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Gender Roles In Frankenstein

2221 Words9 Pages

Brody McNew
Stephanie Lewis
English DC 2333
05 May 2023
Frankenstein, Historys Manliest Baby Mama
In literature, women have always been objectified and fell into stereotypes that reflect the patriarchal history that existed in novels throughout time. In the 1800s, male authors dominated the writing scene, with very few women being able to make a name for themselves. However, despite this, Mary Shelley, daughter of Mary Wollstonecraft, a famous female author of her time, as well as one of the few women to gain this popularity. Wollstonecraft also wrote the radical and celebrated book, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, which is widely regarded as one of the earliest examples of feminist philosophy. While her mother gained her fame through …show more content…

When looking closer, it is unmistakable that this anti-feminism was a way of getting her story out there and at the same time exposing gender norms surrounding women. This subtle form of feminism was a very clever way for Shelley to create a story with many feminist themes while seeming anti-feminist on first look, a way to hook both the male audience as well as members of the female audience. In the novel, Shelley refers to the literary stereotypes that women often fell into as well as the experiences and fears surrounding maternity. She simultaneously shows the problematic male privilege and dominance prevailing at the time. Shelley manages to slip a criticism on gender in writing in this story while also maintaining the main story and solidifying Frankenstein as an-all time classic of horror literature. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley uses common stereotypes as well as character and …show more content…

However, Dr. Frankenstein is the perfect representation of maternal apprehension, but that is not seen in the opening of the story. Victor Frankenstein is an egotistical mad scientist that believes he can play God. His aspirations almost outweigh his ego, seeking to create a new species by resurrecting a stitched-together creature, "Life and death appear to me ideal bounds, which I should first break through, and pour a torrent of light into our dark world" (Shelley 49). With this egotistical nature, his downfall is inevitable, as he does not truly grasp what atrocities he was about to release on the world and this will eventually lead to his own death. The analogies of Frankenstein to maternity are prevalent right away, having his laboratory representing the female reproductive system. Furthermore, the lab is referred to in many negative ways like filthy or horrid, this reflects Shelley's own anxieties surrounding birth and the reproductive system. “Shelley is revealing how much depression, guilt, and anxiety frequently follow parturition; or she is recalling the special painfulness of her own life” (Randel 530). This could be in reference to the death of her first infant child and the death of her mother. Her mother survived childbirth while birthing Shelley but died soon after. This tragedy puts credence behind the negative connotations of the lab considering its

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Allusions to Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Woman in Shelley’s Frankenstein. Mary Wollstonecraft is widely accepted as one of the mothers of Feminism. In A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, her most famous book, Wollstonecraft identifies many of the key issues concerning feminist ideology. Her daughter, Mary Shelly, was undoubtedly influenced by her mother’s feminist ideology. Many parts of the feminist ideology Shelley presents in her famous novel Frankenstein.

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Gender roles have played a pivotal role in shaping societies and individuals’ lives, reflecting the deeply rooted beliefs and expectations of men and women. Even in today’s society, gender norms continue to influence one’s behaviours, relationships, and opportunities. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Maggie O’Farrell’s Hamnet narratives provide insight into the gender dynamics prevalent in their historical contexts by examining the portrayal of female characters and their power within the patriarchal societies. In Frankenstein, Shelley portrays Elizabeth as a character who lacks power, reflecting the societal constraints imposed on women in her time. While O’Farrell’s Hamnet portrays Agnes as a character who challenges the traditional gender

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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.

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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.

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Introduction: Although Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein was published almost two hundred years ago, the novel remains relevant to many issues in today’s society. The novel develops several intertwined themes related to inner and outer beauty, appearances and judgment based on one’s looks which are used to make commentary on humanity and our society. The theme of beauty and perception of beauty is used throughout the novel as commentary on the ability of society to transform a person by both how they are perceived and how they are treated. Through the exploration of beauty and its conceptualization by the characters in the novel, Shelley explores the idea of social prejudice, one of mankind's most enduring and destructive flaws. A. Inner

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Shelley’s women characters are strong minded but taken for granted. She wrote the book in the early 1800’s and women were treated much differently in that time. Being a female writer, Mary Shelley underwent struggles that dealt with publishing a book however, probably more intensely. This reflects in her novel, Frankenstein, through her female characters. Elizabeth Lavenza is an adopted cousin for the Frankenstein family.

