The delineation of female characters in “Frankenstein” and “Araby” is in a very passive manner. Both Mary Shelley and James Joyce urges the readers to ponder upon the then existing social status of women. The women in these works of fiction are treated as material goods and have minimal privileges with respect to the male character. In Frankenstein, Elizabeth Lavenza is depicted as an object with minimal rights and privileges. She is portrayed as a possession for Victor Frankenstein to protect. In the same manner, Araby explicates the character of Mangan’s sister as a submissive sex. Araby is a narrative about a boy who embarks in a quest to achieve success in his love. Both these stories have the female characters in pivotal roles, but fail to depict them in a humanized form. There is strong evidence within the texts, suggesting the “othering” of at least one female character in comparison with the male characters.
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley portrays the entire lifetime of a Genevese person named Victor Frankenstein. The story introduces mainly three female characters, Caroline Beaufort, Elizabeth Lavenza and Justine Moritz. As far as the plot is considered, Elizabeth Lavenza plays a pivotal role in the lifespan of Victor Frankenstein, the main protagonist. She is Frankenstein’s fiancé and is depicted as a possession for Frankenstein to protect. She does not have many rights and say in the novel and the only purpose of her character is to reflect the male protagonist. Her physical and mental attributes are opposite to that of Frankenstein but still, “there was a harmony in that very dissimilitude” (Shelley, 66). Frankenstein considered himself more intellectually capable than Elizabeth Lavenza. He is depicted as a calm and phi...
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...rtunes, Shelley was successful in evoking questions within the readers which helped to bring down the then existing patriarchal society. On the other hand, James Joyce, by “othering” Mangan’s sister was able to communicate the dream of Irish people for home rule. The metaphorical representation of Mangan’s sister as Middle East and the bazaar named Araby all illustrates the Irish people’s want to escape from the colonization to world with romance, enchantment, and freedom.
Works Cited.
Joyce, James." Araby". Theory into Practice. Ed. Ann B. Dobie. Toronto: Nelson Thomson, 2002.230-233. Print.
Moore, Lorrie. “You’re ugly too”. The Broadview Anthology of Short Fiction. Ed. Julia Gaunce and Suzette Mayr. Peterborough, Ontario: Broadview Press Ltd., 2004. 275- 276. Print.
Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. Peterborough: Broadview Press Ltd., 1999.Print.
Mary Shelley’s novel entitled Frankenstein demonstrates women of the Romantic Era as powerless citizens of society. Throughout the novel, the women are secondary characters and are portrayed through the men’s perspective. Therefore, many would think that these female characters are passive and dependant as they are often described as companions and nurturers. Despite the unequal rights of women, Shelley, one of the earliest feminist, has developed female characters who show agency. This trait of taking charge of one 's course of life is reflected through Justine Moritz as she is willing to die for her beliefs, in Safie who defies her father’s and religious wishes and when Victor Frankenstein decides to abort
Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein is a thought provoking story to read because the subject matter speaks to me. Dark, supernatural and gothic is exactly the style of reading I would choose in my own reading choices. It was only one step from my Victorian Vampire reading to Frankenstein therefore my choice to read the novel was almost a given to me. Several areas that I as a human can relate to are the human nature of each character, the unrelenting revenge the monster feels, and betrayal in the pursuit of self-preservation Victor bestows on his monster, his family, and mankind. The story speaks of betrayal, a strong an intense emotion that hurt the monster to the core so deeply he commits unspeakable acts. Frankenstein outlines Victor’s betrayal of his son, the monster. Victor literally created a child, a rebirth of flesh in his own design but he felt no love or sense of responsibility for the monsters well-being. This betrayal of the preverbal parent over their “child” is felt greatly by the monster and Frankenstein suffers at his own cost, unwilling and incapable to see he was his own destructor. A notable act of betrayal is when Victor can but does not save Justine from death. His own brother was dead and he was
Anne Mellor, author of “Frankenstein: A Feminist Critique of Science” argues that Victor Frankenstein represents the patriarchal society. Mellor also argues that Victor is afraid of the female sexuality. “A fear of female sexuality is implicit in a patriarchal construction of gender” says Mellor. She continues with her argument, saying that the death of Elizabeth Lavenza, Victor’s bride-to-be, is extremely significant to the feminist backbone of the story.
Mary Shelley depicts the Romantic ideal of inferiority of women in Frankenstein. These ethics can be compared and contrasted with values of today’s society. Shelley had all male narrators to accentuate the belief of male superiority. The female orphans of the story portray the assumption that women are helpless and the lack of letters from Margaret emphasizes the essential worthlessness of a woman’s opinions. Finally, the female presence in the workforce contradicts Romantic ideals, however housewives and male proposals parallel the ideals Shelley uses in Frankenstein. The Romantic ideals that women are secondary to men are expressed throughout Frankenstein as well as in Romantic times and today.
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.
The idea for the novel of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein came to her one night when she was staying in the company of what has been called ‘her male coterie’, including Lord Byron and her husband, Percy Shelley. Mary Shelley’s whole life seems to have been heavily influenced by men. She idolised her father, William Godwyn, and appears to have spent a good part of her life trying very hard to impress both him and her husband. There seems to have been a distinct lack of female influence, her mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, having died weeks after her birth, being replaced by a neglectful step-mother. These aspects of her life are perhaps evident in her novel. The characters and plot of Frankenstein were perhaps influenced by Shelley’s conflicting feelings about the predominately masculine circle which surrounded her, and perhaps the many masculine traits that we see in novel were based upon those of the male figures in Shelley’s own life. In this essay I will attempt to show some of these traits.
