Elizabeth Lavenza, Victor Frankenstein’s adopted sister and later wife, is a character whose power is significantly compromised by the prevailing gender norms. Despite her intelligence, compassion, and resilience, Elizabeth is constrained to a passive role within the narrative, often waiting for Victor’s return, representing the societal expectations of a virtuous and submissive woman. Elizabeth’s lack of agency is evident in her relationship with Victor Frankenstein. Victor’s decision to pursue his scientific ambitions leads to a postponement of their wedding, prolonging the wait for Elizabeth. This delay in their marriage highlights Elizabeth’s dependence on Victor’s decisions and further emphasises the limited control she has over her own life.
In the award winning article, “Passages in Mary Shelly's Frankenstein: Towards a Feminist Figure of Humanity?” Cynthia Pon addresses masculinity and feminism in terms of conventions, ideals, and practices (Pon, 33). She focused on whether Mary Shelly's work as a writer opened the way to a feminist figure of humanity like Donna Haraway argued. The article has a pre-notion that the audience has read Frankenstein and Haraway's article. Pon has a slight bias, due to her passion as a feminist writer.
As per usual, advancements in a story are made through various literary elements, Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley's Frankenstein is of no exception. Though what sets this authors use of these elements apart is the effectiveness in which they are presented in what can be considered a prologue of sorts, the letters. As a foreshadowing to what may occur between characters of differing sexes, gender roles are established. For the development of the a main character, Robert Walton, season (a key factor in character development as discussed in the literary work To Read Like A Professor) is described in thorough detail by non other than Walton himself, as he also goes on to discuss his opinion on it. Gender roles remain an important developmental tool
Shelley uses Frankenstein's injustices towards women to show how Victor's ego works only to further itself. The fact that Frankenstein will allow innocent women to
One character, Justine, is very passive and used as a device to make Victor feel guilty for creating The Creature; as her major contribution to the plot was The Creature framing her for her brothers death and shortly after, being sentenced to death. Another female character, Safie, is used to teach The Creature how to speak: “My days were spent in close attention…and I may boast that I improved more rapidly than the Arabian…I could imitate almost every word that was spoken… I also learned the science of letters” (Shelley 106). Even the most prominent female character in the book, Frankenstein's lover and wife, Elizabeth, is killed by The Creature on their wedding night, in order to again make Victor regret creating The Creature, and eventually die of his unhappiness. Mary Shelley's depiction of women might be her indicating the roles of women at the time as inferior, a similar thesis brought about by Mary Wollstonecraft in A Vindication on the Rights of Women.
You’re insignificant to society. You have no role to in your country! Your weak and fragile to many people’s eyes. You're completely controlled by the men's in your life. First, by your fathers, brothers and male relatives and finally by your husbands.
Abhinav Divi Mrs. Bakkala English, 10 May 9, 2023 Gender Roles in Frankenstein Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein explores the traditional gender roles of the 18th century setting that determines the role of society depending on being a man or a woman, Shelly critiques the social and cultural norms at the time by showing the different characters and their role in society based on gender. Characters like Victor are given more freedom in accordance to their gender while characters like Elizabeth really have no say and are not really included within the storyline, examples like these are a significant driving factor in the plot of the story. In the novel Frankenstein written by Mary Shelly, gender roles reflect the norms of society during the 1700’s.
David Nov/01/15 Frankenstein In the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, women are shown as passive, disposable, and mainly serve to effect men’s lives. Female characters, such as Elizabeth, Justine and Agatha do not have their own roles, but are there to clearly represent the male characters in the novel. Female characters revolve around men and effects men from the events that they go through. Every woman character in the novel serves a specific purpose in the Frankenstein.
In Mary Shelley’s, Frankenstein, Elizabeth, Caroline, and Justine represent a seemingly “perfect” woman. Mary Shelley ironically writes about each woman with a brief impersonal description of their status and relevance to the story. Elizabeth is presented to Victor as a object for his affection. Victor refers to his cousin as “My more than sister, since till death she was to be mine only” (Shelley 25).
In “Frankenstein” women are portrayed as the submissive sex for men, because they are passive, disposable, and serving a natural function. Feminism is the advocacy of women's rights on the basis of the equality of the sexes. Justine is in between families with the Frankenstein’s and she is their maid so it will be easy for someone to convince her to confess to the murder of William Frankenstein just because she is a women.
Gender in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and its 2004 Television Adaptation (2004) Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein: A Modern Prometheus (1795)—a paradox for both gender theorists and filmmakers. A paradox for filmmakers, because most of the book consists of needlessly verbose reflections on natural scenery, emotions, and relationships, with little dramatic tension or any of the other elements that makes for a page-turning thriller; there is conflict, much melodrama, and occasional moments of horror but not enough to maintain much suspense. Nevertheless, Frankenstein appears to be one of the stories most frequently adapted in film, and even more so if one counts films that owe it a debt without giving credit, such as Blade Runner and the recent television
Some critics may suggest that the novel reinforces traditional views of women; this paper establishes that the novel challenges negative portrayals of women in literature and reveals that adhering to traditional gender roles leads to death. In discussion of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, critics have debated the issue of gender roles. On the one hand, Diane Hoeveler argues that Frankenstein can be read as a feminist text, as it challenges traditional gender roles and critiques patriarchal structures (49). Hoeveler shows that the creature's representation as a marginalized figure is also a commentary on the ways in which women were marginalized from dominant social and cultural circles (49).
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is a novel that can be viewed through various lenses, including a feminist perspective. The novel critiques the patriarchal power structures of the time and explores the limitations placed on women in society. It is made very evident through this novel how women during the years of the eighteenth century were perceived. The book sheds light on the pervasive issues that continue to afflict women by deliberately depicting them as weak, disposable, and subservient to men. It is through the portrayal of female characters and the commentary on education, power, and purpose in life Mary Shelley highlights the consequences of denying women a voice and the right to stand up for one's self which leads to the destructive consequences due to masculine pride and arrogance.
When making the decision to destroy his half-finished female form, Victor recalls that he had already “created a fiend of unparalleled barbarity” in his first monster, and that this new creation might even be “ten thousand times more malignant than her mate” (138). In the wake of the trauma the monster has caused both to himself and his family (via his post-partum depressive state and the deaths of Justine and William respectively), Frankenstein is now overwhelmingly conscious of the horrible consequences that birth can entail. In contrast to his previous aspirations, he characterizes his creation with words of negative connotation such as “barbarous” and “fiend,” and suggests that a future creation could even be exponentially more evil. Victor’s initial dreams of fatherhood have been grotesquely morphed into terror of future creation, which would be made possible by creating a female monster. He speculates that one of the first results of creating a mate for his monster would be a “race of devils…propagated upon the earth” who would make the “very existence of man…full of terror” (138).
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is a horrific novel of a scientist named Victor Frankenstein, who attempts to bring life to a dead corpse. This story became one of the most iconic novels in the world of literature. Even though the plot centers around the ideas of science and monster, several issues of women representation throughout the book. Shelley’s mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, believed that women should be treated equally amongst everyone.
