The scene where Frankenstein brings his experiment to life is completely different as depicted in the 1994 film adaptation compared to Mary Shelley’s text. In the text, Shelley does not describe in much details the process of how the “fiend” was created and how it was brought to life. She states in the perspective of Frankenstein, “I collected the instruments of life around me, that I might infuse a spark of being into the lifeless thing that lay at my feet” (35) whereas the film adaptation was not as simple as that. In the 1994 film, Frankenstein was extremely active and the scene was quite more dramatic. He’s seen jumping all over the room while pushing and pulling on the equipments in order to spark the life into his experiment. The process seemed much more complicated on the film then the text. In fact, I felt if the scene was put into context then there would be a fascinating amount of details compared to Shelley’s brief description of the scene. Additionally, Frankenstein tend to be more lively and active in the film whereas he is described to be more exhausted, depressed and consumed with all sorts of emotions as Shelley impressively reports in the text. The only noticeably similarity I was able to find was the way the creature was awakened. Shelley states, “I saw the dull yellow eye of the creature open; it breathed hard,” (35) which was also accurately shown on the film.
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Frankenstein Text Versus Film_Kiara
In the text by Mary Shelley, Frankenstein seems horrified of his own creation. He sparks life into his creation “with an anxiety that almost amounted to agony”. This gives the reader the impression that he was so involved in his work that it was actually bad for his own health . Immediately after making his creature , Frankenstein claims that his emotions ran wild and his success turned out to be a “catastrophe” . Overall his tone is quite negative in Mary Shelley’s text. He says ” Now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished , and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart .” He continues on to say that he immediately rushes out of the lab and goes to his bed, unable to sleep due to his anxiety. The theatrical film adaptation from 1994 shows a doctor Frankenstein with alot of anxiety. However , the anxiety is coming from the Doctor’s excitement as he runs around his lab trying to synthesize his human being rather than guilt. This 1994 film was nothing like the text. Frankenstein was shirtless,loud, and had long hair. The theatrics were also grand because he used electric eels as his source of electricity which is absolutely ludicrous. Surely someone who was working for two years on an experiment would have come up with a simpler and more direct source of energy . The theatrics made the entire scene feel more comedic or light hearted . The 1931 film adaptation seems much more dark and displays a maniacal doctor Frankenstein. In this adaptation Frankenstein actually has a lab coat which relates to the text more . However this time he is surrounded by three spectators which is very inconsistent with Mary Shelley’s text. Frankenstein was supposed to be working alone and hiding his monster , not showing it off . To add to this egotistical agenda, the Frankenstein in the 1931 adaption yells out “now I know how it feels to be god”. Instead of horror, he displays pride and absolute excitement at his success . According to the text , Frankenstein was supposed to feel shame from his own experiment not hubris. The only similarity noted was the setting – a lab on a rainy night . Another similarity was the way the monster awoke -with convulsions . Overall , the film adaptation may have been very different because they show Frankensteins reactions at the exact time of his creation success . Meanwhile Shelley’s text displays Frankenstein’s emotions after the fact as he recants his story to Henry.
Kiara Marmolejos