How Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein shifted gears from Mary Shelley's OG novel

It seems Guillermo del Toro has been working on his narration of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein for his entire life. The director has been speaking about wanting to make a film on the science fiction novel for almost two decades, and with Frankenstein finally reaching fans, it's a passion project that rewrites the story with a different atmosphere and actions, with characters who deviate a little from the original novel.

Visually the film feels alive in ways the novel can only suggest. Del Toro uses lavish production design, practical creature work, and close, intimate filmmaking to make every prosthetic seam and scar read like a line of biography. The director leans into the textures of the 19th century while making the film speak to our present anxieties about creation, responsibility, and the costs of trying to play god. However, a lot is lost, gained and changed in translation as a book makes it's way to the screen. Here are five major differences del Toro made in his version of Frankenstein, that changed the adaptation from all it's predecessors

In Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein, the relationship between the Creature and Elizabeth is different

Still from Frankenstein (Image via Netflix)

In Mary Shelley's 1919 novel, Elizabeth Lavenza is Victor Frankenstein's brother's fiance, whom he eventually sets out to marry. Her character embodies innocence, loyalty and domestic virtue, qualities that counter Victor's nature. In the novel, she doesn't have any particular relationship with the Creature as Shelley doesn't suggest any connection between the two except for the fatal encounter which shapes the novel's later narrative. She is killed by the Creature as he attempts to revenge Victor because he wouldn't create a companion for him. She is portrayed as a victim of Victor's moral failure, not an agent of her own destiny as she loses her life because of Victor's ambitious desires.

Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein radically reframes that relationship. Instead of remaining a distant casualty of Victor’s experiment, Elizabeth becomes emotionally entangled with the Creature. She recognizes his loneliness and humanity, forming an unlikely bond that subverts Shelley’s binary of creator and monster. In del Toro’s version, love replaces fear, and empathy replaces revulsion. She dies as she comes in front of a bullet meant for the Creature. Her act of shielding the Creature from a bullet is both romantic and tragic, an inversion of the original narrative where she dies for Victor’s sins. By granting Elizabeth agency and compassion, del Toro reclaims her as a central emotional force rather than a narrative sacrifice.

Del Toro makes the Creature more human

One of the defining shifts in Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein is the way the Creature is framed as fundamentally sympathetic. The film shows him acting violently only as self-defense as he only harms others in order to protect himself and not out of violence or vengeance. Most of his violent actions are directed at Victo and understandably so as he feels anger for the man who created and abandoned him. Del Toro puts a lot of emphasis into the Creature's human side, making you feel more sympathetic towards him and his fate. His monstrosity is external rather than moral and you can feel yourself mourning for the injustice he faces and seeing the human pain he feels beyond his horrifying appearance.

Mary Shelley's novel doesn't evoke the same empathy for the Creature. She portrays him as a violent creature from early on as he kills several people, including Victor's brother William and his maid Justine. He doesn't kill people out of defense but as calculated retaliations against Victor. By softening these elements, del Toro reshapes the Creature into a more tragic, emotionally accessible figure, trading some of Shelley’s horror for pathos.

Guillermo del Toro introduces a new character: Heinrich Harlander

Del Toro also introduces us to a new character who does not have a role in the books. The film gives us Heinrish Harlander, Elizabeth's wealthy uncle who is fascinated by immortality. He gives Victor the means and machinery to work on his project, a sharp contrast from the novel where Victor works alone.

Their relationship ends bitterly, with events that happen in the light of the Creature's creation. Harlander is dying of syphilis and he asks Victor to transplant his brain into the Creature's body. Victor refuses and a confrontation happens which ends up killing Harlander. The death is later blamed on the Creature,

Guillermo del Toro reimagines Victor and Elizabeth's relationship differently

Mary Shelly's Frankenstein sees Elizabeth as Victor's adopted sister and later fiance. Despite her having so much influence in the narrative, she is seen as a passing figure. Victor has possessiveness towards her, and Elizabeth often waits for his affection.

Del Toror changed this dynamic. Elizabeth is no longer just a passing figure, and has much more agency in the film. She forms a genuine connection with The Creature and has more affection for him than she does for Victor. She even steps in front of a bullet to save him, which contrasts her death in the novel, where she is killed by the Creature. By giving Elizabeth agency and emotional depth, del Toro transforms her from a tragic symbol of domesticity into a force that drives the narrative and heightens the emotional stakes, while reshaping the story’s central triangle into one of empathy, desire, and moral reckoning.

How the ending of Frankenstein differs from the original novel

Both Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Guillermo del Toro’s adaptation converge in the Arctic, with Victor dead and the Creature left alone, yet their tones could not be more different. In the novel, Victor dies from exhaustion before he can exact revenge, and the Creature mourns him, planning to build a funeral pyre and end his own life. Shelley’s ending is stark, emphasizing the bleak consequences of unchecked ambition and the cost of human pride.

Del Toro gives the ending much more grace. As Victor dies, he calls out to the Creature one last time, as his son. Forgiveness replaces fury, as the Creature's last act is of him freeing trapped sailors before vanishing into the endless darkness. Cursed with immortality yet blessed with humanity, he walks alone but is redeemed.