Representation Of Women In Frankenstein

In Frankenstein, the females are presented in diverse ways which was Shelley’s way of including the influence of the patriarchal society she lived in her novel. With Safie, an Arabian who left her house in pursuit of her fiancé, she is shown to defy typical female stereotypes and is viewed as the “ideal” female in Shelley’s eyes as Mary was a feminist and had the influence of Mary Wollstonecraft, her mother and it can be said that Safie is a reincarnation of Mary Wollstonecraft. Before the 19th century, Islamic women experienced a significant amount of oppression. Islamic Law bound women to their male family members or the males in their lives. Safie also puts her desires first and has gone against her culture, which was completely unheard

Shelley does this to present to the reader how in society women like Safie are frowned upon and cast away as they threaten the male’s power and characters like Elizabeth are the ‘ideal woman’ in the eyes of men as she is beautiful and men are very power hungry and want a woman to have as their object and this is not what Safie is interested in as she does not conform to the social norms like Elizabeth. This has connotations to the vulnerable female protagonist, as shown in Elizabeth’s characteristics. Similarly in Bloody Chamber, the Countess shares similar traits to Elizabeth. They both follow the males in their life blindly. At the beginning of this story, the Count was introduced which indicates to the reader the deep influence of the patriarchal society and how men are deemed more significant with the introduction of the male first. When the Count found the girl of his dreams – someone innocent and a virgin so he can make her his possession, the countess felt threatened and tried repeatedly to get rid of her, but her attempts

In Bloody Chamber, the fact that Angela Carter decided not to give the countess a name suggests women's lack of importance in the male-dominated society. It also implies how the countess is only the count’s property and nothing more, so she does not need to be named. This has connotations to the Yellow Wallpaper as the narrator also was not named and she was treated like she was foolish because women by law could not receive an education and so this instantly meant that men must think for them as they do not have the brains. Women were so easily manipulated into thinking that they do not need goals in life, they just need to get married and have children that are what they were born to do just based on their gender. At the end of the story, there was a shocking plot twist where the count committed an act of necrophilia. The dominated male society once again is shown as this act of infidelity that the count committed has not rattled the countess as she ‘watched him narrowly.’ This indicates the countess is conforming to the social norms and not defying her husband by commenting on his acts as she recognises the gap between men and women and believes that men are superior to women. The fact that the girl ‘began to melt’ after he had sex with her corpse is Angela Carter leaving a message that the women in the world are here for one reason: to give the men pleasure, which is what