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In James Davis’ literary essay “Frankenstein and the Subversion of the Masculine Voice,” he discusses the oppression of women and the minor roles of females in Mary Shelly’s novel Frankenstein. With a feminist perspective, Davis claims, “He [Victor Frankenstein] oppresses female generation of life and of text; he rends apart both the physical and the rhetorical ‘form’ of female creativity. In fact, all three male narrators attempt to subvert the feminine voice, even in those brief moments when they tell the women’s stories” (307). Throughout his essay, Davis demonstrates the underlying message of Shelly’s subversion towards men and the social consequences of misogyny. Davis draws parallels between the three men, Robert Walton, Victor Frankenstein, and Victor’s creation, Frankenstein, in which they

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The abortion of the female creature is the epitome of Frankenstein due to the symbolism of men’s power over the life of women. An abortion is the termination of a pregnancy which is seen with Victor terminating his pregnancy of the female creature. Unlike God, Victor destroys the creature’s Eve so that he would not have a company. Once again through science, Victor was making a female creature, but in this case he found more consequences than his first creation because of the fatal consequences that the creature caused. Victor started to think that what if she became “ten thousand times more malignant than her mate and delight, for its own sake, in murder and in wretchedness” (Shelley 120).

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Their dynamic is symbolic of a neglectful parent-child relationship because Frankenstein’s inconsiderate treatment of his ‘child’ demonstrates him as an absent and abusive ‘parent.’ The creature’s belief in Victor’s abandonment and lack of guidance causes his deplorable behavior and actions cause Victor to feel more accountable: “But as I proceeded, I weighed the various arguments that he had used, and determined at least to listen to his tale… For the first time, also, I felt what the duties of a creator towards his creature were” (70). Frankenstein’s guilt toward his creature illustrates their parent-child relationship because of the parallel between Frankenstein hearing out the creature and a parent listening to their child. In other words, Frankenstein and his creature’s dynamic is similar to a parent-child relationship because of the nurturing role victor was supposed to fill but did

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Interestingly enough, the novel resembles Shelley’s own life and can be interpreted as a reflection of her perception of families. Shelley shares many of the same characteristics with most of her characters. As the main character in the novel, Frankenstein’s creature is depicted as “a motherless orphan” who had an “unnatural birth” (Griffith). This correlates with Shelley’s own childhood as she was raised without a mother and her birth was in some ways “unnatural” as mothers are not naturally made to die during childbirth.

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Duality is shown in Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein, a gothic tale of a scientist whom looks to advance the life-giving qualities of mother nature. Through this novel, Shelley proves that good and evil in human nature is not always simple to define, and that everyone has both of these qualities within them. The duality of human nature is shown through the characters of Victor Frankenstein and his monster, who are both heroes in the novel while simultaneously displaying anti-hero qualities. Shelley forces the reader to sympathize with them both but also creates gruesome ideas of the two. Frankenstein’s creature places himself in a submissive position when he begs his creator to have mercy on him and asking the creator to “create a female for [him] with whom [he] can live in the interchange of those sympathies necessary for [his] being.”

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One of the many was an event she couldn't recall, for she was an infant; Mary Wollstonecraft, her mother, died few days after Mary Shelley's birth due to infection. Another event tied to childbirth through the death of her mother would be that in her novel the monster was brought into the world with only a father, when it had a face only a mother could love. Shelley was also said to read by her mothers grave, furthering the necessity of mothers love that lacks in Frankenstein. As previously mentioned Shelley was writing Frankenstein the majority of her first pregnancy, having the thought of

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The fictional horror novel of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is driven by the accentuation of humanity’s flaws. Even at the very mention of her work an archetypal monster fills one’s imagination, coupled with visions of a crazed scientist to boot. Opening her novel with Robert Walton, the conduit of the story, he also serves as a character to parallel the protagonist’s in many ways. As the ‘protagonist’ of the story, Victor Frankenstein, takes on the mantle of the deluded scientist, his nameless creation becomes the embodiment of a truly abandoned child – one left to fend for itself against the harsh reality posed by society. On the other hand, Walton also serves as a foil to Victor – he is not compulsive enough to risk what would be almost

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Frankenstein by Mary Shelley is a gothic novel that tells the story of scientist, Victor Frankenstein, and his obsession with creating human life. This leads him to creating a gruesome monster made of body-parts stolen from grave yards, whom upon discovering his hideousness, the monster seeks revenge against his creator, causing Victor to regret the creation of his monster for the rest of his life. Shelley uses the literary elements of personification, imagery, and similes to give a vivid sense and visualization of Victor Frankenstein’s thoughts and feelings as well as to allow us to delve deeper into the monster’s actions and emotions. Throughout the novel, Shelley uses personification of various forces and objects to reflect the effect in Victor’s actions.

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For example, when Victor decided to create life from the lifeless, his personal preference was a male life and not a female life, which suggests his disregard for the female gender. Even when Victor created a female creature for the male creature, Victor ended up tearing her into pieces, and this can be seen as a patriarchal allegory for the denial and the degradation of women. According to Anne K. Mellor, on women, patriarchy, and Victor, “On the cultural level, Frankenstein’s scientific project—to become the sole creator of a human being—supports a patriarchal denial of the value of women and of female sexuality” (356). We can clearly see that there are patriarchal elements in the novel, specifically with Victor Frankenstein’s role, in creating a male monster as this clearly devalues women, and also devalues female sexuality because Victor tore his female creation into pieces. From that sense, Victor’s portrayal as a patriarchal monster who degrades women contributes to his monster-like

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