future husband will never love each other. Moreover, Elizabeth’s judgements are sometimes irrational and blinded by her pride but, when this is the case, she is willing to admit that she is wrong. When she realises that Wickham has deceived her and lied to her about Darcy’s nature, that Darcy is actually an exceptional man, she grows absolutely ashamed of herself.  She tries to be fair towards everyone and that is why she feels that she has done wrong to Darcy. Later on, when Lady Catherine confronts her because she believes that Elizabeth and Darcy will get married, Elizabeth shows that she is not afraid of her. Lady Catherine states that their marriage would be the most unsuitable match. In other words, Elizabeth does not care about money and does not think of Mr. Darcy as her superior; she believes them to be of equal worth. When Lady Catherine asks that she refuse Darcy, Elizabeth dismisses. 

Elizabeth is not a woman whom someone could easily scare and she fights for what she wants and believes in – and that is Mr. Darcy and her love for him. Again, Elizabeth proves to be an intelligent and independent woman who does not care about the opinion of others; she does what she thinks to be the best for her

Critics have often remarked on the ostensible link between Elizabeth Bennet and her creator. Elizabeth’s wit and playfulness, the argument goes, reflect Austen’s own personality. But this observation, innocuous as it seems, devalues the artistry of the novel, implying as it does a lack of design on the author’s part: Jane Austen merely looked in a psychic mirror and reported the thoughts of the charming Elizabeth.  Even a critic who does not identify Austen and her character still finds an odd link between them. Austen does several things with the ironic wit of her main character. By blurring the distinction between Elizabeth’s voice and that of the omniscient narrator, she controls the reader’s point of view. Austen tempts the reader to accept Elizabeth’s initial assessment of Wickham and Darcy because Elizabeth sounds so much like the third-person omniscient narrator. In this way, Austen forces the reader to experience the same errors that Elizabeth makes and to realise the difficulty of arriving at truth in a constantly shifting world. Elizabeth’s ironic wit also defines nuances of her character in ways that make her stand out from the more one-dimensional women in the novel: Caroline Bingley, Charlotte Lucas, Lydia, even Jane. And, ultimately, Elizabeth’s wit defines theme as the novel develops a critique on the worth of an ironic worldview

Elizabeth represents women who are intelligent and independent in their actions. They do not get married because of necessity; on the contrary, they see marriage as an act of love. Each one of them is a strong woman who thinks with her own head.

Thank You

Pride and Prejudice

Hello readers! This blog is written as our Classroom task, based on the Novel Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. Here answers are given to some allotted questions which can be helpful to you for better understanding.

I am placing this video here so that you can get an idea of the story and can understand the answers better.

Which version of the novel is more appealing? Novel or film (adaptation)? Why? Or Compare the narrative strategy of novels and movies.
This novel undoubtedly belongs to the category of the best literary works of all time. The story has been transformed by many screenwriters and directors into film adaptations to bring the people of cinematic eras closer to the atmosphere of the Regency Era in England. A film adaptation is a type of derivative work, describing the transposition of a play, novel, or other literary source to film. A cinematic transfer is the most common practice of literary adaptation.
                                        

The first adaptation of Pride and Prejudice dates back to 1938. The screenplay from 1980 by Fay Weldon Pride and Prejudice directed by Cyril Coke, BBC, is worth noting among traditional adaptations. In this adaptation according to the viewer reviews on The Internet Movie Database the characters ‘are truer to the way they were written by Jane Austen.‘ The most successful adaptation of the 20th century is considered to be Pride and Prejudice directed by Simon Langton, BBC, 1995. Deborah Cartmell (2010a, p. 8) says that this six-part mini-series is mainly focused on Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy showing a different approach to the story that has always been presented as female-centered. The 2005 adaptation Pride and Prejudice, directed by Joe Wright has wagered on the celebrity status – of Keira Knightley as Elizabeth and Judi Dench as Lady Catherine and on intelligently chosen locations.

Joe Wright's 2005 adaptation Pride & Prejudice had more differences from the Jane Austen novel than just changing the time period, making the film more realistic and romantic in the process. One of the biggest changes Joe Wright made to Pride & Prejudice was changing the time period from 1813 to the 1790s.Wright changed the time period because he hated the look of the empire silhouette that was popular in the Regency Era. Keira Knightley's portrayal of Elizabeth Bennet is her best role, and is significantly feistier and more impassioned in Pride & Prejudice than in the original novel. While Knightley's Elizabeth grows apart from Jane over the course of the movie, the two actually become much closer in the book. In the Austen novel, the Bennet family might be down on their luck, but they're still a member of the landed gentry and retain some wealth and status. The Bennet family in Pride & Prejudice is portrayed as much poorer than their novel depiction, partially due to Joe Wright's shifting away from the formal portrayal of the Regency Era by putting the family home in a more rural setting. The Bennet sisters wear worn-out dresses that don't quite match, and the family home is in a state of clear disrepair. Pride & Prejudice also changed the characterization of Mr. and Mrs. Bennet to make them more sympathetic, turning Mr. Bennet into a loving and attentive father, and presenting Mrs. Bennet's machinations with understanding instead of scorn. The Bennet family might be chaotic, but in the film they're still close-knit and loving. Contrasting the clear financial difficulties of the Bennet family with the closeness and love between the sisters and their parents makes them much more relatable to contemporary audiences in the Joe Wright adaptation than the novel.

