MovieChat Forums > Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1994) Discussion > Why did Frankenstein reject his creation...

Why did Frankenstein reject his creation so quickly?


Basically after he creates the monster and picks him up, the monster kind of falls over and gets hung that thing accidentally, and Frankenstein just seems to be like 'he came out inferior, I guess that's that, it was all for nothing'. What??? Why, does he immediately jump to that conclusion about the creature?

He just brought a man back from the dead, shouldn't he be proud and want to research and experiment further?

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Precisely my feelings too. We've just spent an hour with Victor constantly on the verge of wetting himself in anticipation of reanimating life. He succeeds, only to reject the creature in about 30 seconds flat. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.🐭

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You'd think he'd be excited about creating life after the long build up. The hideousness of the creature obviously turned him off.

I suspect it's a parallel to the Creator rejecting humanity due to the hideousness of sin and people either being (1) mad at God or (2) desperately wanting to reconnect thru religion.

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That question is better asked of Mary Shelley. This happens in the book. It's never spelled out, but I've always felt he'd been so consumed by the challenge of creating life, but gave no thought to his responsibilities to creature. A tale as old as time. You know, the care and feeding of the thing!

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That's some of it, but it's also his horror and revulsion of the thing. He was picturing animating a "better Man" but he gets this mumbling, moaning abomination of flesh, and he's put off by it and runs away. It's the hideousness of the thing, as well as its base nature (it comes out with no knowledge or speech), and then the rest is as you say.

I think it's a harder sell on film because we see him stitch it up, so his disgust can't be a shock to him. I do agree with OP that it was a bit odd to see him so quickly go from success to rejection of that success. I thought the film should have shown the monster do something that repulsed Victor, not simply get hoisted up by the chains. The amniotic fluid gooeyness is hardly the Creation's fault, after all, so it's not like that would have made Victor change his mind.

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Yes, Ace, that's exactly what I meant, but failed to say. Once he completed the work, he was revulsed by the hideousness of the creation. Thanks for filling in my ommission.

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I kinda figured we were on the same page. You seemed like you knew your stuff, I just wanted to fill in some detail.

And if I came off as condescending or something, I apologize. I wasn't trying to "correct" you or anything.

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Not, not at all condescending. (Not sure why you would think that. I sincerely meant "Thank You" because I didn't fully explain myself.)

We're cool.

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I try to be extra-careful online, especially in anonymous posting places like this message board. Things can get misconstrued really fast.

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The first half of the film felt like a mad rush, and this was one of the victims. Once De Niro appeared properly it settled down and became very engaging.

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