Race Relations In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

Despite the minimal presence of people of color in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, the novel makes conflicted statements about race relations. Orientalism, a concept described by postcolonial theorist Edward Said in his book of the same name, is an invaluable tool for understanding what Frankenstein implies about race and colonialism. Throughout the book, multiple characters express sympathies for those suffering under European colonialism and criticize colonialism’s impact on indigenous peoples. However, Frankenstein also uses racial stereotypes for people of color to uplift the identities of white characters. Though Frankenstein makes some explicitly anti-colonial statements, it uncritically uses orientalist stereotypes that alienate the audience

When his brother, William, is found murdered, Victor believes the creature must have killed him, but Justine Moritz, the Frankensteins’ servant, is executed instead. Later, the creature approaches Frankenstein and tells him about living by the De Lacey’s household since Frankenstein abandoned him. A few months after the creature’s arrival, Safie, a Christian and Turkish woman, arrives. When the creature reveals himself to this family, they attack him, and, full of hatred, the creature later kills William and frames Justine for the murder. The creature requests a female creature for companionship, but Victor eventually destroys his new female creation. Enraged, the creature murders Henry Clerval, Elizabeth, who is his wife, and his father. Victor swears revenge and chases the creature to the arctic, where he dies. When the creature learns of this, he vows to kill himself and

Orientalism describes the way European colonizers created the concept of “the Orient” to justify colonialism. Specifically, Said defines it as “a style of thought based upon [a] … distinction made between ‘the Orient’ and ‘the Occident’” (1867). This distinction, which was not always based on fact, allowed colonizers to shape the narrative surrounding the Orient. Said argues that “[t]he Orient was Orientalized not only because it was discovered to be ‘Oriental’ … but also because it could be … made Oriental” (1870). While the West’s vision of the Orient gave Europeans justification for colonizing it, Said also claims that “European culture gained in strength and identity by setting itself off against the Orient” (1868). In essence, while European colonizers created the idea of the Orient to justify their colonization of the Middle East and Asia, the perceived cultural differences between the West and the East helped form the West’s identity. The East, however, had an oriental identity forced upon it by the West. When viewed through the lens of Said’s concept of orientalism, Frankenstein alienates non-white, non-Christian characters from the audience and, despite expressing sympathy for colonized groups, inadvertently repeats and justifies the orientalist tactics used to