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
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
The majority of the characters in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and John Gardner’s Grendel comprises of men, often travelling or going on adventures while the women stay at home and wait for the men to return. The passive role of women is offset by the more aggressive nature of men in Frankenstein and Grendel, but the perceived submissiveness of the women does not necessarily detract from their strength and stability that they provide to society. In fact, both novels are full of the men’s oversight that consequently leads to devastation, revealing the idea that women make up the foundation of society. In both novels, women are the ones to soothe conflicts.
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
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
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
Our history has always had the habit of expecting much of women without thinking much of them. This attitude is reflected in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, where the female characters are relegated to the domestic sphere and denied agency. The novel's protagonist, Victor Frankenstein, sees himself as needing to leave behind his domestic life to achieve greatness, ignoring the impact of the women in his life. However, it is his neglect of feminine influences that ultimately creates the problems that lead to his suffering, a realization which he only partially comes to when he attempts to make a bride for his monster. In this essay, I will argue that Frankenstein is a feminist work because it exposes the consequences of ignoring the feminine perspective
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).
Even in 2023, women are still considered to be the less powerful and advanced gender in regards to men. This discrimination has been occurring for centuries and represented throughout media, film, novels, etc. In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, the women are shown to be insignificant to the plot, resulting in the loss of individuality and autonomy for the female characters. Firstly, the women in Frankenstein are shown to be insignificant to the plot due to the loss of autonomy within the characters. “.....our union had been the favorite plan of your parents ever since our infancy,” (Shelley 138).
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.
