Analyse the last scene of the film Frankenstein, Directed by Kenneth Branagh.

        The film then tries to make us feel sorry for the monster. This is shown during the scene in which Captain Walton comes down into his cabin shortly after Frankenstein’s death after hearing a groan from below deck and finds the creature weeping over the corpse of the recently deceased scientist. Walton asks the creature what he is and he answers with “he was my father.” This reply starts to build up our sympathy for the monster as he has just lost his “father”. This scene tries to increase the sympathy successfully when the creature also says “he never gave me a name.” This adds to the sympathy by making us feel guilty that this creature towards whom we first felt anger doesn’t even have a name. At this point the scene changes to the funeral of Frankenstein and we can see that the creature stands away from captain Walton and his men. This emphasises his loneliness and difference to mankind. This depiction of the monster’s loneliness is given greater depth when he says, “I am done with man” in his reply to Walton’s request for him to come with Walton and his men. All these techniques are meant to alter the viewer’s feelings and impressions from anger towards the creature to compassionate sympathy.  This is achieved by the film illustrating the monster as a lonely creature with no one to look after him, or to bear company with him; this is then merged into the monster enduring bereavement and sorrow before these two are brought together for the final scene. The human side of the monster is revealed, this makes us realise that he is only different on his outer shell.

The film gives us a more dramatic ending compared to the book. The climactic ending of this film is like a tower. The rapid ice break-up is like the foundation of the tower, which commences and supports the drama in this scene. The hand held camera shots give this tower a ground floor. This editing sequence creates a more exciting action packed ending. The viewer can see the captain and his crew panicking and trying to get back to their ship in a clumsy haste. This creates the first floor. The soundtrack for this scene increases as a crescendo, ever getting louder. The pace of the music speeds up and influences the drama of the scene more greatly. We can see the close-up of the torch at Frankenstein’s funeral as it is being held up high by the beast just before he thrusts in down on the pyre creating suspense— makes us wait till the end. There is a pause in the music at this point. This brings the film to its climactic end as we see the creature and his creature drift into the mist on a burning pyre of floating ice.

The shot of the monster‘s pyre drifting off into the mist accompanied by slow smooth music gives a sorrowful ending to the film. But the close up on the monster allows us to see the fulfilment on his face. This ending successfully completes the emotion changes of the monster, from him being a happy creature incapable of angry thought, to a vengeful bloodthirsty evil monster, to a sorrowful being mourning the passing away of his father/creator and finally to a fulfilled creature. The camera shot changes suddenly to the captain and his mate. At this point the mate asks “Where to now, Captain?” to which Walton replies after a short pause “Home”. This gives us the impression that Walton has accepted Frankenstein’s warning not to get obsessed with ideas of discovery. We know this because during the fist scene of this film we can see that Walton is extremely determined to get to the North Pole, therefore for someone like Walton to change his mind about his ambition something of great significance from the tale that Frankenstein had told him must have meant something to him.

THE CONCLUSION

The appearance of the monster in the film is different compared to the book. In the book we read about the “long locks of ragged 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.