Frankenstein : Two Centuries Of Terror

Mary Shelly

Published in 1818, Frankenstein can be considered to be a milestone in the history of English Literature. Written by Mary Shelly, who started writing it when she was just 18 and published at the age of 21, makes it a matter of huge astonishment.

An early step in science fiction, the book made its mark, making people realize the terrors in the way of pursuing the unknown.

The story starts with Thomas Walton, a sailer who has taken a dangerous voyage to the North Pole. Walton comes across two beings, a huge giant like creature who passes from a distance and later a weak man. Walton saves the man, Victor Frankenstein. The two of them bond really well since they both share a passion of pursuing the unknown. But Frankenstein is very skeptical about this passion, he tells his tale to Walton in order to make him aware of the dangers of wandering out in the unknown.

Victor Frankenstein, born in Geneva, has been extraordinarily genius and very curious from his birth. He is fascinated by the works of ancient philosophers and alchemists. When he goes to the university, some people mock him for having wasted time in that 'useless' knowledge and urge him to sing praises of modern sciences. Still Victor holds his stand and starts to work on his dream project of creating 'life'. Victor works for days and nights, he works like a madman. Leaving no stone unturned, not caring about his health, forgetting everything else except his goal, Victor Frankenstein finally succeeds. He creates a  creature, a living organism. But his happiness is short lived. It turns out to be a disaster. Victor falls ill and takes months to recuperate. The creature runs out from Victor's room at its birth.

After many months Victor is finally cured and he returns home when a bad news grips him - his kid brother has been murdered brutally. On returning he sees his 'creation' appearing before him to show him - that its responsible.

The confrontation of the creature or Frankenstein's monster with Frankenstein is the most interesting part, where the monster tells him how he survived after running away on his night of birth/creation. How did he learn to speak & read and many other things. The monster asks Frankenstein to create a female companion for him because he is alone in the world and no one wants to come near him. He assures Victor Frankenstein that he won't cause any more trouble if he would be given a companion. Victor earlier agrees but later starts having second thoughts on again creating another monster. Thus Frankenstein's monster vows a revenge and a bloody feud begins.

There have many movie adaptations of this great novel. Although not many of them are completely based on the novel, they drew many inspirations and took many cinematic liberties. Here I would like to mention about two such movies.

Frankenstein (1931) is a movie, which is much different then the novel. But it has the same core idea. In this movie even the first names of the lead character in the novel (Victor) has been interchanged with his friend (Henry).
It shapes the story into a simple linear narrative eliminating many inter-stories and characters from the novel.
The role of Frankenstein's monster was played by Boris Karloff, who went on to reprise this role for two sequels later - Bride OF Frankenstein (1935) and Son Of Frankenstein (1939).
The movie took many cinematic liberties to adapt the story into the screen in a time when attempting to make such a movie was very difficult. But still it was fruitful and the audiences then and even now experience the same wonder watching it.

Another movie, Frankenstein (also known as Mary Shelly's Frankenstein) released in 1994 is worth a watch. It was directed by Kenneth Branagh, who also played the lead character - Victor Frankenstein. The role of Frankenstein's monster was played by Robert De Niro.
Proper justice was done to the sets and settings, wardrobe, etc to make the flow of the story smooth and understandable.
The film stuck to the novel in many ways but it took some liberties to make the story more interesting and appealing. It followed the structure of the novel and had almost all the characters and settings except for a few eliminations.
Although the critical reviews were mixed, Robert De Niro's portrayal of Frankenstein's monster was appreciated.

i opened the door by saumya nair

It has been a really long time since I have written anything worth posting. Hope so I start writing something good and come back to blogging soon.
This post, a short story is  from my friend SAUMYA NAIR.

I OPENED THE DOOR

            I opened the door and saw no one there! Did someone really knock the door or was it just a feeling? I was eager to know who knocked the door, if the person responsible existed.  I placed my foot outside the door, though I was warned not to do so by my parents. I walked into the garden.

       
The garden seemed to be beautiful even in the dark. I didn’t want to disturb the atmosphere here but I was forced to do so. I took a glance at my house to see how it actually looks in the absence of daylight! My house seemed to be haunted. All this scared me a little. Hence I decided to move forward. The silence was lost as I walked over some dried leaves. I felt as though some one was following me as I could hear sounds made by footsteps. I was curious and at the same time scared. I turned back and screamed. I walked closer and closer to see who was standing by the tree only to see that it was a kite entangling on the lowermost branch of the tree.

       Without a second thought, I ran into the house. I was shocked to see the lights gone. Oh no! I myself had switched them off before leaving the house. How could I do such a stupid thing? I could feel the switchboard as I stretched my hand over the wall. I switched on the lights. I ran over to the sofa. I opened the book I was reading to the page where I had stopped. As I was reading I could feel my hair all over the body stand up. I turned the book to the cover only to see that I was reading a book entitled ‘Goosebumps’. Was it right to read such a book at such a time? Obviously not. 

       I closed the book. I ran over to my bed and shut my eyes tight .In the morn when I got up I saw the book on the table. But last time I had kept it on the sofa. Does this mean that whatever happened last night was just a dream? But it was possible that someone kept the book on the table. What do you think?