Why Viewers Have Compassion For Frankenstein Essay

, Research Paper

Because each person reacts to differences in different ways it is a difficult subject to explain. In my opinion the films “Frankenstein” and “Edward Scissorhands” both mirror how society as a whole reacts to differences.

The Frankenstein monster really is no more then a scared, confused child who feels as if his father has rejected him. Because of this he is driven to violent behavior and that is when everyone notices the differences. When he was by the shore of the lake with the little girl he was excepted, she did not see him as a monster but someone to play with. When he became excited and threw her into the lake he didn’t do this to hurt her he just wanted to see her float like the flowers. But, this act doomed him to a tragic end. Had the people of the village been able to see him as the scared child he really was and not as a monster they would have understood he never intended to hurt anyone. It was much the same with Dr. Frankenstein, if he could have understood the monster felt rejected by him then he would not have been harmed. In the end you can’t help but feel sorry for the monster as he is trapped with fire all around him and you can see the fear he feels and you know that this is the end for the monster.

It is much the same in the movie “Edward Scissorhands” all he really wants is to be accepted. For a time he is excepted because of all of the wonderful things he can do. It seems as long as he is doing what they want him to do like trimming their dogs and hedges and cutting their hair he is all right but at the first sign of trouble they all turn on him. A good example of this is when Edward is in the beauty shop with Joyce Monroe and she wants to have her way with him, he leaves. But because Joyce feels rejected she tells everyone that Edward molested her and because he is different everyone is quick to believe it. Another example is when Jim has Edward break into his father’s den, when Edward gets caught it is easy for everyone to believe he is guilty because he is different. In the end Edward to is doomed, doomed to a life of seclusion and loneliness because if he were to try and return to “society” it would surly mean his death.

In the beginning it was for their differences that people were drawn to both the Frankenstein monster and Edward but in the end it was the same differences not words or actions that condemned them both.

As I said in the beginning I think both films mirror how society as a whole reacts to differences. When we see someone who is different we seem to be drawn to them we want to know all about them but when something bad happens we are very quick to blame them and distance ourselves from them. Perhaps we do this because as humans we are unable to continue to see past a person’s differences in difficult times. Or perhaps it is our Christian belief that all things created by God are good and everything else is bad or wrong. It seems much easier to believe that anything made by God is good and can’t be wrong while someone like the Frankenstein monster or Edward is wrong and has no good. In reality it is this same Christian belief that teaches us to be compassionate to all things good. Both the Frankenstein monster and Edward could have been good; society just never gave them the chance or the understanding to prove it.