Part of the challenge of adapting Pride & Prejudice is condensing the novel into a movie. The 1995 BBC miniseries had the luxury of six episodes, and was able to tell the full story — but Joe Wright's adaptation pared the novel down to 127 minutes. However, that meant cutting several minor characters and condensing subplots into a single scene. Part of Joe Wright's approach in his Pride & Prejudice adaptation was turning a decidedly non-visual novel into a stunningly-designed film. The director emphasized romanticism with his visuals, accomplished by moving away from the formality of the Regency Era; as a result, one of the major changes made in the film was to Mr. Darcy's famous proposals. In the novel, Mr. Darcy proposes on the street in the middle of the day. While Jane Austen fans may concede that the changes make for a beautiful film, the approach to these scenes is more stylistically appropriate for Wuthering Heights than Pride & Prejudice.

The single biggest controversy from Pride & Prejudice was Joe Wright's decision not to end the movie with a wedding. Instead, the film ends with a sentimental scene between the now-married Darcy's, enjoying an intimate moment at Pemberley. That decision caused a major backlash from the Jane Austen Society of North America before its release, and the scene was removed from the British release of the film after complaints from the preview audiences.

Looking at these differences we can see that the novel is explaining the storyline in more detail which helps better understanding and holding the interest of a reader. So, in my view novels are better than film adaptations.


Character of Elizabeth

The twenty year-old Elizabeth, sometimes Lizzie, sometimes Eliza, is a most attractive young woman. Not only is she beautiful, with eyes that made her irresistible to Mr. Darcy, but she has an exceptional personality. She is high spirited but self-controlled, always guided by her good sense, which few of the other female characters in the novel have. She is self-assured, outspoken, and assertive, but never rude or aggressive. Elizabeth’s assertiveness and outspokenness would have shocked the readers of the novel when it first came out. Elizabeth Bennet challenges the expected gender norms of her time, particularly when compared with the other females in Pride and Prejudice. Elizabeth is willing to express her opinions wherever she is, without fear, and has the confidence openly to challenge the views of those of superior social standing.

Elizabeth also behaves in an unorthodox fashion in her approach to marriage, and in a society where a woman’s security depends on a good marriage, and in a family where for at least one of the daughters finding a husband is a matter of social and economic survival, refuses two advantageous proposals. Her rejection of Darcy, one of the richest men in England’s, first proposal, because she doesn’t like his character and finds the language of his proposal distasteful, is further evidence of her departure from gender norms. Her rejection of marriage on the basis of economic gain and insisting on happiness in marriage, which could only happen by marrying for love, is something those around her – even her father – do not understand, so far away from societal expectations is that idea. Throughout the novel, Elizabeth is faced with many challenges pertaining to her sex and social rank, within a British patriarchy and perhaps, in creating Elizabeth Bennet, Jane Austen has given us English literature’s first feminist.

Her confidence in her own judgment is the thing that leads her to make some almost terminal mistakes and it’s only because of her ability to step back and honestly assess her own behavior that she finally wins through.

In Elizabeth Bennet, Jane Austen has given the world an immortal fictional character, one that we can almost mistake for a real person, in the same way as Shakespeare and Dickens did with some of their characters.


Character of Mr. Darcy

Fitzwilliam Darcy is a very arrogant man of England's upper crust. He is lord of Pemberley, an expensive estate located in the county of Derbyshire. He is fairly tall and handsome, but his demeanor is unfriendly, aloof, and unapproachable.

He has a sister, Georgiana, who adores him, and the feeling is mutual. It seems safe to assume that Darcy is a private man and that his upbringing has highly influenced his opinions of those around him. He is arrogant almost without knowing it, such has been the entitled world he has known.

His ideal of nobility makes Darcy truly change in the novel. When Elizabeth flatly turns down his marriage proposal and tells him that it was ungentlemanly, Darcy is startled into realizing just how arrogant and assuming he has been. In short, Jane Austen sketches Mr. Darcy as the second best character. We know the real Darcy when his tenant defends him or when we know that he saved the Bennet family from disgrace. Thus, Mr. Darcy may not be a perfect person but his character development reveals Jane Austen’s strong art of characterization.


Give illustrations of the society of that time.
The clothing styles reflect the time the illustration was engraved (the 1830s), not the time in which the novel was written or set. Pride and prejudice by Austen's is a detailed portrayal of the social atmosphere of late 18th and early 19th century England and it is principally concerned with all social aspects of English gentry. Marriage was then considered as the way of a woman's security and also it paved the way for a woman to gain property. Austen contains vivid and realistic pictures of the social life of her time -the conventions, the manners, and the mode of living of that time and which are depicted in the novel in a most graphic manner. In the novel we see that money, marriage and the security of a woman are very interrelated. In pride and prejudice, we see that money is essential to begin a marriage.

