The Monster Has to Go!
Last week, the Faulkner Film Society had a showing of the original Frankenstein movie to celebrate Halloween. I had never seen the movie before, so it was a great event for me. Not only did my friends and I enjoy a relaxing night away from school work and an opportunity to dress up for Halloween (even though we were the only ones🤔), but I also learned many valuable lessons from the movie as well.
One symbolism that stood out to me was towards the end of the movie. One of the very last scenes shows the angry mob of townspeople chasing the monster into a windmill. With torches lit and weapons at hand, the mob was ready to destroy the monster to avenge the death of Maria. A question that came to my mind, however, was “If the monster represents the bad of humanity, and the mob wanted to destroy the monster, shouldn’t they have wanted to destroy the bad in humanity just as much?”.
The monster of Frankenstein, I believe, symbolizes many terrible aspects of humanity—hate, anger, destruction. The townspeople were more than ready to put an end to the monster because of these characteristics, but were they willing to put an end to the characteristics in general? It doesn’t appear so. The mob was so obsessed with doing away with the dangerous monster, that I believe they forgot that they too were capable of the damage the monster could cause.
In a sense, this reminds me of the parable Jesus taught, when He spoke of trying to remove a speck in someone’s eye while having a plank in your own. Obviously, the monster posed a more immediate threat to the village than merely the negative aspects of humanity, but I believe the townspeople should have been just as concerned with their own actions as the monster’s.
One symbolism that stood out to me was towards the end of the movie. One of the very last scenes shows the angry mob of townspeople chasing the monster into a windmill. With torches lit and weapons at hand, the mob was ready to destroy the monster to avenge the death of Maria. A question that came to my mind, however, was “If the monster represents the bad of humanity, and the mob wanted to destroy the monster, shouldn’t they have wanted to destroy the bad in humanity just as much?”.
The monster of Frankenstein, I believe, symbolizes many terrible aspects of humanity—hate, anger, destruction. The townspeople were more than ready to put an end to the monster because of these characteristics, but were they willing to put an end to the characteristics in general? It doesn’t appear so. The mob was so obsessed with doing away with the dangerous monster, that I believe they forgot that they too were capable of the damage the monster could cause.
In a sense, this reminds me of the parable Jesus taught, when He spoke of trying to remove a speck in someone’s eye while having a plank in your own. Obviously, the monster posed a more immediate threat to the village than merely the negative aspects of humanity, but I believe the townspeople should have been just as concerned with their own actions as the monster’s.
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