Hourani, Albert. A History of the Arab Peoples. Cambridge, MA: Belknap of Harvard UP, 1991. Print.
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.
In Frankenstein, Mary Shelley highlights on the experiences her characters undergo through the internal war of passion and responsibility. Victor Frankenstein lets his eagerness of knowledge and creating life get so out of hand that he fails to realize what the outcome of such a creature would affect humankind. Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein, highlights on how Frankenstein’s passion of knowledge is what ultimately causes the decline of his health and the death of him and his loved ones.
Within Frankenstein, the level at which a female is portrayed is quite low. Like we have heard in class, women were not necessarily respected as much as men were when the novel was written. Published in 1818 by Mary Shelley, her story tells of the adventure of young Victor Frankenstein and the creation of his creature. Though deep within this narration of Frankenstein’s life, there seems to be an underlying theme seeping through Shelley’s writing. Shelley seems to venture into the idea of feminism and grotesquely show how men are treated much better than women. Her novel includes various concrete examples to support this hypothesis.
In “Frankenstein” penned by Mary Shelley, the author depicts the roles of passive women through the roles of Caroline, Elizabeth, and Justine. Caroline marries Victor’s father, Alphonese Frankenstein, despite the huge age difference between them, and gets approval from her husband to make Elizabeth part of the Frankenstein family. Elizabeth joins the Frankenstein family after Caroline takes her from the orphanage, has superficial beauty, and constantly writes letters to Victor, waiting for his return and his hand in marriage. Justine cannot prove her innocence in court without the appearance of Victor. On the other hand, Shelley depicts Safie as a woman willing to stand up for her religion, disobeying her father’s orders of going to Constantinople, and finds Felix. Through the portrayals of Caroline, Elizabeth, and Justine, women are depicted as possessions by men, admired for their superficial beauty, and do not take direct action without the appearance of men. However, Safie’s portrayal in “Frankenstein” symbolizes a woman who longs to have her own rights and a woman who goes against the role of passive woman.
From the beginning of time in history, women have always been portrayed as and seen as the submissive sex. Women especially during the time period of the 1800s were characterized as passive, disposable, and serving an utilitarian function. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is a prime example displaying the depiction of women. The women in Frankenstein represent the treatment of women in the early 1800’s. Shelley’s incorporation of suffering and death of her female characters portrays that in the 1800’s it was acceptable. The women in the novel are treated as property and have minimal rights in comparison to the male characters. The feminist critic would find that in Frankenstein the women characters are treated like second class citizens. The three brutal murders of the innocent women are gothic elements which illustrates that women are inferior in the novel. Mary Shelley, through her novel Frankenstein, was able to give the reader a good sense of women’s role as the submissive sex, through the characters experiences of horrific events including but not limited to brutal murder and degradation, which is illuminated by her personal life experiences and time period of romanticism.
Can you imagine Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley's Frankenstein, the great work of literature, without, for example, such female characters as Mrs. Margaret Saville, Elizabeth Lavenza, and Justine Moritz? In this case the novel will have no meaning. All the women help to develop the plot, and without them Frankenstein will lose its spirit. Although these heroines have a lot in common in their characters: they are all strong-willed, kind, careful, and selfless, at the same time, each of them is unique, and each plays her own role in the novel. Mrs. Margaret Saville is the woman to whom the narrator tells the story. Elizabeth Lavenza is the beloved of Victor Frankenstein. Justine Moritz is the heroine who is accused by mistake of murdering William and executed instead of the fiend. There is close connection between the female and male characters, and if we break it, Frankenstein will have no sense. The author of the novel, Mary Wollstonecraft Shelly, characterizes the women in the same way as the men, and shows that they are independent players. So, the female characters in Frankenstein are as important as the male ones.
Joyce, James. "Araby." 1914. Literature and Ourselves. Henderson, Gloria, ed. Boston, Longman Press. 2009. 984-988.
The narrator cannot stop himself from fantasizing about her perfections, such as when “the light from the lamp opposite our door caught the white curve of her neck, lit up her hair that rested there and, falling, lit up the hand upon the railing” (Joyce 2). Through his constant thoughts about Mangan’s sister and her physical beauty, the narrator reveals an intricate piece of his innate desires. It isn’t exactly Mangan’s sister that continually captivates his heart, but his idea of her and her greater embodiment of love. Ironically, despite the fact that she is the source of all the action that takes place in “Araby”, the narrator reveals very little about her. In “Exhibition and Inhibition: The Body Scene in Dubliners”, Sheila Conboy wrote, “While the boy narrates the process of his sexual awakening, the girl remains anonymous, merely the petticoated object of his desire, never given a voice to express a desire of her own” (Conboy 4). Because the narrator treats Mangan’s sister as only an object of desire -- as opposed to a person capable of desires -- reality is destined to disappoint him. Through Mangan’s sister, we come to understand that the narrator at the end of the story is not only distraught because his idea of love has been dashed, but ashamed that