| Description |
The purpose of project is to create a dramatically viable adaptation of Mary Shelley's novel, Frankenstein. The project forward characterizes the adaptations of this text throughout its long history. This characterization culminates in the 1931 film version of Frankenstein. The forward also makes a thematic comparison between the film and the novel, and provides the reader with the thematic framework used in the adaptation. The adaptation itself tempts a faithful recreation of the last days of Victor Frankenstein's life aboard a ship bound for the North Pole in the Arctic Ocean. The history of the ill-fated scientist is revealed through staged tableaus of his life as he tells his story to Walton, the captain of the ship. In another group of tableaus within the text we see, through Frankenstein's dreams, a very different story from the one Frankenstein is telling the sea captain. He has been lying in order to convince Walton to kill the creature he created. The action culminates when the creature comes aboard the ship to convince Frankenstein he must tell Walton the truth or Walton will continue his voyage northward and die on the ice with his crew. In the end, Frankenstein dies, the creature commits suicide on the ice, and Walton decides to turn back. This adaptation is meant to be more illustrative of the rich thematic framework created in the original novel than most of the film adaptations. |
