Frankenstein

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Recommended: Important roles of the female characters in Frankenstein

Mary Shelly (1797-1851) is one of the world’s most renowned authors and has authored numerous books which are still read and highly respected today. However, her best known work is Frankenstein. Mary Shelly’s first novel, Frankenstein, is one of the world’s finest pieces of literature and the definitive novel of the English Romantic Era; the novel combines a detailed critique on humanity with many powerful themes and multiple characters in the novel reflect the troubled woman who authored the classic tale.

Shelly’s Frankenstein is easily regarded as one of the world’s finest pieces of literature. A reason why it’s in a class of its own is because of the strong feminist undertones present throughout the work. All of Shelly’s female characters come across as inferior to the males; this character portrayal was accurate to the time period when the novel was written, in which this did happen to be the case. An example of this would be how Shelly described Elizabeth, “Who’s hair was the brightest living gold, and despite the poverty of her clothing, seemed to set a crown of distinction on her head,” when the Victor’s mother came across her (Shelly 20). Right from the start of the novel Elizabeth is presented as weak. Victor later stated when his mother brought Elizabeth home that she was “A possession of my own” (Shelly 21). Not only is Elizabeth presented as weak, but also an item to be used however the Frankenstein family wants. And that want was for Elizabeth to become Victor’s wife, “Till dead she was to be” Victor’s only (Shelly 21). She is showed to the reader as feeble, in a powerless position, and overall incapable of supporting her-self without others; at the mercy of men (Feminism and Frankenstein). Putting fe...

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... The History Guide, 2000. 15 February 2011. Web.

----------------. “Lectures on Modern European Intellectual History: Mary Wollstonecraft, 1759-1797.” The History Guide, 2000. 15 February 2011. Web.

Flaig, Bonnie. “Frankenstein Or, The Modern Prometheus.” Masterplots. Ed. Frank N. Magill. Pasadena, California: Salem Press, 1996. 2420-2423. Print.

Walter, Sean. “The Romantic Tenants.” Wentzville R-IV Public School System. Holt High School Modular 4,

Wentzville, Mo. 7 February 2011. Lecture.

---------------. “Feminism and Frankenstein.” Wentzville R-IV Public School System. Holt High School Modular 4, Wentzville, Mo. 7 February 2011. Lecture.

----------------. “Romanticism and Frankenstein by Mary Shelley.” Article Myriad, 2010. Web. 19 February 2011.

Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. New York: Bantam Books, 2003. Print

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