Frankenstein: Movie Vs. Book Essay

Frankenstein has been done and redone many many times. The most recent version starring Kenneth Branagh, who also directed it, and Robert DeNiro has many differences when compared to the original story. Mary Shelley?s original story provided a story line for the imagination of the filmmaker, making the movie related to the original story but also unique in itself. For the most part, if one were to only watch the movie they would have a fairly good sense of the book. There are many minor details which are different from the in the book and movie. One of the most apparent differences between the book and the movie is the actual appearance of the monster. In the book the monster is described having ?yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath; his hair was of lustrous black, and flowing, his teeth of pearly whiteness?watery eyes?shriveled complexion and straight black lips (35). In the movie the monster looked completely different than the description that the book provided. In the movie, the monster?s hair was not black rather it was brown. It had absolutely no ?flow? to it because it was cut very short. His skin was no yellow at all, rather he was a bit pale. Also his teeth did not stand out as pearly white. They were in fact white but nothing too noticeable. He did not seem to be a very muscular man as he was described in the book. His lips were not straight black, but were lips like regular people had. The filmmakers did do a great job distorting the monsters face. Also, in the book, the reader got a feeling that the monster had human like characteristics. The monster seemed to have a heart and to love and want to be around people (but he just could not be), while in the movie the monster seemed much meaner and less friendlily. Caroline and Elizabeth?s characters were a little bit different in the movie. In the book the picture of Caroline was found in a locket while in the movie it was just the picture found. Also in the book Caroline died from Scarlet Fever, while in the book she died at childbirth. In the book Elizabeth?s hair is described as being blonde, while in the movie her was brown.  Differences such as these did not take away from the movie. Elizabeth?s death was portrayed very differently in the movie than in the book. In the book the monster punched her chest and ripped out her heard and then threw her in a fire. The scene was very graphic. The scene in the book was not as graphic. There was no way that it could have been as graphic because the monster killed Elizabeth in the way he killed all the other by strangling her to death. In the movie after her death Victor cannot forgive himself and decides to bring her back to life, with her head and Justine?s body. The movie was dramatically different from the book because in the book he does not bring her back to life at all. Also in the movie when Victor brings her back to life, the monster thinks that he has created her for him and they have a little battle over her. Nothing like this happened in the book. Another minor detail that was not mentioned in the movie was that Victor had a brother named Ernest. This minor detail did not take away from the movie at all. What was a little bit different was that in the book Victor and Henry Clerval went to school together as young boys, while in the movie they meet at the University. In the book Henry Clerval dies and in the movie he does not. A bigger difference was that in the book Alphonso Frankenstein, Victor?s father just died, and in the movie the monster killed him. In the book the Victors father was a businessman and in the movie the father was a doctor, which was pretty different but it was not a dramatic difference. In the book Victor traveled to England and Scotland and in the book they did not show this. He was also jailed and then his father came to get him, but in the movie he did not spend any time in jail. There are many differences from the book and the movie. Most of the differences were very minor and did not make the story much different. But the few differences that were dramatically different had a big effect on the movies plot.