Dracula and the Frankeinstein - Book Report/Review Example

FRANKENSTEIN THE MOVIE AND THE NOVEL- A COMPARISON The Novel The timeline of the novel is the late 18th century. The novel begins with the letters written by Captain Walton to his sister. The chapters of the novel are comprised of the story of Victor, a man saved by the crew during their voyage to the North Pole. Victor Frankenstein sets out to attend a medical school. He is obsessed with the mission of creating life. He gathers dead bodies and creates his own perfect man out of them. But once it comes to life it appears so hateful and dreadful that Victor runs away from it. The monster wanders for a company. The kind of encounters it has with humans scares him and he runs away. He manages to live near a cottage and by observing that family he educates himself and reaches at the conclusion that he is far different from normal humans and that he is unwanted anywhere. Though he tried to befriend the family at the cottage his appearance frightens them and out of shame and broken heart he decides to kill his creator. Thus it kills Victor's brother and later, his friend too. When his attempts to destroy Victor's marriage fail, he kills the bride which puts Victor's father to death; Victor decides to take revenge upon his creation. Thus they both end up at the North Pole. Victor dies and the monster explains its final plans to destroy himself at the North Pole itself. About the Author: Frankenstein was written by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley during the times of Industrial Revolution when the Romantic ideals were at threat. The novel incorporates the Romantic themes of isolation and the beauty of nature and also deals with loss. FRANKENSTEIN, the movie: Frankenstein belongs to science-fiction genre. The movie stands out from other horror movies. It is unique in its creation. The movie came to life under James Whale's direction in the year 1931. The film was made in a time when technical effects were not known. The movie is based on Mary Shelley's novel and it presents the same story as seen in the novel. COMPARISON: When a comparison is made, we get into the details of the matter and learn more. The movie and the novel differ in a lot of way. The difference mainly happens in the presentation of the events, the people present, the feelings involved, etc. One reason can be attributed to the screenplay since it was mainly based on the Frankenstein play of the 1920s which is accredited to Peggy Webling rather than Shelley's original text. . The novel starts with Walton, the captain of the ship, writing letters about his voyage to his sister and the whole story is presented to us through his letters. This is absent in the film. In both the movie and the novel, Victor's mission is to create life. When he succeeds in achieving it, he accepts it himself and though the creation looked like a monster, it was accepted as a human being. But in the novel, the monster is completely a strict NO. Victor only runs away from his creation Victor and Elizabeth share a strong relationship. However, in the movie it is more physical and expressive than in the book. For creating a life Victor takes bodies from graveyards as said in the book. In the movie, the dead bodies are those of criminals and come from prisons and he takes the brains of scientists too. In the movie there is a helper to assist Victor with his creation. On the contrary, no helper appears in the novel. Elizabeth's visit to Victor's college is presented only in the movie. Last, but not the least, is the monster. The book says that the monster spends lot of time observing the De Lacey family. It finds some classics from where it hides. With the help of these books it educates itself and learns to read, write and speak. In the movie, the monster learns only emotions. It just watches the family and learns how people react and respond with each other. The inhuman behavior is attributed to the grotesque features of the monster in the novel, while in the movie; it is the result of the defect in the brain. Victor has not become a doctor in the movie and he is only a student. The novel ends with the death of Victor and the preparation of the monster to destroy itself at the North Pole. In the movie, though the monster tries to kill Victor, the latter is saved and his father toasts for a future grandchild. Personally speaking, the movie is better than the novel. Though the original idea is from the novel, the movie's presentation is better and convincing. The director has worked excellently in keeping close with the true aspects of the novel. The novel seems to have unnecessary dragging. There could have been a better way of introduction rather than the elaborate letters. However, both are masterpieces in their own ways. Reading the novel excites the imagination and watching the film helps in reaching it. DRACULA CHAPTER VIII SUMMARY THE chapter eight opens with Mina Murray's journal. Mina is spending time with her friend Lucy who is soon getting married. Mina writes about the beautiful day she had, the lovely walks, the tea at Robin Hood's BayLucy was healthy and happy. On returning they were very tired and crept into bed. Mina missed her fianc, Jonathan very much and she was full of prayers for him. Mina was happy that Lucy was recovering from the troubles of sleep-walking. She admired the way Lucy slept peacefully. As she finished her journal and went off to sleep, something struck her and she saw that Lucy's bed was empty and