For my final portfolio, I wanted to combine and expand upon my works from projects two and three. I really enjoy looking at the idea of Victor Frankenstein as a bad creator and thought it would be an interesting challenge to show the role he plays in Shelley’s original version as well as Branagh’s interpretation. Therefore, I took pieces from both the second and third essays. This involved altering my thesis and morphing it in order to add elements from both, while also adding new ideas. For this essay, Victor as a bad creator is the central theme, while in the other two its role was more secondary or shown in a different light.
In Branagh’s Frankenstein he does not use the comparison of Victor to Prometheus, but instead uses the visual effects of slowing and speeding up scenes in order to highlight Victor as a poor creator. He leaves out Prometheus and in doing this allows his audience to form sympathy for the monster and Victor in a way that is not intended by Shelley.
Throughout the semester, I attempted to become at drafting. In previous papers I would have to write a first draft numerous time before becoming satisfied with a work. I believe throughout the semester I was able to accomplish this goal. I began writing ideas down and taking notes before beginning a draft which I had not normally done before. I think that this help organize my thoughts and thus allowed me to draft a work more easily. I also, wanted to tuned up my ability to revise works. Two things helped m to improve this. The first was having other students peer edit my paper in class. They helped to give me an outside prospective on a paper that I could not always see myself as the writer. The second was reading my paper out loud before turning it in which helped me to check grammatical errors that I might have breezed over if I had read it in my head.
Overall, I believe that this paper is the culmination of the works I have completed thus far in the semester. I do not believe it is easier to cohesively mesh two separate papers into one, but ultimately I think it shows my progression as a writer. It is also my thinking that a writer can always improve and I would like to continue to become a better writer in the future. I think that I am currently taking the right steps, but by taking more intensive writing courses, I know I will develop into an even better writer.
