Frankenstein
...most important difference is Whales making the monster less human. He
made him a deaf mute and violent. He came across as almost sub-human and barely
capable of anything but following basic orders, grunting and shouting. While Shelly’s
novel the monster constantly wanted to communicate with people but was unable to do so
due to his appearance. He simply scared people. This resulted into isolation and the fuel
behind his anger, hatred and crimes.
Another change would be the monsters meanness and/or evilness. In Shelly’s novel he
doesn’t appear to be mean or cause harm to anyone, but people assume differently. He
even explains by saying, “I made me a fiend. Make me happy, and I shall again be
virtuous”. (O’Finn) In the movie version, Whales completely eliminates this scene and
goes into a different direction by having Fritz steel a brain from the local university.
Frankenstein considered “the imperfect brain” would lead to violence and criminal
activity. That is why he desired “the perfect brain” So that is why he sends Felix to the
local university to steal “the perfect brain”. But instead, he takes the brain of a criminal.
The criminal brain is considered “abnormal” and to be “the imperfect brain”. He felt that
if you removed the brain form the body that all the tendencies would remain. This did
rain true in this case because the monster was eventually killed in the end by a lynch
mob.
There were a few other differences; that Victor is now Henry in the movie. Elizabeth
was no longer referred to as a “cousin”. She was now referred to as his fiancée which
eliminated any reference to incest. The endless arctic chase was eliminated, the
friendship with the old blind man at the De Lacey cottage and the monsters desire for a
mate. Also, in the movie Whales showed the...
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