Frankenstein Gender Roles

The nineteenth century sought a massive change in the traditional roles women used to play in the various aspects of the society that embellished the literature portraying everyday life experiences, moral progress, and inner struggles of the ordinary people (realism). Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley and Emily Bronte, in writing the Frankenstein and Wuthering Heights respectively, broke the traditional barriers of so-called “gender roles” and introduced work of fiction that marked the achievement of women in the field of literature during the neoclassical, romantic, and Victorian era. The art and culture through which generations of people passed brought the thought and experimentation that encouraged writers of the nineteenth century to pursue

As his journey continues, he expresses the loneliness he feels in the absence of a good friend as he states, “I desire the company of the man who could sympathize with me” (Shelley). This is the first and significant romantic theme that drives rest of the story in Frankenstein. During the voyage, he meets with Victor Frankenstein who has been sick and Walton helps him to recover again. He then tells Walton about the past events that ultimately led him to such a harsh condition and search for “one who fled from him” (Shelley). We, as a reader, come to know that he was a son of “Genevese magistrate.” He, in the course of study, was obsessed with creating a “ life” from the dead, and thus neglected the friends and family including the joy of nature. He, in discovering the “secrets of life” (Gray) and in the whim of scientific exploration, created a horrific monster that terrified everyone in the novel. This is another significant idea which effectively shows the “deviation of ideas from those of neoclassical and enlightenment” (Gray). It can be argued that science is a boon and burden at the same time. Shelly wants readers to perceive that the “creation of life” was fascinating in the history of human civilization and advancement, but the same creation might lead to the ruin it, as foreshadowed with the description of “monster” as a “horrid creature.” As the story progresses, Victor is ill and monster disappears for certain period, whereby William has been killed, suggesting the malevolent factor of the discovery and scientific experimentations. At the same time, Henry nourishes victor back to health. Such a recovery propels him to assert that “nothing could delight him equally than seeing Clerval” (Shelley). Moreover, He relaxes in nature’s arms as he asserts “I perceived that the fallen leaves had disappeared and that the young buds were shooting forth