Female Characters In Frankenstein Essay

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In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Shelley characterizes the female characters as passive, disposable and serving an utilitarian function. Women such as Safie, Elizabeth, Justine, Margaret and Agatha provide nothing more but a channel of action for the male characters throughout the novel. Meaning, the events and actions acted by them or happen to them are usually for the sake of the male character gaining new knowledge or sparking an emotion. Each of Shelley’s women serves an important role by way of plot progression are otherwise marginal characters. Yet, this almost absence of women is exactly the reason why they are important. This use of the female character introduces a concept of feminism; here, female politics exists due to the vacancy of a “role model.” Women such as Justine, Agatha, Elizabeth and Margaret in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein play a key role, whether it’s for mere plot progression or by their absence. Justine Mortiz had lived with the Frankenstein family as a servant after …show more content…

Agatha’s purpose, as a woman once in high regard, is to exhibit and embody virtue, sensitivity and gentleness. This is what the Creature learns from just how she holds herself when she walks: “The girl was young and of gentle demeanour, unlike what I have since found cottagers and farm-house servants to be. [...] she looked patient,” (CITE FROM CHAPTER 11, PG 4). The monster also learns from her interactions with her blind father, “Agatha listened with respect, her eyes sometimes filled with tears, which she endeavored to wipe away unperceived” (93). Since he has never seen kindness before, through her inactive and tender nature, acts as a lesson for the monster towards healthy, human relationships formed out of love. Frankenstein’s monster’s next lesson comes from a close friend to Agatha,

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