I feel the biggest difference in the first volume of the 1818 version of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and most other versions, be it film or other media, is the creation of the monster itself. The details in the original text are very ambiguous. Frankenstein takes body parts from the charnel houses. Also he takes pieces from the slaughterhouses, so the creature is not all human.

In popular media, we are led to believe that Frankenstein spent his time gathering the parts with the help of a humpbacked assistant. Also that he used the a lightning to give his creature life. (“It’s alive. IT’S ALIVE!)

I feel the reason for this difference is to keep audiences hooked. It seems very boring to hear that Victor completed his monster without all the gorier details. Also the audience is taken away from the monster to quickly after it is created in the book. In the movie, we are fascinated with the Frankenstein’s creation and what it can actually do.

I like the way the book leaves almost everything to the imagination when it comes to the creation of the monster. Although we are given some details of the monster’s appearance, the reader is given free reign to visualize how the monster was put together.

And this is just because.