Here we see that Mrs. Bennet always thinks about their daughters' marriage. "The business of her life was to get her daughters married "and she thinks that could fetch her daughter's wealthy and high status husbands; so marriage becomes a straight and quick way to change their situation. Charlotte Lucas, whose pragmatic views on marrying are voiced several times in the novel: "Without thinking highly either of men or of matrimony, marriage had always been her object; it was the only honorable provision for well-educated young women of small fortune, and however uncertain of giving happiness, must be their pleasantest preservative from want."

Prejudice is another picture in society. Elizabeth was disgusted at Darcy's behavior and formed a prejudice against him. Elizabeth concerns a dislike for Mr. Darcy when she overhears his remark that she is not beautiful enough to dance with him. Her prejudices were increased when Wick ham made a long take of his grievances against Mr. Darcy; she believed every word which Mr. Wickham had said. Her dislike of Mr. Darcy now hardens into hatred due to a prejudice which Mr. Wickham's account was created in her mind. Darcy's cold arrogance and snobbery prejudiced her from him from the beginning and it took Elizabeth a lot longer time to overcome her prejudice.

In the novel, Austen portrays the women's low status and the reasons for women's low status. But they in the novel didn't try to strive for their rights; they thought little of their status. No right of inheritance, such is particularly the case of the Bennet's, a family of five daughters whose father's estate is entailed to a distant relative because women do not have the right to possess his father's property. After Mr. After Bennett's death, they will lose home, land, and income, everything else. Money played in determining a woman's daily life, marriage and destiny.

The women in Austen's age lived in a patriarchal society ,a world in which men held all the advantage. Women could not entail their fathers estate, which has quite iniquitous affairs to the daughters in the Bennet's, as their property was entailed to a distant male heir. Since the law of the then England said that the property of a family should be entailed to a male heir and since the social power of a society was exercised by the male members of the society, marrying to a wealthy man was the only solution for a woman to gain property and, of course, shelter and security. So, when Mrs. Bennet knows Elizabeth's refusal to Mr. Collins , she threatens her –''If you go on refusing every marriage , you will never get a husband , and I am sure I don't know who is to maintain you when your father dies ''-illustrates the point that women have to depend on men throughout their lifetime.

Again in this connection is that assemblies, balls and gossip were the order of the lady . The ladies are the upper middle class, play in the hash ladies and gentlemen play cards or pass the time in held gossip. Listening to news, collecting news and communicating news were the chief interests of the girls and ladies. Thus we see in the novel Mrs. Philips gathers news then it imparts to her nieces.

If you were a director or screenplay writer, what sort of difference would you make in the making of a movie? Who would be your choice of actors to play the role of characters? Write a note on a scene you liked the most.
If I were a director of a movie I would like to change some scenes which I felt were exaggerated. One the scene is when Elizabeth went to the estate of Darcy and saw a statue of Darcy. She was looking at the statue as he is Darcy himself, her eyes showing love for him. But I feel it was too exaggerated. At that moment they didn't have a chemistry or relation between them and that showed one sided love of Elizabeth. No doubt Elizabeth loved Darcy but it is not shown anywhere that it was an intense one sided love.

Also I feel the romantic scene between Elizabeth and Darcy showed a sudden change in their character. They were in love with each other. We saw that but whenever they talked or shared their feelings they were never out of character. Darcy never left his pride aside and Elizabeth's prejudices for Darcy never let her understand him and she never kept aside her and her family self respect. Yes it's true that in the end their misunderstandings got cleared but if we see the character of Darcy he is an introvert he didn't smile throughout the movies but he smiles in the end this brings him out of his character. Throughout the movie Elizabeth is a strong headstrong girl but in the end she melts. If anyone sees only the last scene of a movie one can not determine their characters. So I would like to make a change and keep both characters the same throughout.

I am not fond of Hollywood movies a lot, so I would make a choice of characters from Bollywood movies. Looking at the strong character of Elizabeth, I feel Kananga Ranaut can play her role very well, and Kriti Sanon can too . The role of Jane can be played by Diana Penty. For Mr. Darcy, his introverted pride character Shahid Kapoor, Hritik Roshan and Ajay Devgan can be preferred. For the role of Mr. Bingley Ayushman Khurana and for Wickham Varun Dhawan.

Now moving to the scene I liked the most, the scene in the movie When Mr. Darcy proposed to Elizabeth. The just before scene when Elizabeth is staring at the statue of Darcy we can see her love towards him but when Darcy proposed to her in an insulting tone she chose her self respect and family above her love. I liked this scene from the feminist point of view. We have seen the love Elizabeth but she didn't melt with the proposal and stood at her own point.

Thank you for visiting. I hope this blog was useful to you. If you find any changes or suggestions do comment.

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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