that she was not in the room. The door was shut, but not locked. Mina learnt that Lucy was wearing only a nightdress and so she consoled herself that she could be in the house. But she was not. Taking a big shawl, Mina ran out of the house in search of Lucy. Mina expected to see her at their favorite seat at the East cliff. From a distance, Mina saw Lucy. She ran to her calling out. Though there was enough moon light, when Mina neared to Lucy, she could see a cloud between them and Mina did see a white face and red eyes. But she soon lost sight of it and now only the two of them were present. Mina flung the shawl around Lucy and took her home. Lucy looked better in the morning. Mina noticed two clumsy red-points like pin pricks on Lucy's neck. She thought it might have happened when she pinned the shawl the other night. They had a beautiful day again and Mina expected Lucy to have a sound sleep at night, but she did have her sleep walks. The next day when they were reclining at their favorite spot, Lucy suddenly murmured, "His red eyes again! They are just the same". Mina was alarmed but tried to distract Lucy. They went back home, had dinner, and Lucy went to bed early. Mina, when she returned from her walks noticed Lucy at the window. She ran upstairs to tuck her in bed as she might get chilled. But in the room she noticed a fast asleep Lucy and she was holding her throat as to protect from cold. Mina found that Lucy looked more pale and sick. Lucy looked tired in the morning. There was happy news for her that Arthur's, (her fianc) father got better and he wanted their marriage to be as early as possible. Lucy's mother was sad as well as happy. She confessed to Mina about her death warrant and she was glad that Arthur would take care of Lucy. Since Lucy's mother was very sick, Mina did not dare to tell about the sleep-walking events. The sleep-walkings continued. Lucy could no longer go out of the room since the keys were safe with Mina. Hence, her position shifted to the window. Mina was startled to see her sitting pale at the window. Mina noticed the tiny red marks on her neck and learnt that they were not pin pricks. The wounds were still open and not healed and she planned to take her to the doctor in they did not heal properly. We see two letters between two scholars from Whitby and London. It consisted of a request to send fifty boxes to the chapel at Carfax (the estate of Dracula) and the second letter confirmed that the request was granted. Back to mina's journalsMina and Lucy spent a beautiful day again. Lucy was quite healthy. Mina asked about her dream and Lucy described "a vague memory of something long and dark with red eyes". Mina responded to Lucy's dream, "it seemed a little uncanny to me". Mina had matter to enjoy the next morning. She received a letter form Jonathan after a long time. Jonathan was sick due to brain fever and a nun at the hospital wrote it for him. The sister expressed her utmost care for Jonathan and blessings for both of them. This is followed by a journal from Dr. Seward. He discussed his patient Reinfield. There was a sudden change in the patient. He was haughty and hesitated to talk at all. All he said was, "I don't want to talk to you. You don't count now. The master is at hand". The doctor was tired and did not bother to be attentive on Reinfield. He was overcome by the thoughts of Lucy, his lover once, and sadly went off to sleep. At two, early morning, the attendant rushed to him to say that Reinfield had escaped. The doctor immediately ran off to find him in the directions the attendant told. The doctor saw him pressed close against the door of the chapel. He heard him speak to somebody, "I am here to do your bidding, master, I am your slave, and you will reward me" . Seward and his attendants, with great efforts brought him back to the asylum. This is the summary of the chapter eight. We can see many plots advance in this chapter. Lucy gets sick. This is because Dracula finds a victim in her. The long, dark, face, red eyes represent Dracula. Lucy's hallucinations are real life incidents which she doe not realize. We see the different forms in which Dracula appears, for instance, like dark clouds, big bird (bat), etc. Dracula takes different forms to attack his victim and thus he outwits Mina and indulges in Lucy. Dracula, cleverly changes Lucy's attention to window since Mina keeps the keys safe with her, so as to feed on her blood. We learnt that Jonathan is fighting with brain fever and thus Mina has to leave. This makes things easy for Dracula and he can feed on Lucy with ease. Mina finds the tiny red marks on Lucy's neck strange. This is a great opening because, it is with the help of these marks, that Van Helsing reaches at the conclusion that Dracula feeds on her and that is how the mission to destroy Dracula starts. There is another progress made to the easy shifting of Dracula to London. We see two scholars' letter describing the confirmation of the fifty boxes for Dracula. The boxes contain nothing, but the earth onto which Dracula can hide so as to protect himself. The team of Van Helsing strives hard in destroying all the boxes as to destroy Dracula (as seen in the following chapters). We also see the incident of Reinfield obeying Dracula. Thus there are a lot of interlinking incidents that help in the smooth progress of the novel, happening throughout the chapter. The eighth chapter seems very significant among all the others. ________________________________________________ Read More