Elements Of Feminism In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

When writing the novel Frankenstein, Mary Shelley used many of her own struggles and experiences to develop the gothic story. However her own encounters with motherhood and pregnancy, as well as the different overwhelming emotions that result from it are strongly represented in the story. Along with this she explores the similar situations that result from child birth or the lack of it, such as abortion, post pardon depression and the effects that these have on the offspring. She then emphasizes these concepts by changing the gender of the protagonist, creating elements of feminism in a different way.
Through Marry Shelley’s despair over her dead infant and the diligent struggle to become pregnant she creates the main protagonist Victor Frankenstein (Shelley 203-204). Her grief that

This occurs when Victor destroys his second, half-finished creature. At first he agrees to create the second monster in an effort to please his first. However, he is unwilling to accept the evil and dark depression that will surround him once the action is fully completed. So, he removes the possibility of giving the creature life, just as the act of abortion does to a fetus. In fact he states “ the remains of the half-finished creature, whom I had destroyed, lay scattered on the floor, and I almost feel as if I had mangled the living flesh of a human being. How he talks about this scene is similar to the way one would if they saw abortion as a sin. Later by the quote “I felt as if I was about the commission of a dreadful crime, and avoided with shuttering anxiety any encounter with my fellow creatures” (Shelley 152) makes is clear that this is the case. He says this while dumping the remains of his creature into the sea as way of purifying it, for water is a prominent symbol of purity the tranquility that results from it. This is his way of removing his sin and justifying this