Frankenstein: Hollywood vs. the Novel

Werewolf! Where wolf? There wolf! While reading Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein, I began to notice some interesting differences between the monster of pop culture and Shelley’s real creation. The only Frankenstein-related movie I have seen is Young Frankenstein, which I know was intended to be comedic, but I still did not expect the film to differ from the book as much as it has so far. The classic creature from movies is usually depicted as a dead body brought back to life by Dr. Frankenstein, however in the novel, the creature is created under entirely different circumstances. Frankenstein is not the mad scientist we all expect, rather he is a young college student enamored with natural philosophy and chemistry. Furthermore, his creation is not one singular body stolen from a grave, but rather a patchwork of mismatched body parts that Victor Frankenstein somehow manages to bring to life. Also, although the monster from culture does cause destruction, death is not usually included in that destruction. In Shelley’s novel, the monster becomes responsible for the death of a small child, Frankenstein’s brother, which was entirely unexpected by me. After catching a glimpse of William’s murderer, Frankenstein claims, “A flash of lightening illuminated the object, and discovered its shape plainly to me; its gigantic stature, and the deformity of its aspect,” (Shelley, 50). It is at this point that Frankenstein realizes his own creation killed his own brother. This novel is the perfect example of how Hollywood can change the outcomes of books without anyone knowing otherwise. If I had never read this novel, I would have never known all of the misconceptions the movie I watched created.