Gattaca And Frankenstein Comparison Essay

The annual focus I have chosen is "the horror within society" portrayed by the way society treats characters based off their appearance.The four texts I have chosen to connect to the annual focus are Mary Shelleys Frankenstein directed by Kenneth Branagh in 1994 Gattaca directed by Andrew Niccol in 1997 Tell Tale Heart written by Edgar Allan Poe in 1843 and Uglies written by Scott Westerfeld. All texts portray the horror within society through the mistreatment of others based off appearance. Physical appearance is an important aspect of society in the selected texts , and demonstrate the mistreatment of others based off physical appearance.

In the film Mary Shelley's Frankenstein the theme of societal expectations in regard to behaviour

based off physical appearance is portrayed through Frankenstein's monster.The society is often fearful of the creature and made judgements of his actions based solely off his disturbing physical appearance, without knowing his true characteristics. Even Victor, the man who created the fearful monster eventually abandons him because he is is appalled by his creation. He believed that by creating a being made of the finest parts, the end result would be of equal quality, but when the monster awakens, Victor can see what he has created and recognises that he has done wrong. The creation of an unnatural being, by unnatural means ultimately disgusts Victor. Victor's rejection of his creation " is based upon the fact that he had worked night and day, at the expense of his own health and family, to "birth" his "son." Upon seeing the creature come to life, the limbs which he chose for their beauty became terrifying to him. The pieces, sewn together, did not have the beauty they did when they existed as individual body parts.. Victor, alienates the creature." His interests no longer revolve around creating new life. Instead, his concerns revolve around never having to see what the creature e so carelessly created again.The appearance based society in which the creature live in revolt in fear and disgust upon seeing him in the streets, they blame him for the cause of the plague and mob him and attempt to beat him up .. People in Geneva . upon seeing the creature have certain expectations set for the him, in reference to his behaviour assuming the creature will act like a monster because he looks like one they expect him to attack everyone in sight hence why they fear him so much. The creature was at first unwilling to conform to the expectations and fought the stereotype after being forced out of geneva .The monster finds a house in the woods, and stays in the families pig pen watching their interactions. after watching the Delacy family for quite some time the creature discovers that the De Lacey families constant sadness stems from poverty and hunger, he makes a decision not to steal any more of their food and instead chooses to help the family by gathering wood and food and repairing the house and garden.

Upon Seeing his reflection in a small pool of water, the monster discovers himself for the first time and realises the true extent of how ugly he is. no matter how ugly the creature appears to others it does not stop him from being a good kind hearted creature, even in the face of unfortune. At the time,the creature is not capable of understanding the compliments the family are directing towards him when he is when he is called a "good spirit" and "wonderful"person by the De Lacey family for lessening their misfortunes. He even hopes to one day introduce himself to the closest thing he has to a family hoping that they will look favorably upon his good deeds, and not judge his appearance. ,. The creature saves the grandfather of the family from being beaten by the landlord his granddaughter was a witness of landlord bearing the old man and runs to her family further in the woods saying "he hit grandpa" the family immediately rushes back and assuming the creature is the one harming their grandfather they hit him and shout at him frantically trying to get the one they thought had harmed grandpa out if their house The grandfather had invited him in a way of thanking him .The only member of the family who does not judge the creature off his appearance is the grandfather who is blind. Because he cannot see he

cannot judge off appearance like others can and therefore feels sympathetic for the creature, after feeling his face the grandfather asks him what have you been through . He sympathizes with the monster's unhappiness, telling him not to despair,) insisting that "the hearts of men … are full of brotherly love and charity" , and saying that it will "afford [him] true pleasure to be in any way serviceable to a human creature" Overnight the family flees the cottage terrified of the creatures intent, when he discovers the family has left the creature is filled with with rage burning down the small cottage he once would of done anything to be invited into. Shortly after the creature goes on a revenge filled quest to seek seek victor frankenstein. Because the creature is unable to escape society's perception of him he eventually gives up trying to find companionship and truly becomes the monster society views him as. After being rejected and abandoned on multiple occasions the creature is angered and it becomes easy for him to conform to the harsh reputation he has gained He turns into a savage killer targeting Victors loved ones , as an attempt to force Victor to see the consequences of what he so carelessly created. There are two main internal conflicts in the film, both Victor and the creature battle with internal conflict , victors internal conflict is centered around creating such a dangerous being and he then has to battle with the effects of guilt he feels when something he is responsible for kills members of his family he feels guilty because if he had not of created the being In the first place his wife and Willy would still be alive. the creature conflicts with self doubt the monster questions his own creation. He understands that he is different to others and therefore does not fit into the appearance based society, a thought that terrifies him. He attempts to justify his being and in turn answer the questions he has always had,:"Of my creator I was absolutely ignorant, but I knew that I possessed no money, no friends, no property. I was not even of the same nature as man." The monster is left to wonder, "where do I belong in the scheme of life, with men or among the animals?" These questions serve to fuel his curious nature. through only by Victor can some of his doubts be answered the creature is unable to grasp the concept that people cannot look past his appearance and wonders why no one wants to befriend him,