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
Rianna Webb Mrs. Fornelli English 3 20 October 2017 Frankenstein’s Mother Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, the author of Frankenstein, was born in London, England on August 30, 1797. Her mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, was a feminist and she died a few days after giving birth; meanwhile, her father, William Godwin, was a philosopher and political writer. As a child Mary was not educated but she was able to use her father’s library to read (Biography.com 1). When Mary was young, her father got remarried to Mary Jane Clairmont. Clairmont had two children of her own and eventually had another one with Godwin.
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.
As per usual, advancements in a story are made through various literary elements, Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley's Frankenstein is of no exception. Though what sets this authors use of these elements apart is the effectiveness in which they are presented in what can be considered a prologue of sorts, the letters. As a foreshadowing to what may occur between characters of differing sexes, gender roles are established. For the development of the a main character, Robert Walton, season (a key factor in character development as discussed in the literary work To Read Like A Professor) is described in thorough detail by non other than Walton himself, as he also goes on to discuss his opinion on it. Gender roles remain an important developmental tool
Guilty Until Proven Innocent: An Analysis of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein “Justine died, I rested” (111), were the words of the male protagonist, Victor, in Mary Shelley’s original 1818 text of Frankenstein. In Frankenstein, Shelley depicts a flawed legal system as it favors men and leads to women’s destruction in three trials: Justine’s, Victor’s, and the De Lacey families’ trial. The justice system in the novel is sexist as there are moments where male characters shirk responsibility at the expense of women. This paper will unpack each ordeal to further argue the sexist law system, such as Justine’s death penalty, including the De Lacey’s trial and Victor’s dismissal. Justine Moritz suffered from Victor Frankenstein’s responsibility, the
The Romantic era’s literature often reflected these disparities, with authors like Mary Shelley critiquing the mistreatment and neglect of the less fortunate through powerful narratives like Frankenstein. Additionally, Mary Shelley draws a profound parallel between the creature's abandonment by his creator, Victor Frankenstein, and the Christian notion of free will. After being given life by Frankenstein's act of creation, the creature finds himself cast into the world without guidance or moral instruction from his maker. This abandonment mirrors the Christian belief that God, having created humanity, presents upon them the gift of free will, allowing them to navigate the complexities of existence through their own volition. Essentially, Mary Shelley adroitly intertwines the rampant prejudices faced by women through her characterizations as society’s failure of moral responsibility inherent with power and echoes
Two major themes in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein are the suppression of feminine nature and the questioning of the romanticized quest for knowledge. These themes meet when Victor finishes his story and tells the sailors, “Oh! Be men or be more than men.” (Shelley 215), thereby encouraging the self-sacrifice of Walton for knowledge. But this was not his original purpose; before his tale, Victor rebukes Walton’s quest, “Unhappy man!
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
Anna Dehlendorf Ms. Prince English 10 1 May 2024 Women in Society: How Frankenstein Showcases Gender Inequalities Women are powerful. For centuries they have been overshadowed by men, but what happens when they are not? Female role models like Cleopatra and Joan of Arc revolted against societal norms and captivated all the power around them. Although it may not be seen at first glance, the women in the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley are influential. Elizabeth shows great strength despite her dark story, Justine gracefully accepts her fate, and the female monster exhibits potential for challenging the status quo.
While Wollstonecraft points out many faults in a patriarchal society, Shelly focuses on three of these points in Frankenstein. First, is the objectification of women and how it is taught generationally. The second is the importance of education, and how women lack
In Mary Shelley’s, Frankenstein, Elizabeth, Caroline, and Justine represent a seemingly “perfect” woman. Mary Shelley ironically writes about each woman with a brief impersonal description of their status and relevance to the story. Elizabeth is presented to Victor as a object for his affection. Victor refers to his cousin as “My more than sister, since till death she was to be mine only” (Shelley 25).
In “Frankenstein” women are portrayed as the submissive sex for men, because they are passive, disposable, and serving a natural function. Feminism is the advocacy of women's rights on the basis of the equality of the sexes. Justine is in between families with the Frankenstein’s and she is their maid so it will be easy for someone to convince her to confess to the murder of William Frankenstein just because she is a women.
Being the daughter of Mary Wollstonecraft, Shelley was exposed to feminist beliefs as her mother was among the first prominent feminist writers of the time. The author touched upon this moral attribute in her novel in addition to responding to the scientific issues that had arisen. While some may be puzzled as to how this could be, as the novel has an overall absence of female characters. This is exactly how Shelley was responding to the gender norms of her time. Specifically with the monster’s lack of a companion.
Graceful, beautiful, loving, nurturing, subdued, diminished, female. All of these adjectives and more can be applied to some of the more overlooked characters of Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein. The central conflict between Victor Frankenstein and his Creature casts a shadow over other historical and cultural issues at work in the novel particularly that of the treatment of women. Mary Shelly brilliantly includes an examination of their condition through four women that suffer and, in some cases, break free from their oppressive mold imposed on them by their patriarch society regardless of their differences in socio-economic status. The four characters of Justine, Elizabeth, Agatha, and Safie represent four different versions and treatment of women
Frankenstein is one of the most famous and adapted novels of all time, and many say that Mary Shelley invented the genre of science fiction through it’s creation, but can Frankenstein add feminism to it’s list of virtues? At first glance, it seems as if not. The novel focuses mainly on the conflict between two men, and the main female character in the novel, Elizabeth, falls into the classic gothic trope of the perfect, angelic heroine, who has little to no flaws or agency. Yet upon further examination, it is clear that Shelley parodies and builds on the gothic trope of the perfect woman in order to bring to light the detrimental effects of writing flat female characters, ultimately giving Frankenstein a feminist tone.
