Monsters are Definitely Real

The differences in the portrayal of the monster in Frankenstein, the novel, versus his portrayal in the early adaptation we watched were staggering.  If we, as the audience, are to consider Frankenstein's creation to be a monster, then the definition of what a monster is wildly changes.

In the novel, as well as the De Niro adaptation, the monster is born through unnatural means.  This is really the only difference between him and a normal human.  He possesses the ability to learn, as well as reason and communicate with humans.  He feels human emotions, sadness anger included.  What makes him a monster?  The way he was created may be part of it.  It also may have something to do with the label society gave him.  He ends up murdering several people, though he first tries to interact peacefully with them.  So, in Mary Shelly's novel a monster is an unnatural being, or someone who commits acts of violence.  A monster may also simply be something that is completely rejected by society.

In the early adaptation that we watched, the monster is very different.  He does not seem to learn, and is unable to communicate at all, beyond basic guttural noises.  The monster does not seem to experience complex emotions, and has limited understanding of the situations in which he is placed.  In addition, he was unnaturally born, only looks vaguely human, and commits several acts of causeless violence.  The monster in this film is one that goes against not only the rules of nature, but lacks every function that would be required to even interact with society, let alone understand and follow it's rules.

In the first adaptation, the concept of the monster could never apply to a real person.  No person exists that is almost totally nonfunctional, yet still violent enough to collect a mob.  In the novel and the later adaptation, however, the idea of the monster is something that is much more real.  Just like the monster, people really do kill out of anger, or for revenge.  People try to interact with society, yet are still pushed away.  People are labeled as monsters, and monsters they become.  Monsters are real.