Analysis of the Last Scene of Film Frankenstein by Kenneth Branagh

Analysis of the Last Scene of Film Frankenstein by Kenneth Branagh

The monster that Victor Frankenstein created to stop death has

destroyed him emotionally. This monster has killed all that Victor

ever loved. He killed his little brother, his wife, his father, and

his housemaid. Wanting vengeance Victor follows the monster north in

an unwavering pursuit. All he wants to do is to destroy the monster.

But the monster soon kills him by torturing him while on the run.

Victor dies from exhaustion almost immediately after he finishes

telling Captain Walton his frightening tale. His final words are ''I'm

tired, so very tired.'' The monster appears on the scene and is

miserable at the death of his "father". The monster is visibly

miserable and he shows this by weeping over the corpse of Frankenstein

and then by vowing to commit suicide. This increases the drama of this

final scene.

This final scene of the film contrasts with the dramatic scene of the

death of Elizabeth where the fire and the fast and heavily scored

music increases the drama. The darkness of the building placed with

the orangey-yellow glare of the fire as Elizabeth runs through the

Frankenstein mansion towards the camera creates a commotion and

increases the excitement. The scene suddenly changes from this

dramatic scene to a lacklustre landscape of the Arctic; the light

change alters the mood as we come to the conclusion of this sad tragic

tale of an experiment gone wrong. The camera becomes static as we hear

a voice over of Frankenstein's voice as we reach a dramatic climax

with the death of Frankenstein. The music becomes slow and serious and

as the film reaches the...

... middle of paper ...

... hair" which

is a contrast to the hairless scalp that we see in the film. The film

doesn't have narration except at the beginning but in the book we can

read the ending chapter from the point of view of Captain Walton. I

believe that the film changes these thing to make us concentrate on it

rather than on the voice of the narrator because in the book we have

to read most of the text in order for us to understand the events of

the story, unlike in the film where we can watch the events and don't

need a narrator to explain them to us. The baldness of the monster

gives us a chance to see the scars of where his brain was inserted.

The film uses fast music and rapid editing sequences to make the story

of Frankenstein more dramatic. The film is shorter as we don't need

everything described to us as much as we do in the book.